Aqualung Changing with the Times

[PhilEllis]

Oh, the signs of panic in a very bad economy.

Phil Ellis
www.divesports.com

 

[Wookie]

Looks like Aqualung has gone online for equipment purchases. How the mighty have fallen.

So, I was perusing Undercurrent this morning, about the same time I saw this thread. Here is a quote form the article Divers, the Internet and the Industry

For decades, we’ve heard the rallying cry “support
your local dive shop.” In the 1950s, companies like U.S.
Divers sold gear by mail, but in the 60s dive stores began
to spring up. Skin Diver Magazine carried ads for discount
dive stores like Central Skin Divers in New York City;
ads for discount camera houses followed and soon discounted
Nikonos cameras were part of photo store ads.
Dive stores didn’t like the competition, so when Rodale’s
Scuba Diving Magazine was introduced in the early ‘90s it
refused ads from mail order houses; in return most dive
stores stopped selling Skin Diver, replacing it with Scuba
Diving Magazine. Skin Diver’s circulation fell, along with
advertising revenue, and after efforts by several publishers
to resuscitate it, the magazine stopped publishing in
2003.

So, not having been in the industry since the early '90's, all I can do is follow what I read. What I see here is that mail order scuba gear used to be the norm, and U. S. Divers (the predecessor to Aqualung) was right there in the thick of it. Rodale's Scuba Diving magazine changed the industry all by themselves. Any comments from grumpy old guys who can remember that far back?

Frank

 

[mike_s]

Oh, the signs of panic in a very bad economy.

well Aqualung is going to learn a hard lesson that in a bad economy, people don't rush out to pay "list price" from a website when they can buy it cheaper elsewhere..

 

[djb_1965]

Seems to me they are going the wrong route. They should be making it easier for small shops to handle their gear. The more outlets available, the more opportunities for sales. More service support would be available. They can sell all they want online, but when there are no longer places to get stuff serviced then what? Diving with unsafe gear? In my business, when someone goes to a home center and buys what ever, then calls me to install it, well the price of service just went way up. Just saying the same will happen in the scuba industry, buying online is not always the most economical route in the end.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

What I see here is that mail order scuba gear used to be the norm, and U. S. Divers (the predecessor to Aqualung) was right there in the thick of it. Rodale's Scuba Diving magazine changed the industry all by themselves. Any comments from grumpy old guys who can remember that far back?

Frank

Well...it was more than just Rodales and local dives shops revolting against Skin Diver magazine selling add space to large mail order retailers like Central Skin divers, Barry Scuba and the third one I can never remember. The rise of the internet itself had something to do with it.

And to be honest, the late 70's through the entire 80's portion of the mail order era was a monumental low point in US Divers / Aqualung quality. They sold some real crap during that time, but then turned it around quality wise and got back in the LDS game, initally as a lower cost alternative to higher end companies that shops could carry with another line and eventually moving back into the higher end market themselves.

 

[k ellis]

I am proud of Aqualung for doing the online sales. Its great for there are some places out there where people have to drive hours to get to a dive shop. If you save 20 dollars by driving say 3 hours to the shop it would cost more then simply buying it online.

I have bought both in shop and over the internet. I try to buy when possible through the LDS but when there is a substantial ungodly savings by going over the net then I am like anyone else. paying 30 or 40 dollars more in shop can result in loss of food for household and so forth.

Im not going to bad mouth my LDS because the mere fact is I love my LDS and appreciate their loyalty in exchange for mine but I do beleive in fair game too. If I want something and am on a budget I check with the LDS first and give them an opportunity to net a price within my reach.

there were post on here about MSRP and I agree that MSRPs are usually designed to fatten wallets but they are not absolute. You go to a shop and say "Aqualung has this product for 195 dollars can you beat it?" Chances are they want the sale in their till so they will do so.

In the end though I must repeat that I do appreciate aqualung at least began to recognize their are people out their who would rather do a 10 minute online purchase as opposed to 8 hours of round trip driving for a simple product.

 

[netmage]

there were post on here about MSRP and I agree that MSRPs are usually designed to fatten wallets but they are not absolute. You go to a shop and say "Aqualung has this product for 195 dollars can you beat it?" Chances are they want the sale in their till so they will do so.

I walked into the McDonalds (ya know - billions and billions served) of Chicago Scuba Diving - and inquired about a custom CLX/450 & I had the measurement form in hand, as filled out by Faith (DUI's sales mgr from a Dog Days event @ Gilboa)... I was told w/ a straight face, they couldn't do anything off MSRP... Mind you this is a $2800 suit... and all they had to do was place the order. I ordered from a shop in Canada at 45% off msrp, after taking all costs into account.

If you wish to support your LDS like the bleeding heart charity it seems to be - have at it... you won't get the deduction come tax time. Your just throwing money away. I have to work for my paycheck; too many LDS's seem to exist like its some entitlement, and its your responsibility to fund their hobbies and warm water vacations...


-Tim

 

[PhilEllis]

I am proud of Aqualung for doing the online sales. Its great for there are some places out there where people have to drive hours to get to a dive shop. If you save 20 dollars by driving say 3 hours to the shop it would cost more then simply buying it online.

Hey, apparently Aqua Lung no longer feels that online sales of their scuba gear is a bad thing. After all, THEY have begun to sell their scuba gear online. However, their very large dealer network IS NOT allowed to use this market method to sell THEIR inventory. I guess they are expected to route customers to the Aqua Lung ecommerce website, and accept a store credit to their account as payment for "directing" a customer to the site.

Over and over, we see various companies taking a pretty large move (Aqua Lung selling products online is CERTAINLY a large move), without first defining a plan for success from that move. It seems to me that if any company now decides that selling online is ok, they would unleash the power of their dealer network to sell online. Otherwise, they make a big move without a big expectation of success.

It is obvious that MANY scuba companies simply don't understand how ecommerce works. If they did, they would not be making such big philosophical moves in such ham-handed ways.

IN MY OPINION, there IS a route to online sells success for companies like Aqua Lung, but it will NOT be achieved without an understanding of WHY consumers are attracted to the internet as a shopping alternative.

Oh, and things do change fast. I was kicked out for quoting a price on the phone and offering to ship it to the customer. Now, they are selling direct online with a click and buy website. Oh well.

Phil Ellis
www.divesports.com

 

[widget]

Well...it was more than just Rodales and local dives shops revolting against Skin Diver magazine selling add space to large mail order retailers like Central Skin divers, Barry Scuba and the third one I can never remember. The rise of the internet itself had something to do with it.

There were quite a few Aquamaster but "Divers Supply" was probably the one you are thinking of, they had 5 stores if my ailing memory serves me well.
"Sports Merchandisers" and "Adorama / Ador-Aqua" were also quite popular.

Although Central skin divers and Berry scuba were really big, Divers Supply certainly took their share of the mail order business as well.

"Helix" in Chicago were also very big in the discount camera (underwater) business and I can remember buying at least 2 Nikonos 5's and strobes from them, still have them actually.

I think it was differant times back then as well (the 80's and 90's), scuba was just getting into the "main stream" market and manufacturers were cashing in, the discounters (mail order) were an integral part of this as they moved huge quantities of equipment (as opposed to the small mom and pop retailers) and this equated to a bigger market share. Pricing was very,very, aggressive and I cant think of any manufacturer that was not sold by at least one of the mail order houses back then and US DIVERS had a very big footprint in all three of these stores I think.

Aaah, those were the days.!

 

[mdb]

Aquamaster: You could be thinking of the old New England Divers-They had stores on both coasts and sold mail order with a full catalog. US DIVERS was one of their major suppliers. Their main store was in Beverly, MA.