What would you like to see in a store?

[Clempson13]

i dk if your shop is speed/woods ball, but if you put some bright pink/orange/yellow discs up paintballers will notice and be interested. especially the pink. don't just have them on racks either, display some on the wall, maybe have an entire wall section devoted to displaying varying molds. also get a basket set up somewhere for practice putts, probably in a corner with some netting around it.

im going to agree with non ripoff prices....but seeing as this is a paintball shop i don't see how that is possible, unfortunately. disc golfers shouldn't need to be sponsored by you prior to getting normal disc prices (i know paintball works this way but we aren't talking about 500-1000 marker here).

 

[Clempson13]

Why buy high dollar Gucci-flage to go paint balling?

haha you obviously don't know the paintball scene. this was a must for a while. i think i still have my pink camo headband around here somewhere...

 

[E_Rock25]

Starter packs or Starter discount sets.
1 Slow Driver, 1 Mid and 1 putter plus a small bag for a set price.
All can be in base plastic.

This will help you get new customers and sell more than one disc to a new player. Let the player choose there discs and offer a small discount on the whole purchase. This can also be marketed to your current Paintball clientel. I know how expensive Paintball is and if you can offer these packs for $45 or so you can hopfully get some of them to try a new sport.

Putting basket with putters for people to try. This is important IMO because someone who has never played the game may want to try it before thay buy. Have 6-8 different putter molds just for the customers to try out in the store. The basket will also draw attention to the disc section of your store.

I think a TV playing DG DVD's is a cool thing to have. You can help inform new players about the sport with it and it is another eye catcher for people who don't know about the game.

I would really focus on new players and expanding the sport in your area. New players will buy the most discs and if you have good prices and know what you are talking about they will keep coming back to your store. You will have to be able to provide what more experinced players need but focus on the noobs at first for sure.

I also know a store that has a rewards program for buying disc's. Every 100$ spent gets you $8.20 in store credit. $8.20 is the price of there base plastic, so you basicaly get a free disc for every $100 spent. This encourages people to buy only from you to build up there rewards points.

Must have items... Bags, Minis, stools, maybe some clothing (i would wait a bit on this) Keep it simple at first untill you get an idea of what will sell.

 

[DavidSauls]

I guess a big question is how much cash is on hand for the initial stock. 1,000 discs makes for a modest store....but costs $8,000 or so upfront, depending on the store. If you try to start off with 500 discs you'll realize just how thinly that spreads through the available manufacturers, models, plastics, & weights.

One caution (from experience) is go lightly on the newest models. They come out about one every 7 hours. They sometimes generate initial excitement, then everyone goes back to the tried-&-true and your inventory of Makos takes forever to move.

 

[Clempson13]

the overhead of discs will be insignificant versus the paintball equipment.

 

[Dsplayname]

Stock the popular stuff to start with. There is a thread on here discussing what's hot in specific regions. Manufacturers will help you out with that as well. And yeah, aim for a wide range of weights. Get maps/pictures of local courses and display them in store. Give discounts on lessons/training DVDs with disc purchases. I'd love to see a driving range in a pro shop, as PGA Superstore still won't let me throw discs on theirs. Oh yeah, be really active in the community with leagues, tournaments, clinics, and contests. They take more time/dedication than money/store space, but seem to generate more revenue than just a couple flyers at the parks.

 

[Paulie]

I knew there was a reason we just shot each other with pellet guns.

 

[Incognito1989]

You guys are awesome!

My god you guy are awesome, ive spent the past little bit really reading through and trying to take in as much advice as i can.

Alot of what im reading is that the focus should be towards the new player since like paintball its a niche sport and the more people playing=more people needing equipment.

So here's what i have already going for us:
JUST received the order from discraft (man those guys are fast!). I placed this order before posting my original thread but i still think i did alright as far as what i ordered.
I got around 40 disc's and spread them pretty evenly between: elite-z, pro d & ESP. Got mostly nukes, buzzz, comets & a few wasps
(apparently every putter i ordered was out of stock:doh: and discraft doesn't do backorder)
I also got 4 of the "display racks" from Discraft which are alright but how i have them placed currently makes it a little akward to flip through the discs.
Here's how the currently placement looks:

Its not ideal but space is kind of tight right now until we move locations but if you guys had any advice on how to lay them out better for the customer?

So from what you guys got here's kind of how i plan to continue:
- Stock the widest selection i can of mostly the tried/true molds and let my customer base determine what else/specialty discs to bring in

- Make sure me and the other employees not only know what we have but know what to recommend especially to new customers or if we have odd brands KNOW HOW THEY FLY

-Keep the community on my side. IE help out the local courses, players and especially clubs

- FOR NOW to get us started with out too much overhead put in an order to innova and probaly aim to initially have only 125ish discs in the shop and also talk with lat 64 as from my browsing seems moderately popular in this area.

- For the prices (once again sorry if i should post this) i initially used what discraft had sent me: $9.99 for pro D, 15.99 for Elite-z & $17.99 for ESP. These seem to be pretty much exactly what i see everywhere else so i may be able to talk the owner into a break. What are you guys usually payin for the discraft stuff?

Anyways thanks so much for all the help already really looking forward to helping the community around here and hopefully growing this sport! With these being the 2 sports i love as many people as i can get to cross over both ways is great for me!

oh and im located up in NW washington and we have about 5 courses open within 20 minutes of us

Thanks again!
-Taylor

 

[Incognito1989]

oh and i have got the discs setup in racks of the same plastic with a label on the front showing the type of plastic and the price.
I know not the best way to market them so hoping you guys got some ideas!

 

[Danger]

Get on the players side = sponsor a hole at a few local monthlies

Sponsor a prize for ams at a local monthly or weekly ($10 gift cert, or something like that). Both of these suggestions generally get the TD to mention your stores name both before and after the rounds. This is the most valuable advertising there can be for a start up.

If you see a disc shopper flip through and leave, ask them if they would like you to special order the disc, or just see in general what they are looking for.

I think the tv idea is okay if there was any non-tacky disc golf footage out there. That being said, in my opinion most DG footage blows when viewed as an outsider and the idea to me just screams 'infomercial' and 'fad.' Maybe that's just me. No shop I have walked into has a cheezy film reel running next to the discs.

Offer custom up-sell deals. Ie, "Buy 3 get 10% off", "buy 5 get 15% off" or "purchase $250 in paintball gear and receive $10 in free disc purchases."

Finally, regardless of other suggestions, I would actually stick to one or two manufacturers for now until the local scene specifically dictates demand by another retailer. I think ordering from too many companies off the bat can be counter-intuitive to impressing the boss because you will have too little selection with too many companies. Wait until you have received a core audience by sponsoring events and see what they want you to expand on.

 

[BrotherDave]

On the price thing, just charge a couple bucks more than what the big internet stores (like discgolfcenter.com) sell them and you should be fine. Paying a little more to feel up the discs and rifle through them is worth a little more IMO.

 

[oddjob]

A wide selection of cigarettes.

 

[Danger]

^LOL I was about to add 'carry cigarettes' on my post but I felt that it would devalue all of my other wonderful suggestions! Seriously though....become an E-Cigarette retailer