GCSAA to launch Internet venture by year's end

Golf Course News, Dec 2001 by Overbeck, Andrew

LAWERENCE, Kan. - Despite industry objections and the general unwillingness of superintendents to purchase supplies online, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America has finalized its ecommerce strategy and plans to roll out the refined Web site before the end of the year.

When the association announced its ecommerce intentions in late April, the industry and superintendents bristled at the idea that the GCSAA would profit from the venture at the expense of its members. In order to gauge response, the association held a 90-day pilot program that was followed by a series of industry feedback meetings. By late summer, the association had abandoned its net market strategy (that would have levied a percentage fee on all transactions) in favor of a more traditional storefront model that protects existing distribution channels.

"People had it in their minds that the GCSAAhad already decided what they wanted to do with e-commerce," said Bryce Gartner, senior manager for Internet services for the GCSAA, who stepped into his role during the end of the pilot program. "Ilie industry and superintendents had opinions on where they thought we should take this. Since the pilot, we have changed the approach and gotten a more favorable response."

According toGartner, the store front model will preserve existing relationships between suppliers, distributors and superintendents.

"We are not trying to cannibalize the distribution channels or affect relationships," he said. "We are trying to take advantage of the traffic on our site and be the third party that helps our industry partners get together with buyers in a way that gets the local distributor involved in the process."

PRICING UNVEILED

The GCSAA's Internet program will offer suppliers and distributors relatively cheap Web exposure.

"We want to assist companies which have not built a Web presence yet and those companies that have," Gartner said. "The pricing will also be based on the number of products listed so that it is attractive to both large and small companies."

Participants will be charged a flat, annual "space" fee of $2,500 that includes hot links and keyword search capabilities. From there, the pricing will be divided into "single" and "multi" tiers based on the number of groups or levels in the storefront.

The base single-tier storefront, which is geared towards individual suppliers and distributors, will cost $2,000 and allow for 500 product listings. The more listings in a storefront, the more it will cost a supplier. For example, 1,500 listings will cost $4,000. The standard multi-tiered storefront, which is set up for larger companies that want different sections to manage individual distribution channels, will cost $5,000-per year. Companies will also be charged a yearly maintenance fee of 20-percent of the total storefront cost.

"What we have done is taken how contracts between suppliers and distributors are written today and made it electronic," said Gartner. "Companies can manage business through this site the same way they do it today."

DRUMMING UP SUPPORT

The next challenge for Gartner and the Internet services team is to drum up support for the storefront model. While most companies are happier with the storefront concept, some are not convinced that the Internet will be an important player in the short term.

"I don't know if this change will cause more people to participate or not," said Kim Ross, director of marketing and e-commerce for Simplot Turf and Horticulture. "Superintendents don't seem to be transacting online. We are not implementing e-commerce on our site right now, but we will evaluate everything on a case-by-case basis."

At press time, Gartner said that they had yet to sign agreements with any companies, but thatthere were "three or four that had expressed interest."

However, he is optimistic that the site can be launched this year. "We need to have critical mass before we launch it," Gartner said. "But we are in discussions with companies and we feel that we can do it by the end of the year."