The ball market has been as competitive as ever over the last couple of years with a plethora of new models, brand re-launches and acquisitions but it seems that retailers and consumers in the UK overwhelmingly prefer Acushnet’s ball offering above all others. Whether it is the quality and performance of Titleist’s line up from Pro V1 to PTS or the distance attributes and value for money of the Pinnacle franchise, Acushnet’s position at the top of the ball market has never been stronger.
Sports Marketing Surveys Ltd’s May Retail Audit report shows that Acushnet has a commanding 44.8% unit share of the UK golf ball market, more than the combined total of the next 7 companies. This position is even stronger when looking at ‘share by value’ with Acushnet holding 54.3% of sales revenue.
The encouraging aspect for Acushnet is that it is not just the all-conquering Titleist Pro V1 that is contributing to the growing market share. The SMS survey reveals that 6 of the top 7 selling golf balls, in terms of volume share, and the entire top 7 in terms of revenue, are all from the Acushnet stable.
Top 7 golf ball models by volume May ’03
1. Titleist ProV1 11.6%
2. Pinnacle Gold 10%
3. Titleist NXT Tour ;4.8%
4. Titleist NXT 3.7%
5. Other competitor model 3%
6. Titleist PTS SoLo 2.7%
7. Titleist Pro V1x 2.7%
Top 7 golf ball models by revenue May ’03
1. Titleist Pro V1 22.5%
2. Titleist NXT Tour ;6.1%
3. Titleist Pro V1x 5.2%
4. Pinnacle Gold 5.1%
5. Titleist NXT 4.8%
6. Titleist PTS SoLo ;2.9%
7. Titleist PTS Performance 2.4%
As John Peal, Acushnet’s European marketing director comments, “We are naturally delighted with these results as it proves that we are achieving our goal of producing a full line of golf balls to suit the needs of a wide variety of golfers and backing that up with first class service to our retail partners. It is also especially gratifying that Pinnacle is now clearly established as the #2 golf ball brand in the UK, having displaced the previous closest rival to Titleist earlier in the year.”
Acushnet www.acushnetgolf.com