Biggest thing killing dive shops?

[ystrout]

Some great points.

A hypothetical situation:
Let’s say you want to buy a piece of gear and every price at every LDS and all online sources is identical, including all taxes and any other fees.
What then makes you decide where to buy the item?

Amazon Prime is my first choice if I know what I want and they have it there. Amazing return policy, great customer service, and the ease of purchasing from my fingertips is why.

If I want to try something on or need advice, I'll go to the store I currently rent from and try it on and get the floor people's advice. Then I'll compare that to advice to my internet friend's advice and go from there.

 

[ystrout]

I blame millennials.

The 200M Smart Phone...
If you build it, they will dive!

They will probably die, but since they will be live streaming it, it will make recovery a cinch

Blame them all you want... That doesn't change the fact that all of your beloved 'local dive shops' are going out of business because they failed to target millennials and grow their business.

There's a huge market of millennials that are basically ignored by a good portion of the dive industry. You're not going to make your money by selling this group $3K of dive equipment. That comes later....

Dive companies need to use different platforms to reach this group. Figure out how to get them certified because they're not going to just randomly come to you, then make the dive process convenient. Delivery gear (partner with Uber or something), beach rentals, and dive charters where they show up and dive. 10 minutes of market research would show that this is would be more effective at banking off this group. Instead, the LDSs have the save business strategy as they did 25 years ago, and as those dives are getting out of the hobby, they have found themselves under hot water (little dive joke there).

Millenials make plenty of money these days, but they choose to spend it on experiences rather than thousands of $ of dive equipment. Plus, once this group does buy equipment, Amazon will beat the LDS time after time. The dive shops that are doing well boast their training programs and rental services.

Make the struggling shops should take notes grow with the market, instead of complaining that things aren't the way they used to be.

 

[arew+4]

I thought that was clearly, or at least partially satirical.

They are not to blame, but they are clearly much different than X-ers and Boomers. They are the first almost purely digital generation. There is a ton of research out there detailing those differences. Ystrout is correct if shops and agencies cannot figure out how to get them underwater, that's where they all will end up. These"kids" did not grow up watching the undersea world of J.C. and dreaming of doing it. With most things if there "network" isn't doing it neither are they.

Edit:
And that's in addition to wage stagnation, credential inflation, crippling student debt. In other words, the war against the middle and working class.

 

[Bob DBF]

That doesn't change the fact that all of your beloved 'local dive shops' are going out of business because they failed to target millennials and grow their business.

I would say the majority of Dive shops go out of business because they don't target anyone. They are living the dream from years ago and have not changed with the times, and resent those that have.


Bob

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Blame them all you want... That doesn't change the fact that all of your beloved 'local dive shops' are going out of business because they failed to target millennials and grow their business.

There's a huge market of millennials that are basically ignored by a good portion of the dive industry. You're not going to make your money by selling this group $3K of dive equipment. That comes later....

Dive companies need to use different platforms to reach this group. Figure out how to get them certified because they're not going to just randomly come to you, then make the dive process convenient. Delivery gear (partner with Uber or something), beach rentals, and dive charters where they show up and dive. 10 minutes of market research would show that this is would be more effective at banking off this group. Instead, the LDSs have the save business strategy as they did 25 years ago, and as those dives are getting out of the hobby, they have found themselves under hot water (little dive joke there).

Millenials make plenty of money these days, but they choose to spend it on experiences rather than thousands of $ of dive equipment. Plus, once this group does buy equipment, Amazon will beat the LDS time after time. The dive shops that are doing well boast their training programs and rental services.

Make the struggling shops should take notes grow with the market, instead of complaining that things aren't the way they used to be.

So I'm guessing that you are a millennial. Agreed on your statements, as one of the things I like about that generation is the emphasis on experiences over material possessions. The millennials finally got that one right as compared to previous ones.

So, I'm in Seattle. Water is cold, dark, weather sucks (hence my username). How can I appeal to millennials to try diving and investing in some gear so that they keep at it? What's the right approach? It is a tough sell, since most people going through OW just want to dive somewhere warm and sunny. Though there are good days to be had here, it takes a bit of resilience to not give up after not so good days. I do go on fun dives with students post certification, and provide my BP/W, regs, backup Shearwater. But they still need exposure protection.

 

[pconsidine]

Hold on to your wallet at Dive Tech... Dan is very well stocked with lots of shiny things

Dive Tech is awesome- The ToysRus for Divers

 

[Wookie]

So I'm guessing that you are a millennial. Agreed on your statements, as one of the things I like about that generation is the emphasis on experiences over material possessions. The millennials finally got that one right as compared to previous ones.

So, I'm in Seattle. Water is cold, dark, weather sucks (hence my username). How can I appeal to millennials to try diving and investing in some gear so that they keep at it? What's the right approach? It is a tough sell, since most people going through OW just want to dive somewhere warm and sunny. Though there are good days to be had here, it takes a bit of resilience to not give up after not so good days. I do go on fun dives with students post certification, and provide my BP/W, regs, backup Shearwater. But they still need exposure protection.

I agree that the youngest generation want experiences rather than commitments. Look at how they date, drive, and keep a roof over their heads. And travel. So, if I had a dive shop in Seattle and I wanted to get Millennials into my shop, I'd give them an experience. I'd go to their schools, meeting places (not the coffee shop) and gatherings. I'd offer pool classes at a price where you can make money for your time and pool, but not turn them off. The country club is an awesome place to do this, as is the "Y". The country club is better because the people at the country club have money, and the kids don't want to golf. Anyway, If I had a pool, I'd teach swim with an included pool session. Anything to get the kids in the water.

While they were dry, I'd show them a video of GPO and wolf eels and orcas and seal/sea lions and all of the exciting stuff they can see in the PNW. Not the slow old boring video us old pharts like, but something in the Go-Pro lineup. You might also show a shark feed in Fiji/Tiger Beach, or wrecks in Truk or wherever.

I keep hearing about dive shop owners whining about no customers, but many dive shop owners I personally know buy lots of expensive stock and hang out their shingle and wait for the customers to show up.

I have friends who own a dive shop in Houston. They use the country club pool. All of their customers have to pay the day fee to use the country club. Why? Because the country club is where most of their students come from. The kids want to do something on a Saturday aside from golf. So the kids take a try-a-dive. They get hooked, because it IS cool. They pester the parents to be allowed to finish certification. Then they convince the parents that they nee a dive vacation. Then the whole family gets certified. They don't dive forever, but selling a family of 5 a certification class (NASDS Store, they all buy a set of gear, and spend $1150 on an OW class) prior to their week on the Arenui is not a shabby deal.

 

[Sean Walberg]

How can I appeal to millennials to try diving and investing in some gear so that they keep at it?

Millennials seem to like to buy experiences rather than stuff. So rather than trying to get them to buy gear so they continue to dive, what about offering experiences where they don't need long term commitment? Getting them to spend money isn't always the problem -- they'll happily take an Uber rather than walk or take public transit.

- Dive weekend at the quarry, food/lodging/gear for one rate. Partner with someone else to have some kind of event that night, or even "watch some old Sea Hunt episodes projected on the side of a building and see how it was done in the old days".
- Guided trips to somewhere warm but not super-touristy, again, food/lodging/gear taken care of as part of the package, but advertised as targeted to the younger crowd and have some evening things planned.
- Adapt photography/videography courses to the social media/meme stuff the young'uns like.
- Pair coursework with practical stuff so that it's less about "take this class so you can do XXX in the future" and more about "we're going to do XXX and spend the first few dives learning".

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

We don't have country clubs so much here in the Northwest. Besides the universities in Seattle (U of W, Seattle U, various community colleges) there is Bellevue College that no one has tapped into. You guys have given me some ideas. Thanks.

 

[Wookie]

We don't have country clubs so much here in the Northwest. Besides the universities in Seattle (U of W, Seattle U, various community colleges) there is Bellevue College that no one has tapped into. You guys have given me some ideas. Thanks.

A lot of Community colleges have silly ideas that anyone who teaches there must have at least a Masters in something.

Now, I'm not going to say that you are wrong, ever. But here is the list of someone's 10 best country clubs in the greater Seattle area, including Bainbridge Island. You don't need 10 of them, you just need the right one.

Seattle Private Clubs and Country Clubs