Below I leave you a revealing study on the increase in sales of online golf outings (tee times) during the 2012 financial year in British golf clubs. Without a doubt a clear example of the evolution and transformation of consumer trends in this sport.
Sales of online green fees increase. Online tee time bookings continued to grow in 2012, according to the latest results from BRS Golf, a UK and Ireland developer in the market for leading online booking systems, writes Charles de Haan. <>
BRS Golf Managing Director Mr Brian Smith commented: “It is reassuring to see that despite the challenging economic climate and the wettest summer in 100 years, online booking revenue continues to grow for the seventh consecutive year.”
“We are confident that this growth trend will continue for many years. Firstly, because more golf clubs are adopting online bookings each year. Secondly, it is becoming easier for players to connect with clubs online. online, find and compare prices and book your golf match at your convenience. Third, golf clubs are beginning to improve the use of yield management, marketing and working with TPW (Third party websites) to distribute their tee times. “All these factors are driving online booking growth.”
Income is reduced.
An anomaly that has emerged from this year’s statistics is the 13.5% fall in average income, falling from £16,600 in 2011 to £14,337 in 2012. Smith said: “This should not come as a surprise. I mainly blame to the horrible summer weather in 2012, and the fact that it is being compared to 2011, when the growth rate of 81% is unusually high. The persistent economic situation has also had an impact. However, £14,337 still represents an amount. significant for the backlines of many clubs.”
The average green fee price is slightly affected.
Smith also reported that the average price of a casual visitor fee online at clubs using the BRS system has fallen again, albeit marginally: “The average green fee price across all our customers in 2010 was £24, £23 in 2011 and £22 in 2012. This is symptomatic of clubs going online, and the continued development of an increasingly open and competitive market.”
The TPWs (Third party Websites) are fulfilling their role.
The impact of the TPW’s, the resellers, is revealed to be growing at the same rate. “According to our research,” explains Smith, “TPW green fee sales distribution companies – including Teeofftimes.co.uk, GolfNow.com and Teetimes.co.uk – also experienced 15% growth in 2012. Of the £7.5 million booked through Golf BRS, £1.5 million was booked through third party matches i.e. a 20% share of total revenue, underlining the contribution of these TPW’ s, the resellers, are doing to the golf clubs.”
Have control of performance management
Taking into account all these factors and trends revealed by the BRS Golf market research, Smith has some useful guidance: “Golf clubs looking to maximize the profit from the sale of tee times online should focus on getting a system like Golf BRS in your place has all the tools you need to sell tee times online, create a marketing database of visitors’ email and mobile phone numbers, implement a marketing campaign, create reports, and make it happen. performance management work for your club.”
“One way to gain a better understanding of performance management is to work with TPW’s, the golf outing resellers or distributors. They are experts in performance management and have a wealth of knowledge that can be leveraged, as well as the potential additional income.”
