BP/W when teaching?

[japan-diver]

Not so...depending on how you look at it. The LDS depends on repeat sales from their customer base. Each year BCs come out with a new gimmick and that's what the LDS promotes. They sell the idea of constantly upgrading your gear to follow marketing trends, etc. People feel the need to have the "latest and greatest" and this is what the LDS counts on. If a student buys a BP/Wing as their initial purchase, they will likely realize that they do not need this years new gimmick BC. The customer will stick with their BP/Wing setup and the LDS misses future sales. In the long run, the LDS looses those repeat sales because the customer realizes that he doesn't need or want whatever "flavor of the week" gear the LDS is hawking. The LDS makes a small amount on the inital BP/Wing purchase, but that's it. Depending on their dealer level and markup, the LDS probably isn't making enough money off the deal to be relevent. In the long run, the LDS doesn't make any money by selling the correct gear the first time around.

Thats the biggest bunch of hooey I've read in a long time. First a dive shop makes money selling a BP/Wing just like selling a BC or any other piece of gear. The convoluted theory that by selling a diver the wrong gear so he has to come back to you later to buy the right stuff is bad economics and poor business. I have been in this business full time for many years and have run shops and consulted for others and selling the right gear the first time works better, results in a happier more comfortable diver that dives more and therefore spends more money at your store and reccomends his friends and neighbors to come to your store for gear and classes. There are plenty of followup sales to a person with BP/wings set-up you just have to understand what you are selling.

 

[archman]

The LDS depends on repeat sales from their customer base. Each year BCs come out with a new gimmick and that's what the LDS promotes. They sell the idea of constantly upgrading your gear to follow marketing trends, etc. People feel the need to have the "latest and greatest" and this is what the LDS counts on. If a student buys a BP/Wing as their initial purchase, they will likely realize that they do not need this years new gimmick BC. The customer will stick with their BP/Wing setup and the LDS misses future sales. In the long run, the LDS looses those repeat sales because the customer realizes that he doesn't need or want whatever "flavor of the week" gear the LDS is hawking. The LDS makes a small amount on the inital BP/Wing purchase, but that's it.

This is not a pattern I see. Divers I work with buy their jacket-style BCD, and then stick with it till it wears out 6-10 years down the road. I don't know of folks that buy new junk when it comes out. There's no LDS "flavor of the week" economics that I've ever seen in action at a shop. Of course a BP/wing lasts longer than a jacket-style BCD, but that's a matter of durability, not purchasing behaviour. Maybe it's more of a big city or rich dude's thing to buy new stuff every few years... I've wondered where all this slightly used ebay junk is coming from.

 

[jagfish]

Yeah, I'd have to agree with the last several posts...I don't know anyone who changes BC every couple years. I do, however, know lots of people who eventually buy an additional wing for doubles...

JAG

 

[OneBrightGator]

Most of the regular customers I see have an old faded BC and well-worn regs, they come in for fills, service and small odds and ends, very few people in my area replace equipment when the new models come out. If shops would cut out a lot of the fluff they'd have a much lower inventory cost since every harness is custom sized and they wouldn't have to stock 5 different colors of hose retainers.

Ben

 

[gj62]

This is not a pattern I see. Divers I work with buy their jacket-style BCD, and then stick with it till it wears out 6-10 years down the road. I don't know of folks that buy new junk when it comes out. There's no LDS "flavor of the week" economics that I've ever seen in action at a shop. Of course a BP/wing lasts longer than a jacket-style BCD, but that's a matter of durability, not purchasing behaviour. Maybe it's more of a big city or rich dude's thing to buy new stuff every few years... I've wondered where all this slightly used ebay junk is coming from.

I'm going on 18+ years for my SP Stab Jacket. I don't know that you can make the statement that generalized (all BP/W outlast all BCs)...

I agree - I don't see the "must have the new color" type of purchasing you get in the tech fields. However, I know lots of divers that *knowingly* buy each new gimmick device that comes out - most ends up in the garage, but every now and then...

 

[cortez]

I'll go one step further... when we (like most reputable LDSs are selling equipment we focus on and specifically recommend gear that we know the diver won't have to replace in the near future.

Repeat business hopefully doesn't mean they are buying the same thing from you every year. If they are you're sell some pretty low quality stuff