Troggs

Shop Name: Troggs

Location: County Antrim, Ireland

Age of Shop (years trading): 22 years

Brands Stocked: Quiksilver, Roxy, Protest, Animal, Oakley, O’neil, Ripcurl, C-Skin, Alder

Website platform: www.troggs.com/

Andrew Hill who runs Troggs is a six times national champion. All of the employees at Troggs are experinced in their field. The updated surf report on their Facebook and Twitter is a means of keeping their followers updated.

How do you use social media to you advantage to promote your store?

We have Facebook and Twitter in which we keep very active. We write surf reports, offers and new products. These bring traffic to our page and keeps the customers informed bringing loyalty

What particular product has been the best seller?

Neoprene accessories

What are the benefits of having a physical shop over simply having an online store?

In the high season we get a lot of passing trade and people can come in and see our products. Our online store is like a portfolio or magazine of the shop. People often look online to see what we have before checking out the shop, therefore many people know what they want before they enter. However sometimes the internet in general can give customers false advice so it is good that with our experience in the industry we can advise our customers on what equipment to buy.

Which up and coming brands do you hope to stock in the future?

10 years ago we had a much bigger range of brands. However, now we think people are less ‘brand conscious’. Therefore we have less brands but that are more specific and tailored to our customers. In Northern Ireland they are less familiar to niche brands. We have brands such as ‘Old Guys Rule’ which sell well to the holiday customers (not really for the surfers) as gifts.

What have been the best three selling categories for you in the last 12 months?

Soft surfboards, summer wetsuits and hoodied vests. People seem to buy the latter instead of buying thicker wetsuits alot of the time.

Please tell us of any upcoming initiatives your shop has planned? (events, signings, re-vamps etc…)

We had a shop refurblishment in March. We have just been working so hard to keep the name ‘Troggs’ prominent to our customers.