JJB Sports, which is still the major player in the British sporting goods retail market, has become the first “retail broadcaster” in the world through the acquisition of Golf TV. Using the Sky TV platform, this UK company says it operates Britain’s and Europe’s only dedicated golf channel, called The Golf Channel UK, and the world’s only 24-hour home TV shopping channel for golf products, called Golf TV Pro Shop.
The transaction follows 18 months of cooperation between JJB and Golf TV, whereby Golf TV Pro Shop has been featuring products that are available in JJB’s stores. It also follows the successful test of an interactive touch-screen kiosk in 26 JJB stores for the product range sold through the Golf TV Pro Shop. The kiosks are now going to be rolled out throughout JJB’s chain of 400-plus stores all over the UK.
Andrew Malcher, the 36-year-old founder of Golf TV, will continue to run the operation. Born in Harrogate, this former board member of the Electronic Retail Association of New York has been working in direct retail marketing for nine years. His TV pro shop has been selling standard golf clubs as well as innovative training aids. Supported by advertising, his golf TV channel has features a mix of golf reality shows, live LPGA coverage and educational shows.
In another move apparently intended to take some market share away from Blacks Leisure, JJB has set up dedicated outdoor corners in 20 of its stores as an experiment that may be duplicated at many other locations. It has also started offering some camping equipment on its own website. The store corners carry the camping equipment as well as outdoor clothing and footwear by such suppliers as Adidas, Hi-Tec Sports, Regatta and Sprayway.
As reported in the previous issue, JJB saw its sales slide by 4.3 percent on a same-store basis in the past financial year, scoring worse than The John David Group or Blacks Leisure. Like those two competitors, JJB enjoyed a rebound in the first few weeks of the new financial year, posting same-store growth of 5.8 percent.
