Is your brand benched or on the field?

Batter up. It's coming on to summer, and there are all kinds of outdoor sports and games going on. If your brand is all about the sporting life, how can you make it stand out from the rest of the players in the retail space?

According to research from the National Association of Sporting Goods Retailers, while many purchases are researched online or "digitally influenced" because customers look up reviews of products online, nine out of 10 sporting goods, shoppers will visit a physical store before purchasing a product. You read that right: – brick and mortar stores are where nine out of 10 shoppers will make the decision whether or not to purchase your sporting goods product.

In the study, exactly one-half of purchases were made by shoppers who shopped in a physical store only. Another 38% of purchasers bought items both in a store and online, while 12% used online retailers only.

What does that mean for you – the brand? There are more than a few variables at play to make sure YOUR product is the one the customer chooses to purchase.

Do you know…

• Which of your products made it to the floor?
• What retailers you have the most engagement in?
• Days and times you have the most engagement, training and demoing?
• Where your demo display is set up?
• How does your product pricing and marketing material stack up against competitors?

 If the answer is no or “I don’t know” then let’s have a chat.

Brands that work closely with ThirdChannel found that 88% of the time a customer made a choice to purchase in-store after engaging with a brand representative or knowledgeable associate. Those brand representatives are also able to provide valuable data and insights on the ThirdChannel platform that helps you understand better where to spend your trade dollars.