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FEATURE
Q-and-A: Ashley Magee -- Director of Retail, Kiawah Island Golf Resort
Editor's note: Year in and year out, Kiawah Island Golf Resort, located just off the South Carolina coast below Charleston, is ranked as one of the nation's premier golf and vacation destinations. It's also home to the famed Pete Dye-designed Ocean Course.
In August, Ashley Magee, director of retail at the resort, moved her retail operation into a new 24,000-square foot clubhouse at The Ocean Course. Recently, she discussed the resort's retail operation with GPA correspondent Vartan Kupelian.
Apparel Wire: How much retail space is available in the new clubhouse?
Magee: We had about 1,500 square feet in the old clubhouse. It's now about 1,700 square feet but it is laid out much more efficiently. We can't get a whole lot more product in there, but it's more efficient in the way it is set up. It's a very open, airy pro shop with lots of windows. It feels like you're on top of the Atlantic Ocean.
AW: As director of retail, are you responsible for all retail sales or is it limited to apparel?
Magee: The golf professionals order the golf clubs and golf balls. We do the apparel, gifts and accessories.
AW: What is your philosophy on logo goods?
Magee: Extremely important, especially at our resort. The Ocean Course, as you know, is highly ranked, and so are some of our other courses nationally ranked. Our customers are very proud to purchase something that shows off where they've been. The logo provides us with world-wide exposure because our guests come from all over. We're just developing brand awareness by having that logo out there so much.
Logo'd products are very important in the resort industry. We're no exception. It's a vital marketing tool, and we logo 95 percent of all of our apparel. Anything we can put a logo on, we put a logo on. We hope it becomes a conversation piece and someone who has never been to Kiawah sees it and begins a conversation, says, "Tell me about your experience, tell me about Kiawah." From a marketing standpoint, the value cannot be overstated.
AW: What's your strategy for moving items that aren't doing quite as well as they might?
Magee: Luckily, we have several strategies. We're fortunate enough to have some different options.
The first strategy is the way I purchase apparel. I order from a limited number of vendors and go narrow and deep. I try to pick out what I feel are the strong selling items and buy narrow and deep so it doesn't look like it's getting picked over too much.
We don't have the same customer day in or day out, like a private club. We feel like we can do that … and keep the shop looking fresh longer.
Also, we have the luxury of five other golf shops on the island. If something is not selling in one shop, it might do well in another. We always have the vendors to fall back on. We do buy from a limited number of vendors and we get great service and accommodations from them. If we ever do get in a bind they are willing to work with us. We can say to them, "This isn't doing really well, what can we do?" They might send us something in the way of a point of purchase giveaway. We've done that before.
Finally, what we do twice each year, at Christmas and Easter, is have a member sale and the next day an employee sale, at a really deep discount.
AW: What items are best sellers in your shops?
Magee: We try to give the customers a variety of options. The short sleeve men's knit shirts are the No. 1 item, hands down. We give them as many options as possible, the best quality products at different price levels, as we are sensitive to meet demands of all our guests. We keep up with fashion trends. As leaders in the industry, we try to offer the latest and greatest.
We know it's important from a visual presentation to have sweaters, long-sleeve woven shirts, ties, street shoes, for men and women, to make the presentation more desirable. It not only enhances the look of the shop but also makes a statement.
We do very well with outerwear. Obviously, it has to do a lot with the weather, especially here. Short sleeve rain shirts are popular. They're more of an impulse item. Same thing with shorts here. We have shorts year-around. In December you can get a sunny 55, 60-degree day and those guys from the north say it's absolutely beautiful, they want shorts. We will keep shorts the year-around for that reason. Same thing with rainwear. That's a staple.
AW: How seasonal are your buying habits?
Magee: We do tweak our buy according to the season. In the summer we have a more casual golfer, more kids apparel available -- lots and lots of tee shirts in the summer. It might be a more price-conscious customer in the summer, and we parallel our buy. When rates are peaking that's when we bring in our higher end luxury items. We have enough history in that we know our customer.
AW: And the bottom line is?
Magee: We feel we are marketing the resort. That's what we are doing. Of course, the bottom line on sales is important but it's also important to get our brand out there -- the Ocean Course, Turtle Point, the tennis facility, our luxury hotel. With apparel sales, that's a really good way to market our logo and that's what we're doing.
Our philosophy of buying narrow and deep and keeping everything fresh and intact is very important. There is so much emphasis on that. It's our reputation. We want everyone who comes to the island to feel like they have a selection just like the guy who was there the week before. We feel it's very important not to have a broken up shop.
