Kissimmee, Florida, United States: Golf Datatech has introduced an Online Tracking Platform for golf equipment sales.

The new service features two reports, including an Online Tracker for Consumer data (OT-C), and an Online Tracker for Retail (OT-R) which provide companies with a proven resource to best evaluate trends in the online golf equipment market.

Golf Datatech’s Online Tracking Platform was developed based upon a need the company saw in the market coming out of the pandemic of 2020.

In the first several weeks of the outbreak, retail stores (including green grass pro shops) in much, if not most, of the United States were closed to retail traffic. Eventually some opened up as coronavirus cases dropped, and others in local markets closed as cases mounted again, leaving much of the brick and mortar US retail business in disarray.

Through this wild ride, online retail sales became a primary outlet for buying golf equipment before traditional channels reopened.

“Changes in the online market for golf equipment necessitated the need for a tracking mechanism that allows us to measure sales growth across all product categories,” said John Krzynowek, Partner, Golf Datatech.

“Our new Online Tracking Platform offers two reports designed to create clarity for golf companies as to the state of online sales.”

The two report options offered in Golf Datatech’s Online Tracking Platform include the following:

Online Tracker-Consumer (OT-C)

In creating the OT-C Report, Golf Datatech utilised its exclusive Serious Golfer database to track recent online shopping and purchasing habits for balls, clubs, bags, shoes, gloves, and distance devices. This report will be conducted twice per year (March and September) and will define the online purchase trends by Serious Golfers over the prior six months.

The consumer report is designed to answer these questions about Online Purchases: What did you buy? Where did you buy it? How much did you pay for it? Which brands did you buy?

Among the key findings from the Q-1/2021 Online Tracker-Consumer include:

• 74% of consumers purchased some golf equipment online over the past six months.
• 66% of online golf purchases were golf balls.
• 31% of golf balls purchased online were ‘Direct-To-Consumer’ v Retail.
• 30% of the distance devices sold online were ‘Direct-To-Consumer’ v Retail.

Online Tracker-Retail (OT-R)

Golf Datatech will utilise its monthly retail sales data to create an Online Retail Sales Index (OT-R) for total golf equipment, as well as balls, woods, irons, wedges, putters, shoes, bags, gloves and distance devices.

The OT-R will track sales dollars through online golf specialty stores dating back to January 2020. Each month, Golf Datatech will release to subscribers the OT-R by product category, along with a monthly trend line starting with January 2020 (pre-Covid).

This will be strictly a product category index, as no individual companies will be listed. As a result, it will provide golf companies with a timeline perspective on the overall online golf retail value by product category.

Krzynowek added: “The percentage of total online US retail sales in 2021 is at a level most experts believed the country would not reach for many years, but it was spurred on by the pandemic, lockdowns and temporary closures, so the landscape quickly changed.

“For this reason, the golf industry needs a benchmarking system for online sales across all product categories, and this Online Tracking Platform fits that need very well.”