Golfsmith International Inc. has entered into an exclusive partnership with The MoreGolf Group, the largest golf retailer in South Africa. The retailer said the agreement with MoreGolf signals a continuance of Golfsmith's global strategy aimed at forming strategic alliances to develop and market Golfsmith's brand assets. Golfsmith will reinvest the income generated from this new partnership into its core U.S. business.
In the past year, Golfsmith has formed new partnerships for its proprietary brands in Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and now South Africa.
MoreGolf is South Africa's largest retail, practice and play group, offering golfers unrivalled quality, the largest choice in golf and the best facilities to help them maximize their enjoyment of the game. The group includes The Pro Shop's retail chain and World of Golf experiences, two of the best known names in South African golf.
“Golf in South Africa has a long and illustrious history and because it is one of the great golfing nations we are thrilled to align with MoreGolf,” said Marty Hanaka, Golfsmith's President and CEO. “As South Africa's largest golf retailer, MoreGolf shares many of Golfsmith's ideals, offering an unrivalled golf experience to its customers as well as a platform for our continued global growth of our key proprietary brands outside the United States.”
Golfsmith's relationship with MoreGolf is unique in that it allows the largest golf retailers in their respective nations to share “Best Practices” in merchandising, operations, club fitting, sourcing, sales and marketing. Additionally MoreGolf will have an exclusive agreement to sell MacGregor golf products as well as Golfsmith's other proprietary brands throughout the entire MoreGolf group that includes The Pro Shop's 18 stores, its World of Golf facility and 3 World of Golf villages.
“The ProShop has retailed golf equipment for the last 35 years and strives continuously to improve its retailing skills,” said Rhys Hughes, Executive Director, MoreGolf. “For many years it has drawn inspiration from the business practices of the best golf retailers in the USA, and an opportunity to work with a leader in this field is a dream come true. There are strong synergies between Golfsmith and The Pro Shop. Global thinking, along with best international practice is becoming a pre-requisite in the continual search for an enduring competitive advantage. We have engaged with the Golfsmith team at various levels, and believe the chemistry is there to deliver on these synergies.”
