Turnaround team drives Greg Norman Collection to 10 consecutive quarters of growth

By Brenda Lloyd
DNR Magazine

ATLANTA -- Under the direction of a young sales, merchandising and marketing talent, Greg Norman Collection developed a strategy four years ago that turned the golf brand around and made it a force to be reckoned with.

Suzy Biszantz, 34, joined Greg Norman Collection (GNC), the golf division of Reebok Ltd., in June 2001 as general manager and vice-president of sales, planning and merchandising, but took over the leadership in November when John Wagstaff, who was CEO and president at the time, left the company. She and top management at the time put together a strategic plan that took hold in 2002.

Biszantz is quick to point out GNC already had a talented management team in place, including Michael Stein, vice-president of design. The management team has not changed, she says. It was just a matter of enhancing our "strengths".

And then there is Greg Norman himself, the personable Australian golf star, whom Biszantz calls "a lifestyle icon". She says the company when developing product, bears in mind his lifestyle and what he likes to do, and he offers feedback. "He connects with our customer base and he interacts with the management team", she says. "He gets our brand message across with his presence as a dynamic and charismatic speaker. He inspires the brand".

The GNC men's customer is generally 35 to 55 years old. He loves to travel and play golf but has other interests, too, much like Norman himself. Norman, 50 is also involved in golf course design and a wine company (Greg Norman Estates), and he stays active in both regular and senior PGA tours.

With Reebok top management behind the changes in 2002, Biszantz and her team set about overhauling distribution and repositioning the product. The first year was one of shoring up the company and introducing changes. "2002 was a real turnaround year for us, and now we're in our third year of real growth", she says.

Indeed, GNC recently reported its 10th consecutive quarter of double-digit sales growth. Net sales for the second quarter, ended June 30, rose 19 percent, with a 28 percent increase in core golf. The first six months of the year ended with a 19 percent sales increase, including a 22 percent jump in the core golf business.

The company said technical products, including Luxury Double Mercerized Play Dry and the newest offering, Performance Play Dry, fueled this growth. Better still, gross margin continues to improve because of consistent increases in full-price business through additional green-grass and better specialty store doors.

GNC's core golf business has grown by nearly 60 percent in the past three years, during which the company has added 1,280 new doors. More than 90 percent of those are premier green-grass accounts.

That's where GNC wants to be. Part of the brand's strategy was to close some retail doors in 2002 that weren't a good fit and get back to its green-grass roots. Ken Medley, vice-president of sales for retail, led that effort, and worked with retailers to create a better assortment of goods for their stores. "We walked away from some pretty significant business," Biszantz says. "We're perusing a specialty store strategy that is exciting for us."

GNC ended up with a better door strategy, including some department stores, with accounts that can afford the brand's price point and retail position, she says, which is more profitable for the brand and the account.

She still sees growth in the green-grass channel, and international sales have doubled over the past four years with a good growth path still ahead. GNC is sold in 15 countries now, is going into Korea in 2006 and is currently looking for the right partnership in Japan. "There's still so much potential in countries like Korea [the third biggest golf market in the world] and Japan," she says.

GNC also started a corporate division about 18 months ago. It's a premium business targeting the top 150 to 200 promotion resellers.

While overhauling distribution, GNC repositioned the product to be more refined, increased the percentage of essential product (basic, in-stock and core) to balance out the fashion end, and increased the percentage of its Play Dry performance product in the refined garments.

Says Biszantz, "We took [Play Dry] to the next level so it's not just a youthful active shirt. Now it's in luxury products, such as Play Dry weatherknit outerwear and mercerized cotton shirts."

GNC is producing an elegant pant with Play Dry in spring 2006, as well as the ultimate Greg Norman polo made of mercerized prima cotton that won't shrink, fade, pill or wrinkle. It's also introducing a "body mapping" polo shirt that is an all-performance jacquard knit with refined styling.

Play Dry, which has moisture wicking, is treated as a brand within a brand and marketed on hangtags. Michael Stein is on the forefront of the performance fabric trend, says Biszantz, and GNC was one of the first golf brands to go after it.

"It's taking performance fabrics and not doing what everyone else is doing and looking at what our customer wants," she continues. "Generally what you see in golf is performance in styles that are more youthful. We're making sure we take it into elegant sportswear. There's a niche for that in sportswear and in golf.

Product extension was another part of the strategy, GNC has launched women's, big and tall, and swimwear. The company developed a new merchandising for the women's collection, which is 90 percent Play Dry. It's based on a different color palette for each season with 10 to 14 key items each season in multiple colorways that the customer can flow any way they want over a six-month period.

"Because the color palette stays consistent, it goes with what merchandise is left," Biszantz explains. "Most golf shops can't absorb all the broken pieces [at the end of the season]. This helps them prevent markdowns."

The company promotes the brand by combining performance fabrics with more-refined sportswear, or performance, luxury style," in advertising campaigns in golf and lifestyle publications. The brand also does grassroots events, many of which feature Greg Norman.

The Play Dry Challenge is an event in which GNC partners with Golf World magazine at various upscale, daily-fee clubs. The first 100 golfers are given a Play Dry shirt to wear during the event. So far, 98 percent have said they would purchase a Play Dry shirt from GNC in the future. "It's a good way to expose golfers to performance fabrics," Biszantz says.