Dema 2006

[cerich]

It's not that simple.

The shops here that cater to cave divers tend to be very small, and as such, generally only carry one brand of suit. Normally Dive Rite or DUI. One shop in my town has a TLS350, that's been there for years. They do ZERO to talk to people about it, no one in the shop dives dry, etc. The other shop carries Pinnacle, and recently got in a nice new Pinnacle suit. I don't know how much they are pushing the suit, but that shop really doesn't cater a lot to cave divers.

The only way this is going to work is by the manufacters getting their product in front of divers by positioning the product at shops where their potential customers look for goods.

I am headed to the DUI Dog Days in November. That is an EXCELLENT way to get your gear out in front of people, but expensive the way DUI do it. Smaller manufacters could partner with shops by sending them loaner gear for a weekend to let people touch/feel the product, offering a few raffle based products to get some foot traffic, and the shop anteing up a free drysuit course for purchasers.

The Manufacter is out a dozen suits for a week (shipping back and forth) and maybe a raffle gift or two. The shop gets in a bunch of foot traffic, gets to push product, perhaps sells a suit or two, and has some nice comraderie in the community. The consumer gets some touch/feel time, gets questions answered, and gets to peruse around with other divers for an hour or two.

Toss in a Bar-B-Q or pizza vendor, and things begin to look pretty rosy for all parties involved. Whole deal could be pulled off for under $1k if done right. You couldn't get a 2" magazine ad for that.

Thanks Perrone, I agree with you 200%, I have said as much myself many times.

 

[Doubles]

Selling drysuits is a tough gig. They are too expensive for the LDS to stock, and for the smaller companies they cant afford to send out demo suits for free.

It's starts to get expensive for everyone if you order a suit and it doesn't fit and you start shipping them back and forth until you get the fit you need. I know folks who talked to the vendor, gave out measurements and ordered the suit that "would be a good fit" only to have to send it back and try again. I am not saying anything bad about the vendors and sizing, but its just so much easier if you had 2 or 3 sizes to try on.

I would think there is a huge shell suit market here in Florida. I dive year round, dry in the winter and occassionaly in the summer. My neoprene is just to big, bulky and hot, so I am getting a shell suit.

Come on Jerry I prefer to buy US, but if your not there (at DEMA) I won't be able to see one of your suits.

Cheers

 

[mike_s]

Most dive shops I've seen hardly have any dry suits "in stock". Even if they are a dealer. Unless it's a suit that an employee owns and hangs in the back that they bring out to show someone.

This "inventory" issue has to do with suit cost, sizing, and amount of suits sold. I don't think it's going to change much.

So "getting the product in front of the customers" like Perrone said with "demo days" is a good way to get customers to get to "touch, feel, try on, and dive" a suit. I think manufacturers will see a huge return on this. This is why DUI and Dive Rite do so many "Demo Days".

 

[Boatlawyer]

Jerry-

Will you be at the Florida Dive Show in December?

 

[USIA]

You guys are killing me!!! Errr... I will probably make a decision by Tuesday. Man, when I got promoted a couple of years ago, I thought my days of sniffing glue and putting on seals was over. Now with this coast guard contract and the tremendous increase in sport sales, something tells me I better get my glue brush out. Hell, I'm not complaining. I know of a couple of Dry suit manufacturers who have either gone out of business or are going out of business, so the last thing I'm going to do is whine about sales. Normally DEMA was a complete chore for me. Now leaving Oregon for a week to go to Florida is sounding more and more intriuging.