We made it to Episode 26 of the Behind the Golf Brand Podcast. In this week's episode I interview my friend Ed Byman, the Founder and CEO of Global Value Commerce. Ed's popular websites include GlobalGolf.com, GlobalGolf.ca, 3balls.com and upscale lifestyle retailer FairwayStyles.com.
Ed Byman is by far one of the smartest men I know, and has totally revolutionized the golf industry. In 2001, Ed assembled a highly respected golf industry team with an innovative concept to develop a market for preowned golf clubs. By leveraging their many industry contacts around the country, Ed's team became a trusted liquidation solution for the trade-in products. In reaching out to technology savvy golf enthusiasts and the growing eBay marketplace, they rapidly grew to be the leading online seller of preowned golf equipment. In 2006, Ed and his team moved beyond using eBay by launching their own proprietary website, GlobalGolf.com. Within a few years, Ed had created a market for the acquisition and sale of new and preowned golf equipment, and now holds a unique position in the industry by offering the discerning golf consumer a wide array of golf equipment through their vast array of websites.
We made it to Episode 26 of the Behind the Golf Brand Podcast. In this week's episode I interview my friend Ed Byman, the Founder and CEO of Global Value Commerce. Ed's popular websites include GlobalGolf.com, GlobalGolf.ca, 3balls.com and upscale lifestyle retailer FairwayStyles.com.
Ed Byman is by far one of the smartest men I know, and has totally revolutionized the golf industry. In 2001, Ed assembled a highly respected golf industry team with an innovative concept to develop a market for preowned golf clubs. By leveraging their many industry contacts around the country, Ed's team became a trusted liquidation solution for the trade-in products. In reaching out to technology savvy golf enthusiasts and the growing eBay marketplace, they rapidly grew to be the leading online seller of preowned golf equipment. In 2006, Ed and his team moved beyond using eBay by launching their own proprietary website, GlobalGolf.com. Within a few years, Ed had created a market for the acquisition and sale of new and preowned golf equipment, and now holds a unique position in the industry by offering the discerning golf consumer a wide array of golf equipment through their vast array of websites.
Today we play golf. Let me show you how we do it in the pros. Welcome to behind the golf grand podcast. I've never missed with the seven nine a conversation with some of the most interesting innovators and entrepreneurs behind the biggest names in golf. My friends were the golf clubs. I lived on the golf course. I lived on the driving range from pro talk. You should learn something each and every single run to fund from on and off the green. Why would you play golf? You don't play it for money. Just let me put the ball in the hole. This is behind the golf brand podcast with Paul libertory behind the golf brand podcast is sponsored by OnPoint. The revolutionary three-dimensional dome golf ball marker on point provides alignment recognition as small as a degree of inaccuracy from the planned course of the putt face angle endorsed by Jim Furich us open champion and 17 time PGA tour winner. On point alignment technology has been proven to increase putting performance and help lower your score. Visit OnPoint golf.us, and be sure to use code[inaudible] for a 10% discount on point, make more putts
Speaker 2:What's up guys, Paul from golfers authority. Welcome to the behind the brand podcast. This week, I have a very, very, very special guest. I feel like he's probably the smartest guys. I know I say that some people, but like for real is when you hear that some of the stories and what he did over the course of his career, it's just mind blowing this week. I've ed Byman from global golf or Asha, the cobalt commerce brand like mega brands. It's amazing what this man has done over the last 35 years, 40 years. Um, and, and the golf industry has really changed it. And so I was really excited when he said to be on the show this week. So without further do this is my fed ad from global golf. Welcome to show. Hey, Paul, how are you glad to be here? Thanks for having me. So where are you right now? Where are you? Where are you located? I'm in Raleigh, North Carolina at our headquarters. And, um, we have a, uh, uh, an HQ here and then we have a, uh, distribution center in salt Lake city as well, and one in Canada and, Oh, wow. Yeah. So I know I said gold global golf, right. But it's actually a bunch of brands, right? So the global value commerce is the, is the overarching company. And then we have course global golf.com as our flagship site, but we also have, uh, three balls.com. We have fairway styles, which is a, a, an apparel high-end apparel company. And then, um, uh, we have the PGA value guide. Amazing. So we have a bunch of different properties that we own and operate. Yeah. So there's a parent, the parent's global value commerce. And then it's right below that you have your, your other subsidiaries, I guess you could say brands. Yeah. That's so cool. So then I'm at your first question. I'm gonna ask you today. I'm gonna go back way back is like, when did you first start golfing? Like what was your first memory
Speaker 3:Of cough? Yeah, well, you know, I, I grew up in upstate New York and Kingston, New York. Okay. So, um, it's kind of like 90 miles North in New York city, right on the Hudson river. And, um, started playing golf with my dad when I was about 11 years old and, um, you know, and really just took to it. We've we belong to a club up there called Wiltwyck country club. And we had a pretty good group of junior golfers that, um, that emerged out of that, that setting. And, and we played summer, we played like Dawn til dusk every day in the summer. It was, it was crazy. And I really got, you know, good, pretty, pretty fast and, and, uh, played high school golf there and we won the state championship. And then I won the JC junior, New York state JC junior title. Oh, wow. Um, and then it went to, uh, the, the national, which was in, um, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and, um, played there. I finished, I, I think I finished in the top 15, but that was Ben Crenshaw won it. And, um, yeah, I remember a guy named Eddie, Eddie Pierce. He was a really good player back then as well. Anyway. So I figured I could play a little golf and, um, I ended up going to college at the university of Connecticut, which was kind of like a family school. So, but we were able to win the sectional championship a couple of times and played in two NCAA tournament. And, uh, I was fortunate enough to make the cut play and play and all those. And then I played a lot of summer golf, uh, from my college days and a lot of amateur golf. And then my real breakthrough, uh, came Paul, when I, I played in, uh, was invited down to play in Mexico through a, a friend who was, um, he was at Guadalajara country club. So I played that down there and played in his tournament, meant several other smaller tournaments around some back cities in Mexico. And I won several of them and I was invited to the Mexican national amateur. Oh, wow. So I ended up playing it. That was a big city. I think it was 90, 73, maybe 73, something like that. And ended up winning that trash. So was the first kind of breakthrough. And then I came back, I ended up turning professional and I was invited to play in the mix national open. And so that was the next year in 74. Hmm. And, uh, it was actually at the same club that they play the, uh, the, the, the tour tournament right now, club to golf to pull to pack. So the one that you see on TV is the one that I want on. And, um, so it was a good field. Lee Trevino was in the field, um, along with several other, uh, PGA pros. But for some reason, man, I was just hot that week. And I ended up, um, uh, winning that tournament. I got to play with, uh, Trevino, the last two rounds, Oh my God, I've finished. Like, I think eight, eight or nine under. And that was, it was sort of my breakthrough. Cause I was able to play after that when I was able to play everywhere in the world on an exemption except for the PGA tour. So I played Canadian GAAP Canada's tour. I played South African tour. I played the Asian tour I played in, um, in Japan. So I played all over the world for probably two or three years. How fun traveling around, playing a lot of golf. And then I finally qualified for the PGA tour in 1978. And, um, you know, I had my moments, I, I think, I think my official record is I think I played in 25 tour events and made 13 cuts or something like that. And, um, just wasn't able to really break through and feel like I could win on a consistent basis. And back then it wasn't, it was not, there was, wasn't an exempt tour. So you had to qualify if you didn't make the cut the previous week, you had to qualify on Monday. And, uh, so it was a, it was a tougher grind. And I remember the first year I was out there, the, the leading money winner, I believe was Tom Watson that year. And he won 300,000. That was the, that was the leading money winner for the whole tour. So to make any money at all, you really had to be a, be a player. You know, you really had to win some tournaments. I didn't feel like I could, I could do that. Ultimately. And then in 1980, uh, I decided to leave the tour and I came back to Raleigh where I was living. And, um, I got to know a lot of the tour reps that were on the tour and, and they introduced me to this company called E tonic golf shoes. Do you remember that brand tonic golf shoes? And I became their sales rep, uh, here in North and South Carolina. And then I added Cobra golf to that the following year. And so I built this sales agency that called on, you know, golf professionals in of course retail stores, primarily in North Carolina and Myrtle beach area. So I did that for, like I say, 20 years really, um, had a, had a great, great time. Great. The success was fortunate enough to win salesman of the year, several times with, with the brands that I represented and, um, uh, you know, really enjoyed that really enjoyed that experience, but also had, uh, had a, you know, kind of an entrepreneurial bent if you will. And I started a couple of other companies during the time that I was a sales rep. One was a, um, a company that was a licensing agreement with Walt Disney company that we made these Donald duck hats and Daisy duck hats and Mickey mouse hats on if you've ever seen those things, that they still sell them at the parks, but we were the first ones to design that and, um, ended up selling that company, um, after a couple of years and exited successfully there. And then I had a friend a few years later that wanted to do something in the computer business. So we, we just, it's kind of like a, um, we sold computer parts is what we started with, but then we, we went to a trade show in 94, 95, and then all they were talking about was the internet, you know, internet. And that was like, you know, and introduced to the internet very, very early on, probably before most people never heard of it. So we started one of the first ISP in Raleigh. We, uh, ended up building a piece of software, this really bright kid from NC state, uh, came on board and he built this piece of software where you could design your own website in real time online. So we ended up selling that to a company called geo cities. I remember them. Yeah. And then they were acquired by Yahoo. So we ended up, you know, doing well there. So then I, I finished that up and I, and I said, well, what am I, what do I want to do next? You know? And I, one of the things that said, well, I know I want it to be involved with the internet, right. Because I just felt like that was just beginning to, I was beginning to understand what the implications of war. And, um, so I got thinking about it. I mean, you know, one of the things, when I was a salesman sales rep out there, I would go into people's shops and I would see in the corners of shops, a lot of pre-owned golf clubs, you know, people would take it the odd trade. And of course they only had their membership to sell it to so, you know, it had to be a perfect fit, but they had all these clubs laying around of every people saying, you've mad if I can get rid of this, all my profit for the year sitting in these corners. So I ended up, um, figuring what let's put these two ideas together. So, um, we really founded global a global e-commerce in 2001 with the vision of bringing structure and stability to the pre-owned marketplace, the pre-owned club marketplace. So we ended up building the first value guide, the first, uh, global health price book. And, um, and now of course it's the PJ value guy. So we, we developed that. And then we just went around the country telling retail Taylor's one of the first retailers, big retailers that came on with us was golf galaxy. And they used our price book to effectively take trades in their stores. And then they sent all the trades to us. So they did, and we paid them full price for the trades. So we supported the trade in program. Um, and of course the retailers loved it because for every dollar that they took and trade, they probably sell five or$6 at the register. So it really, it really kind of created a new currency for them consumer that they didn't really know that they had, they had these clubs that they weren't using, but now they could trade them in for dollars to spend on whatever they want to spend it on, whether it was another new club sure. Or whatever. Right. So we really, um, that was in 2001, as I said, we started, so we got the product in and slowly grew the supply chain. It didn't exist. And we sold all the product on eBay that was sort of a marketplace that, um, had a, had a nice following for golf equipment. And, um, we were very, they're successful. They're one of the largest dealers on, uh, on eBay. And then eventually, and it was 2005. We launched global golf.com. And, uh, so we, we kind of did our proprietary sites if you will, and to they, we still sell on, on eBay, but it's, it's really kind of a, um, almost a liquidation channel for us rather than a, uh, the primary channel. So, um, so we became really, um, you know, I, I was very fortunate all cause I was able to hire a group of guys that work for a company called art.com. They were a large internet company that sold, um, prints and, and that type of stuff online. They did about 30 million back in 2004 or five. And they ended up getting acquired by a company called all posters.com and they wanted everybody to move to them, their headquarters somewhere on the West coast. And these guys didn't want to go. So I was able to hire some really senior developers and they really transformed the company, brought us into e-commerce on our proprietary sites. It's relatively easy to sell new equipment online. You know, you have one skew and many products behind it, but when you have hundreds of thousands of unique skews, which really is what a pre-owned club is, you have to have a very, very unique infrastructure to be able to support that. So they built all that and, um, really brought us to where we are today. We've continued to grow every year, our existence. And, um, you know, we support really when you think of pre-owned product, there's really really three, three places that you get it from. One is the manufacturer who have, um, Oh gosh, no, through trial programs, through demo clubs, through rental clubs, they have these clubs that they use to drive their brains. And, and after they've used them, we've set up now that all those products come back to us. So, um, and then we turn it around and, and sell them online. So that's one place, the OEM marketplace. And then, and then of course the region tailors, they, they, they have, uh, trade and programs that we support and the PGA pros, the tin network trading network, and we get the clubs from them. But then of course, direct to consumer, you know, that, um, on our website you can trade in clubs, uh, for, for credit or cash. And, um, uh, so we've been able to grow the supply chain, uh, nicely over the years and, and, um, really have, now we, of course we sell all the new stuff as well. Okay. And when we sell all the brand new equipment every year, all the new stuff comes out. Right. We do a nice business there, but we also have the pre-owned, which if you don't mind. And then the pre-owned really is it's, it's branded high performance product. Okay. It's not junky stuff. Okay. So, um, you know, if you, if you're willing to wait six months or a year and not have to have the latest and greatest, but still have really good stuff, uh, you can say have a lot of money. So we think we were able to effectively help grow the game, you know, help give product to people that maybe can't afford these four or$500 drivers and, uh, and get them involved in the game. So, um, you know, we've seen a lot of success and, and, uh, we continue to, uh, to, to build out the supply chain. We work with all the there's really two components to our business. One is the retail component where we interface with consumer, but the other one is kind of a solutions provider to the OEMs and the manufacturers and the, and the retailers. So we, um, you know, effectively, uh, have built a reverse logistics capability so that all the product that the OEM send out in the field, it comes directly back to us, all that product used to go there, the manufacturers then they used to have to get rid of it. And it cost them a ton of money operationally that take the product back in and then sell it back out. So now it comes directly to us. And, um, and then the retailers, as I said, uh, love it. And the, and the pros love because they can sell more product because they're unearthing this, um, trapped value that consumers have in golf clubs. And so now we're unearthing that. So, but that's the way that we've, um, kind of built the brands, uh, over the years. And, um, uh, we acquired three balls in 2018, which was our primary competitor. And then we acquired fairway styles, uh, which again is an apparel company that we own and operate. We bought that in 2018. So, um, it's been a, uh, an amazing, amazing journey, man. We've like I said, we've grown every year of our existence and I've been 14, it's enough to be able to hire stuff, really talented people to operate, run day-to-day operations of the company. And, um, uh, so it's, anyway, we're continuing to have fun with it and continuing to grow. And, and really now we have the largest selection of products of anybody for golf in the world because we have all the new stuff and then we have all the pre-owned as well. So it's, uh, it's, uh, um, been a benefit, you know, and of course this year has been an amazing year, as we all know with the COVID thing and, and battling that. But, but golf, I think did a nice job positioning itself as a safe activity. And they of course educated the, the consumer, they educated local government, state, government, even federal government, so that they allowed us to continue to play golf. And so I think the golf industry, a nice job there, they got best practices to keep it cleanliness and to keep it safe for consumers at the golf courses. And I'll tell you what, now we have seen growth this year. That has been phenomenal. I know you're, you probably look at all those numbers as well. But the thing that, uh, over the last several months, I mean, play is up 20%, 25% up year over year, which is just phenomenal. It's exciting, you know, to see golf, really take off and see people enjoying the game. So, um, we're, we're really happy to be a part of that.
Speaker 2:It's crazy to think, like, when I think of you and your brands, like you were literally probably the first, right. Like when it comes to e-commerce golf and you were there literally at the beginning of it, right. And then like how you were able to adapt and create. And I mean, it's, it's phenomenal. Like when I hear this story and I heard this, you know, we talked about before you and I offline, you know, before, and it just, it amazes me that like how you grew the so organically too, because, you know, it's, you saw a need in the market. Like you stumbled upon it and you're able to take what you, the sport you loved with what you knew with like entrepreneurial and, and then seeing how the internet was taking shape. And you're like, I'm gonna put it all together and then finding a need, because, you know, like you said, back, you know, back in the mid nineties, early two thousands, there was no secondary market for golf clubs. It was like, it was sitting in the corner somewhere, or it was getting donated to a thrift store. You know what I mean? Like,
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. The odd guy would take trades. Uh, you know, the pros would take trades, but the pricing would be, uh, different in Phoenix versus what it would be here in Raleigh, depending on if the pro thought he could sell it. Right. So we brought that structure to the, the pre-owned marketplace. And, um, and now it's really, uh, you know, we, we like believe that we, we sort of power, we're kind of the authority voice and pre-owned pricing in the country and really in the world, they use our, our values. And, um, you know, so we, we really sort of power the secondary market in golf now. And, uh, we're really excited that we can bring this to the consumer, uh, bring good quality pre-owned products. Like, as I said, branded high-performance products, uh, to a whole group of people that maybe before couldn't, couldn't afford to get the best equipment. And I think we've helped the OEMs because of people that couldn't afford say a tailor-made$550 driver. They can start with a tailor-made, this may be a couple of years old, and then as they grow professionally, then they can move up and buy that new one eventually. So we think we've done, uh, our part anyway, in, in helping the, uh, the industry grow. And, um, and to be able to support, that's been a, been a fun, uh, an endeavor for us.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you think about it too, like golf has always been a very inclusive sport, right? It's either, if you, if you didn't have the money you didn't play, right. I mean, that's, and what you're able to do through what you've been through your development of your site and just growing this whole line of industry is like, make it so that Prince, anybody can play because you don't have to, you know, you can get a good high quality product. That's a couple of years old, that's barely even used, right. That will still do the same job. And then you're allowed to bring more people into the sport, which I think is awesome.
Speaker 3:That's right. So, you know, we get that product in and it goes through a bunch of checkpoints and make sure that it's in good working order. Uh, we clean it up. Sometimes we refinish it, uh, put a new grip on it if we need to. And so it's, it's a good product. I mean, it's when people get it, they they're, they're pretty well amazed at that. The quality of stuff that they get. But one of the exciting things that we've recently developed, all that I wanted to touch on with you was, um, we introduced, uh, you know, you try to the, uh, to the golf industry a couple of years ago. And basically what you try is, is a direct to consumer demo opportunity. So they come to global golf.com in the upper. Now they see a, you try button, they click on that and they go to, uh, a page that has all the major brands, all the major product categories, and they can choose. They want to try again to say the tailor-made new SIM driver or whatever. They click on that. We ship it to them for 25 bucks. They can try that club for two weeks at their home playing their own course, using the golf ball. They usually use in a relaxed setting and convince themselves that this product helps them play better. If they, if they like it, they get to keep that club because it's brand new and we send it to them and they get to keep back club and they they'd pay us the regular cost minus the a, the$25 fee. And if they don't think it helps them play better, they stick it in the box. We ship a return label with it. They put the label on the box, they send it back. And we're good. So the, the manufacturers have loved it because it, it, again, it gives people an opportunity to try their product in a safe way. Now, with the COVID thing, it's even more accepted because you don't have to go into a store, it comes directly to them. We're very, uh, you know, we, we have all the sanitation stuff in our building, so everything is checked and cleaned thoroughly twice a day. So we think it's a really neat way for people to try product X way. And it's far better than going into a nap or going to a demo day and you're giving it, everybody's watching and you feel nervous. And you know, now you can do it at your leisure man. You can play it by your home course. And then now, you know, on the fifth hole say, here's where I usually hit my driver. Well, if you hit this driver pass that point, that's immediate feedback. You realize, yeah, this is better. So we're excited about that. And, uh, and that's continuing to grow for us. So we're really thrilled with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. When I first saw that, I was like, Oh my God, it's brilliant. Because you know, you don't, you go into a golf store. Right. And you don't know what driver's good. This is one reason why I start my website. I didn't know. You know what I know. I don't believe what I'm being sold. Right. I walk into a shop or like, Oh yeah, they're just trying to sell you something at 10 bucks an hour. So it's like, you've already done your research. And here it's like someone there's no, it's very low stress, right. For the person, because it's like, you know, they've asked their friends, they do a little bit of research online and now they want to go test it. I don't really know of any golf store that you can walk into and be like, Hey, Kyle hit that driver at my home course for two weeks and I'll bring it back. But I don't like it. That would never happen in a million years, then$650 right now. And you know, and here it's like, you literally can test out whatever. I mean, you guys have a huge list of products. It's not just drivers. It's like Ayers and
Speaker 3:Putters and everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's like any club you want to try out, you can do it on you try. And if you'd like it, and it actually helps you, then you can finish the transaction and buy it. And if you don't, you can send it back and try a different one. You know, that wasn't, I mean, that's, that's like, that's a breakthrough right there, you know? And I think, I don't know of any other sport that really does that honestly.
Speaker 3:Right? Yeah. We, we felt that one of the, the final hurdles to selling new product online was that people wanted to touch it. They wanted to feel it, they wanted to experience it. So this overcomes that objection of, of buying something that you haven't tried. And, uh, we think we really have a chance to, um, you know, to dominate the online sales of new inline product with this new feature. So we're, uh, we're excited about it and it just continues to grow over the last several years. And we're really just now getting the word out about it. And, um, it's exciting to see. And I think people, I mean, 99% of our feedback, maybe better than that is, is really positive. People are excited to be able to test the product. They just think it's very seamless the way it works. And, and, uh, so that's a good experience. And I, and I think to your point, it's, uh, it's something that was needed in the marketplace.
Speaker 2:It is so innovative, honestly. I mean, I can't think of another way, like, I don't know. I think more branch should follow that. Well, actually I don't, because then they'd probably be covered
Speaker 3:Unique infrastructure, get back a lot of product that people that they try, that, that isn't quite what I want. So you get a lot of that product back now. It's used to have the environment to be able to sell that product. Now we're uniquely able to do,
Speaker 2:Yeah, you guys, are you guys in the best position? I mean, it'd be cool too, if you did that with, I don't know if you could do this. I mean, the clubs make sense, you know, but I feel like we're to expand it. Like I wonder, I don't think you could do it's like, what about balls? Right. Like,
Speaker 3:Well done is one thing we've done is a rangefinders. We now have those, uh, you, can you try those, you know, the good range drivers are 500,$550. You can check those out and, um, and, you know, see if you enjoy that, if you enjoy it and you keep it, if not send it back. So we're, uh, we're expanding it out and looking for more opportunities to, to be able to give people that comfort, to try something and convince themselves that it's worth their money.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I just think that's so innovative. Seriously. That's an AR game changer. It's almost like you think about your trajectory, right? So you went from use clubs, which was a game changer because no one was really selling you as clubs. You use the platform, use the eBay, right. Because every 2000 and 2005, that was like the heyday of eBay. Right. Everybody's, you know, and it's kind of slowed down, I think, just because it's kind of a pain in the to use, but, you know, and then you c hanged the whole industry when it comes to use product. And now you're changing the industry as it comes a new product, because you can just test it yourself, right. Without very low stress. Like, I d on't k now.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's been an interesting ride because, you know, we, we, we became noted a notice in the beginning because of pre-owned, but, um, you know, we, we got really good at selling product online. Now, the experience was good. The navigation was good, the checkout was seamless. So we were really had a lot of support from consumers, but they came to say, I really want to buy some new stuff from you. So that's when we started to get into selling all the new stuff as well. And then we thought, well, what's the last hurdle to really selling new inline product in the, in the online environment. And that was really where you try came from, you know, as a, as a golf professional in my past life, you know, I was used to trying a lot of product downloading a lot of products and I just know how valuable it was. So anyway, so we were able to develop that whole protocol for that. And it's worked out really well. And I think the consumers have really embraced it now. And we'll really start getting the word out now more. And, and, and now that we've got the operationally, everything's worked out really well, so we're excited about it.
Speaker 2:Well, I first heard about it. I was just like, you know, I know about six months ago and I just was so blown away. Cause I was like, this is really going to change the market because I don't know. I just, another way of making people part of the game of golf with very little stress. Right. And then especially it's direct to them and they can just send it on back. They don't like it. I mean, you can't make it any easier.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. We're excited about that. So that's been a biggie.
Speaker 2:So, so on global golf right now, you guys sell all new equipment. Right. You sell, you use it, you have the premier used equipment, right. Like you had the, you try and then you also have a fairway styles. Can you tell us a little bit about fairway styles that that's, that's the apparel, right?
Speaker 3:It is. Yeah. It's um, it's, it's apparel, it's a, it's a little bit of a premium brands brands. Uh, we acquired them in 2018 and we've, it's really starting to take off, um, you know, we have, um, kind of all the brands that you think about, you know, the Nike's and the Adidas is, but we also have the, you know, Travis Matthews and some, some of the, some of the brands that maybe you, you, that you haven't heard of a lot of. And, um, you know, th that we built that site. So we bought a site and then we, we, we redid the site to, to it. So it would sit on our platform and, um, and just refined it. And now, um, we're, we're building so that, um, you know, we have a loyalty program with, with global golf and now, you know, if you're on our loyalty program here, you're also a loyalty and fairway styles and three balls. So you get the benefit of using those loyalty points, however you want to across all the brands. So it's really been a, um, a nice, and that's, that's just rolled out here recently. So, um, yeah, fairway styles, um, it's a, it's a lifestyle brand. Okay. It's a, um, you know, it, it, it, it allows us to tell a story about that product and, um, and invite you to, to know more about it. And, um, it's really taken off. As I said, we have great relationships with our OEM partners. So anyway, so it's been a good, uh, a good ride. And, and this year with, uh, more and more people shopping in the e-commerce environment, because again, because of the COVID situation, uh, we find ourselves in, in e-commerce that we're probably four or five years ahead of the natural growth that we would have had normally there's that many more people that are searching and shopping online for that product. So, um, so that site's really, uh, having some fun with that site and, um, enjoying servicing, um, the consumers with some really, really cool product.
Speaker 2:What's really cool about, I mean, this, I opened up all, this is for the YouTube people, um, on the video, but like, you know, a fairway styles, it's all the cool apparel, right. And then it's in a way where you can be like, Oh, I want Puma. You go to Puma and it shows you all the Puma stuff. Right. And it's not, it makes it very easy. It doesn't get it. Sometimes I feel like a parallel gets lost on websites, right. Like deep inside the website. So it's almost like if you look for like the best place to buy apparel, go here, because he, they have everything, you know, and then it's like, you know, if you're a fan of Puma, if you're, or if you want to look by, you know, a certain type of product style, that's what I like about fairway style. This is very, very clean site. And you can just find what you need, like, and it's part of the global family.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And we sell a lot of, a lot of different products as well. We sell some high-end golf bags, they carry bags, we sell shoes. Um, so, and we're continuing to add more of a, kind of a curated, if you will products that maybe you don't find everywhere, you know? And, um, and I think people enjoy that. So, uh, we're, we're building a nice following there, and this is, we have the global side up and of course we're, uh, in have another major in the fall, man, what a treat for all the golfers, right? The half ambassadors here this week. So we're running some promotions around that and, um, we're, um, have of all the new product feature. And then if you scroll down even further, you see that, uh, that we're really offering some nice trade in values as well. So if you're, if you're looking to upgrade your product or just to get a gift certificate on global and buy whatever you want, we really have the highest trade in values of the ear going on right now, really, we really looked, um, took a deep dive into our, the way that we, uh, uh, price the pre-owned product. And we're offering more today for pre-owned product than we ever have. And that's been a function of the OEMs now have a cadence when they introduce new products or there it's a year, at least this in the marketplace for a year. So it allows us to, Hey, pay more for pre-owned product out there without the, the, uh, OEMs cascading product down and compressing the market. So we're able to pay a lot more per product right now, we start at a higher value, and then we run promotions that are 10%, 20%, sometimes as much as 30%, uh, over those values. So, uh, we're really focusing on, uh, driving this value to the consumer as we move forward into the spring. So we're going to have some exciting opportunity if people ever bought that, they might want to trade clubs now would be the time to do it because the values are just exceptional,
Speaker 2:Coolest frigging website. You guys. Oh my God. So like, I was just playing around with the trade-in and it's, it's so easy to use. All you do is you just pick your brain. Like you pick the club, you pick your brand, you know, you drill it. W you literally doing your drilling down into like the actual club you have in your hand. And then you say, Oh, this one I want to trade in. And then just gives you the price. Like, it's so simple. I mean, this is like high tech stuff. This is not just, you know, Oh, take a picture and send it in. Like, this will tell you exactly what it's worth. That's right. And then with the, you try, I mean, like you were saying before, it has everything really, you know, all the tech and golf clubs, if you want, you can select when all, you know, whatever one you want, you pick, uh, the price, you know, the pricing for a driver to wear just 25 bucks. And if for an iron set it's 50 right now,
Speaker 3:Which is a good deal. Yeah.
Speaker 2:The, try it out right. For two weeks. Yeah. Yeah. And then if you like it, yeah. You try right. What a great name. And then like, you send it back. If you don't like it, if you love it, you keep it. And no, that's perfect. Like the perfect scenario. And they literally have all the new drivers and I'm just going to drivers right now. I reviewed all of these so far, but, um, you know, it's not like, Oh, they don't have no, they have it all. So, I mean,
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a lot of good product out there now. Isn't there Paul, a lot of good product in the marketplace.
Speaker 2:We think it's going to happen. Like I, you know, I know you think you're still gonna release a bunch of stuff in the spring or they gonna, I'm gonna have to write the brands.
Speaker 3:I think the manufacturers are, are there. Of course all gonna introduce the, uh, the 2021 line. Matter of fact, I think Taylor, I rather, a title is just, uh, just launched and, uh, of course, TaylorMade and Calloway and Cobra and all those we'll introduce sometime after the first of the year, typically it's first, we're not having the PG a show this year. So that's when we start to see that product, but we usually get that in and, um, you know, February, January, February, and then you'll have all the new latest greatest, but, but then we'll also have last year's models on youth tri, which will be at a lower price. So now if you wanted to try something that was a year old, and maybe it's only going to cost$300 50, you can try that one out. Really. We just launched that a year ago. That's been a big addition for us because people have wanted to try even last year's models there, but again, they're brand new. And, um, and they're again, high quality, high performance branded clubs. So by extending that, I think we've, again, help that guy that maybe couldn't afford the 500 to$600 for a new product. The other thing that we're going to do with you try just so your, your consumers will know is that we're going to start to launch premium shafts, upgraded premium shafts in the drivers. So if someone has, has a friend and he said, Hey, man, I got custom fit. Now I've got this special, uh, you know, shaft in this driver it's really helped me out. And so we're going to have probably the top 10 most popular shafts available in these drivers come spring time. And, um, so that'll be another, um, opportunity for, and maybe you'll be the better players. That'll, they'll really gravitate to that. But, uh, I know I would have loved to have had that available to me as I was looking for new new opportunities to hit it a little bit further or whatever. So that's another extension of you try that you'll see in the spring,
Speaker 2:It's phenomenal. I mean, it's so cool because what you can do is if you find the club you want, it's not like, Oh, here I want the G4 10 let's pretend right. The pink G four 10, and you just click it and then you're going to send it to them. It's not like, it's not, it's way more robust than that. It's like, literally you can configure the club, right? It's not like, you know, there's multiple models of the[inaudible] and then you can configure it. Even, you can really drill down the club into what you really would want to hit. You know, it's not like you're getting a, uh, demo club at a course and they're like, Oh yeah, but that's not the shaft you're going to be hitting anyways. You know, like it's almost, it's almost like custom fitting the person. If they know what they want, it's making it very easy for them to get what they want.
Speaker 3:And then we do have, uh, a number of, uh, uh, customer service. We have a number of PJ professionals in there and then really, really good seasoned, uh, customer service, people that understand the golf equipment and they can help you fit it. So you get the, you try driver in there and you want to change some of the, the weight distribution in the head and, and, uh, that type of thing. They can walk you through that if you, if you don't know already how to do it. But, um, uh, I think that there's a great value there. We really have some high quality inside sales, customer service, people that help people find the club. That's just right for them.
Speaker 2:I wasn't kidding. When I say this to the smartest people, I know like seriously, because what this, what they've done and what he has done over the last 25 years in golf is just, you know, there's no one that no one can touch it right now. And it's always, it's always building on, you know, and that's why I like so much about using, working with global call is like, literally, you can get whatever you want and they approach it the best price because they know the secondary market and they have the primary market. And if you're not sure on the primary market, if what to buy, you can do you try, which only costs you 25 bucks. So it's not like, you know, I don't know of any other brand that can do that. Actually. There's no other brand that can do that.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, thank you, Paul. We're we're, um, you know, we continue to try to think of new ways to, um, serve the consumer in a, in a better way. And, um, I think we do have some, some good, a good selection of products. It's easy to find them through our navigation. It's easy to check out. And then of course the selection is beyond with, with new and pre-owned, and then of course the, you try. So, and I think, you know, th th the thing about golf men, it really, you know, you can spend a lot of money marketing, but I think the real it's golf is word of mouth industry. You know, people find out about cool things and things that are available by talking to their buddies and, and, uh, you know, talking to the guys at the local pro shops and, and this type of thing. And, and, um, so we're, we're, we're the, word's starting to get out that, that, that global is, um, a site that you should take a look at and really embrace a lot, a lot of cool things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would agree. I mean, I think global people need it if you're not, if you didn't know a clue who global was, I mean, this is there more than just one brand or multiple brands, and they really have their finger on the pulse of, of the golf industry and the products and what to buy when to buy it, you know? And I just think that's a, it's one of my favorite brands that work with is because they know, I mean, it's hard to find brands that know and actually care about the consumer, right? Like it's not, you're just buying a product from global and they're like, see you later. It's almost like they want to make sure that you actually get the product you want. And, you know, you really see that with the new, you try system, you guys came out with the last couple of years, um, and on the secondary market. So, you know, we're really excited to be working with you guys. Um, we're gonna be working closer with global the next couple months. We're got some big things happening and just really can't wait because there's, they're awesome. I don't know. I'll tell you,
Speaker 3:We're excited to get in front of your, uh, your consumers and, uh, and, uh, offer them some good service and, um, extend what you're doing to some degree. And, you know, you do a nice job of, um, reviewing clubs and reviewing, um, equipment that comes out and, um, and it's as much needed in the industry, you know, what, what you provide. And, um, so we're excited to get in front of your consumers and then extending the ability for them to plug in wherever they need to plug in, in the marketplace to, to enjoy the game and get the most out of their, uh, their game, their dollars. So we're excited to be working with them,
Speaker 2:You know, what's so great is when I started my website three years ago and started this whole endeavor, like, what I wanted was I wanted to find the right products for me. Right. And I didn't know how to do that. Cause I didn't trust anybody going into the store. I didn't know what I didn't thought. They only know what they're talking about. You know? And like you said before, like, you know, you asked your buddies, Hey, what's a good club or what should I get? Like my best friend has texted me last night because he broke his driver and he has a sales sales meeting with a big company. And he has called golfing is like, what driver do I buy? I'm like, well, I can tell what I'm eating, you know? And I'm like, and I'm like picking G for 10 plus. I was telling you guys that. So, you know, but that's what it is. Like, I like to expose brands that people haven't heard of to a larger audience. And what I really appreciate with working, going global golf and or we're doing together is that, you know, we have global called behind that and they have that library and all of a sudden, you know, information and actually getting it to the people so that they can make the right decision. That's good for their game. Not like I'm not looking to sell something to somebody and neither is global. You know, it's more like, Hey, get the right product for you. And that's kind of, what's really cool about this.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's an extremely, an extension of what you've tried to deliver to the consumer through what you offer. Good, good information about the product. And then, you know, extend it with us that, uh, we, we, we have the same philosophy. We want to make sure that the consumer is satisfied with what they bought and it helps them play better. That's really the deal. And then, you know, we're able to, we, we not, well, every club you're not using, we want to trade that in. So you can free up those dollars and get that trap value that, that just sitting there in your garage and you can spend them however you want. It's exciting to, um, to help, uh, grow this thing.
Speaker 2:So the clubs out here I could trade in,
Speaker 3:I started as those
Speaker 2:Two sets of clubs in here.[inaudible] I should go that process and record it and like, be like, Hey guys, you want to know how to train clubs, do this. Then I can do a video for you. That'd be cool
Speaker 3:Too. We'll get, you eventually
Speaker 2:Had covers covered back there too. Well, great. Well,
Speaker 3:I'll come out when the, when the world gets back to normal a little bit, I'll cut and make a, make a note to come out and visit you. And, uh, and, uh, uh, I'll sneak some of those clubs out.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for being on the show today. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy day. I know you guys like he's super busy, so he's running like the least three brands that I know of that will provide even more brands I don't know about, but you know, we really look forward to working closely with global and, you know, exposing good products, a good know offers and you help them in their game. And, uh, so yeah. Thank you for being on the show. You bet. Thank you, Paul. It's been a pleasure spending some time with you and, and, uh, chatting about our brands. And, um, again, we look forward to working with you and getting in front of your community. So thanks again. Great. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to another episode of behind the golf brand podcast, you're going to beat me, like stay connected on and off the show by visiting golfers authority.com. Don't forget to like subscribe and leave a comment. Golf is always more fun when you're winning, stay out of the beach and see you on the green.