2023 saw double-digit ecommerce growth across Future’s golf brand Golf Monthly, driving more than 4 million visits to its global affiliate partners. This performance was driven by a 21.7% growth in traffic to the brand’s buying advice content as players continue to rely on Golf Monthly as they search for game-improving equipment.
Future’s proprietary affiliate engine, Hawk, allows it to send hundreds of thousands of potential customers to golf retailers every month. In 2023, Golf Monthly affiliate links drove $15.5m of sales to retailers, up 51% year-on-year, across more than 261,000 transactions.
“Our focus over the past 24 months has been to create the number-one destination for golf buying advice, and this has really helped deliver for our partners in 2023,” said Golf Monthly Editor, Neil Tappin.
“From drivers to shoes, our expert equipment team has consistently created user-friendly reviews and buyers’ guides to help golfers of all levels find the right gear. These results underline the trust that’s been carefully built with the Golf Monthly audience.”
June was the biggest month of the year for the site, driving on average 15,000 clicks a day to partner retailers - resulting in a transaction every 90 seconds. July was a close second while December had the highest average basket value of the year.
Globally, transactions grew by 44% in 2023 with the average order value also increasing to $59.2 from $56.8 the previous year. In the UK, Golf Monthly saw the number of transactions grow by 43% in 2023 and this increased the value of reader's shopping baskets from £1.2m to £1.6m. Interestingly, the UK average order value was £37.9, suggesting UK consumers are more price-conscious than their US counterparts.
Throughout the year, Golf Monthly’s team of buying-advice experts update category guides in line with surges in search traffic. Through 2023, the leading categories for sales order value were:
- Package sets ($2m)
- Shoes ($1.4m)
- Balls ($1.2m)
- Bags ($1m)
- Irons ($759k)
Callaway was the most clicked golf brand over this period, followed by TaylorMade, Strata, Titleist and FootJoy.
“As golf continues to attract new players, it was encouraging to see the package sets category performing strongly, as well as some of the core online purchase sections such as golf balls and shoes,” said Tappin.
“Since September 2023, we have recruited four new editorial staff members. This will allow us to strengthen our buying advice whilst also driving new content initiatives to build the overall size of our global audience, both on and off platform.”
“Golf Monthly reaches more active buyers of golfing equipment than any other media brand,” said Commercial Director Matt Johnston.
”Alongside our Hawk widget, we have also introduced new contextual and behavioural targeting solutions, complemented by effective high-impact, high-viewability ad formats that allow all our partners to further engage with this high-intent audience at all points of the purchase funnel.’’
