The 2006 PGA Show
- The Internet Is Changing Everything

I've been attending the annual PGA Show in Orlando, FL for the past 15 years. In that time the PGA Show has undergone a reluctant revolution as a result of a major shift in the way golf products are brought to market and distributed.

15 years ago an army of middle men (distributors) controlled a major portion of the golf marketplace. Starting 10 years ago an unstoppable force began the systematic destruction all distributors. As of 2006 the destruction is almost complete. The few middle men left are now but shadows of the former selves.

At their height individual distributors actually had rows of booths at the show. The bigger distributors had multiple rows forming their own little villages. Boy has that changed. Now the very few distributors left are generally down to one small booth.

The cause of all this change as you might have guessed is the Internet. Years ago it was hard for a customer to actually find a manufacturer never mind communicate with them. If they did find a manufacturer, the manufacturer didn't want to talk to them. Manufacturers weren't set up to talk directly to customers never mind sell to them. Now the Internet has changed everything.

Now it's easy for customers to find manufacturers, they just Google them. You have their web site with their phone numbers, physical location and descriptions of their products. The Internet has enable easy “customer to manufacturer” communication. Manufacturers have now found that it's very cost effective to communicate and sell directly to the end users. Even manufacturers who didn't want to sell direct are being forced to sell direct in order to stay competitive.

Only the biggest mainline manufacturers with established distribution networks and strong retail store and/or pro shop sales can now afford to forgo direct Internet sales. Any start up company now has to have strong Internet sales as a major component of their marketing plan. Five years ago most manufacturers didn't even have a web site. This year most every booth had their URL prominently displayed at their booth and on their literature. (Note: Some of the biggest manufacturers are selling direct on the Internet but most do so under different company names.)

The Internet has changed customer to manufacture communication which in turn is changing the PGA Show. Now the PGA Show has to change it's role to match the modern marketplace. Years ago every golf course literally “had to” go to the show to put in most of their orders for the year. Now the customers can just go “on-line” and place an order 24/7. If they have a question they don't have to wait to have a face to face meeting with their rep. They can just e-mail their question and get a prompt answer. They don't have to wait “to see” a new product at the show. They can see new products on the Web as soon as they're released. Years ago manufacturers saved their new products for a big introduction at the annual show. Now manufacturers release new products throughout the year.

The bottom line is the PGA (and Reed Expositions) can't count on “customers” having to come to the show any more. Attendance is down from the show's peak probably in 2000. My prediction is that attendance will continue to slowly shrink unless the PGA finds ways to make customers “want to” come. They also have to find ways to make manufacturers want to come because for what it costs to exhibit at the show they can now get a lot of marketing bang in other ways. While the annual PGA Show will continue to be important in the golf industry it's no longer the “only show” in the golf marketing world.

Next week I'll cover some of the interesting products and trends I saw at this year's show.

Joe Davidson - Publisher
Different Strokes Golf Newsletter