For my market
observation, I went to the Kalamazoo Country Club proshop. The Kalamazoo Country Club is a very highly
respected private club located on Whites Rd in Kalamazoo. For starters, it was a Sunday morning around
noon; it was approximately 40 degrees outside and partially hailing. This is obviously a market that is effective
by the weather so the weather conditions may have had an effect on the number
of market transactions. As I walked in,
I did not really notice any distinct smells, but I did notice that ESPN was playing
on a television near the entrance. The
woman working the proshop looked middle to upper twenties, wearing golf attire,
and she greeted me as I walked in. There
were two other customers in the proshop, who were talking to another man, the
golf pro. The golf pro was wearing a
nice sweater and dress pants, typical for golf attire on a cold April day. The customers consisted of a lady,
approximately 40 years old, dressed in a nice Adidas golf outfit, and her son,
approximately 15 years old was also well dressed in a Puma golf outfit. The two customers and the golf pro were
talking about the younger boy and his golf game, not necessarily the
merchandise in the store. A third
customer entered the store and when asked by the woman working what he was in
for, he expressed interest in purchasing a new pair of golf pants. The woman quickly directed him to wear they
have most of there pants as well as another smaller section of pants. The man
went to the fitting room to try on the pants and upon his return, the employee
asked how they fit and wanted to find him the right pants. The man was satisfied with the pants a
purchased them.
The
store seemed to be organized by one side displaying women’s clothing, another
side displaying men’s clothing and a corner was dedicated to youth golf clubs
and clothing. The cashier was located in
the corner next to the door and another door to the back was located across
from that (for employees only). Next to
that door was a unisex fitting room. Some
of the brands for sale included Puma, Adidas, Titleist, Travis Mathew, Ping and
Nike. The proshop offered a wide variety
of things, including all types of golf apparel (shirts, pants, socks, shoes,
pullovers, hats, gloves), casual clothing (including t-shirts branded with Red
Wings and Tigers logos), formal clothing (mostly ties and handkerchiefs) and
golf balls. Many of the shirts and hats
had the Kalamazoo Country Club logo stitched into them. Prices range from $2 for a bag of tees all
the way to $100 for a pullover or a pair of pants. A pair of Nike dress pants was priced at
$85. A Puma shirt was priced at
$60. A dozen of Titleist Pro-V1 golf
balls were priced at $50.
The
Kalamazoo Country Club proshop is a unique market to observe because of who
buys and who sells the merchandise.
Obviously, who sells the merchandise is Kalamazoo Country Club, who is
supplied the goods from manufacturers like Puma, Adidas, etc. Who sells is very different than other places
because it is only a small portion of the population. First of all, it would be rare to find anyone
who does not golf to shop there. In
addition, the Kalamazoo Country Club is a private club, meaning that most of
the golfers who shop there are members, meaning a very select few. The manufacturers of the goods determine
prices typically. The manufacturers will
designate a specific price for each item (msrp) and the proshop seemed to
follow this price (by comparing the prices in the store to other golf shops).
No comments:
Post a Comment