Best brand of gear to sell in dive shop?

[ParrotIsalandDivers-com]

We're opening a dive shop soon and need to find good reliable brands. Regs that are simple to work on and a brand whose sales people and service department are customer friendly. We have had too much trouble with Oceanic and want to offer something better. Any suggestions?

 

[Poseidon8118]

I would go for Scubapro, Aqua-Lung (Apeks), and Sherwood (Genesis). All companies are extremely well supported in the US and the Caribbean, and have a complete product line. As for regulators all companies have entry level regulators to high performance for any diving type.

 

[SwimJim]

Something that you would dive yourself.

Jim

 

[CIRE320]

The brands that Poseidon listed are all good, and Jim makes a good point of selling something you would dive. As a dive shop employeei have 2 suggestions. First, look at other dive shops in the area. How close are they, will your customers check them out and vice versa, do you want to compete directly with them (same lines)? Second, look at whats on the internet. The internet is really hurting LDS business. Aqua Lung is our major brand, and it's a great brand, but it's all over the internet. Atomic is good about keeping stuff off the net, but their regs are expensive. Aeris isn't the net very much and have a pretty complete line. My 2 cents.

 

[Hoosier]

I would go for Scubapro, Aqua-Lung (Apeks), and Sherwood (Genesis). All companies are extremely well supported in the US and the Caribbean, and have a complete product line. As for regulators all companies have entry level regulators to high performance for any diving type.

I am with you. The best way is to see the market share locally and customer's preference.

ScubaPro:
Pros: one of the best product. easy service, the best network in the world.
Cons: pricey and delaer agreement (it can be your pros depending on your way of business).

Apeks:
Pros: one of the easiest service, tech divers' preference
Cons: pricey, too many competitors and self serviceable.

Sherwood:
Pros: cheap and easy service. good for the lower consumer market
Cons: just middle range of reg...

That's, all thing is about price and service (attitude). Study Larry at Scubatoys and try to compete with him unlike any other LDSs that are always whining and complaining.

Good luck

 

[scubapolly]

I would recomend a strong line of regs, that work well in the local conditions. Posideon makes some good suggestions (SCUBAPRO and APEKS) I personally haven't been very impressed with Sherwood.

 

[PerroneFord]

Well, this isn't a question you see every day.

Figuring out which line of gear to carry isn't easy. But it's all about reading your market and being able to sell to your customer base. If you've been carrying Oceanic, I'm guessing you are not a techincal shop. That is going to close off some things to you. People have mentioned ScubaPro, but you said you wanted something easy to service. There has also been talk about what is easy to get off the internet and that internet sales are killing LDS. I disagree. Internet sales are killing BAD LDS's.

Only you can determine who you want to be in the market. If you want to be a tech shop, then by all means look at Dive Rite, Halcyon, maybe OMS, DUI, Apeks (and no not all their regs are very high priced).

If you want the recreational market, I second the Aeris suggestion though I don't know about them from a B2B perspective. You are either going to pay through the nose to get a SP, or AquaLung license, the prices and margins will be high, but you can sell it with pride. Or you can look at selling smaller brands like Zeagle, Apollo, and others who make quality gear, but you may have to do more customer education.

Whatever you carry, service will be the name of the game. There are SO many ways to provide top service to customers I can't even BEGIN to describe. Attentive and knowledgeable sales staff are the number one way to keep loyal customers. Fair prices are another. You are NOT going to be able to compete favorably on price with internet businesses. Don't bother trying unless you want to be a volume shop. Offer the customer things they can't get on the internet, and realize you are going to lose some customers to internet sales from time to time.

Do you have any competitive advantages? Location? A pool to try out gear? A boat so that you can arrange customer trips? A local club that you can invite to meet at your shop and offer a discount to? Ask your loyal customers what they would like to see in the shop.


Obviously this is just a customer speaking who likes to support LDS's but has no qualms about internet buying either. The dive shops around me (within 2 hours) do BRISK business carrying smaller brands, because they understand their customer base explicitly, and they welcome them. They cater to their customers better than nearly any other businesses in any market I've ever seen. Their relationships with vendors are enviable, but it's hard won.

I'll be interested to see what you come up with there in Nashville or wherever this shop is going to be. Best of luck to you.

 

[mike_s]

There has also been talk about what is easy to get off the internet and that internet sales are killing LDS. I disagree. Internet sales are killing BAD LDS's.

That's a good way of putting it. That the internet is killing BAD LDS's.

Acutally I think that it's the "Bad" LDS's that are killing themselves though
when the internet market is so strong. The Internet just bascially makes
the choice either whether to buy online or though a bad LDS.

Even good LDS's have to compete with the Internet still though.
Especially if there is a huge difference in price.

 

[PerroneFord]

Good LDS's compete with the internet on matters other than price. I think that is very important. Give me a fair price (not I didn't say price match) on good products, good service, and added value, and I'm happy to spend money locally. I know I've probably dropped $1500 or so in the past few months locally with my LDS's. I've got another couple grand of purchases to make before the summer, so we'll see hit it goes.

But there *IS* room for the good LDS to exist and thrive.

 

[mike_s]

Good LDS's compete with the internet on matters other than price. I think that is very important. Give me a fair price (not I didn't say price match) on good products, good service, and added value, and I'm happy to spend money locally. I know I've probably dropped $1500 or so in the past few months locally with my LDS's. I've got another couple grand of purchases to make before the summer, so we'll see hit it goes.

But there *IS* room for the good LDS to exist and thrive.

I agree with you said, but even a GREAT LDS that charges full price
for everything has a hard time competing with the Internet.

Most people are willing to pay a little extra for good customer service.
Example is that a lot of stuff that I bought in the past I knew I could
get off the internet for a little cheaper, but having the LDS help me
with what would work best for me and having them there to service
it was important also. So I still bought stuff there. But if there
is a difference of 40%-50% in price it's hard not to look towards
the other company, especially if you don't have a good LDS.

Luckily my LDS has decided to quit competing with the internet.
Instead of fighting it, they embraced it and opened their own internet
store. So you can get the same great service, but now with great
pricing also. You can't beat it. Since their prices are so much greater
they sell more which means they stock more. Stocking more is really
nice because they have a huge inventory now at great prices.