Is scuba in a freefall?

[Wookie]

I spoke to a gear manufacturer yesterday, and asked him how it was going? I prefaced the conversation with the quarterly Klein telling me everything was frigging roses, but I'm watching the Aggressor boats sail with 6-10 passengers, I'm doing the same, resorts (FIBR) and dive shops closing, and an online retailer who had days last week where he didn't fill a single order, a dive shop in Westchester County looking for ideas to attract new customers, and all these things point to me that we are an industry in real trouble. In 2008 I moved my operation to Florida, started a whole new way of doing business, and I didn't have near the trouble getting bookings as I do now. What's up with this. Is it roses except for everyone I'm talking to? Are dive shops setting records for the number of classes they are teaching and these folks just aren't traveling? Are gear sales through the roof everywhere except South Florida? I know the Dolphin Dream, Juliet, and Nautilus Explorer are packed, but I see other boats cancelling trips or running half full.

The manufacturer told me that he knows it's bad when everyone isn't talking about how great it is, and the recovery is just around the corner. Has everyone given up and just waiting for the bank to come get the assets? Please tell me that this isn't a game of last man standing.

 

[oly5050user]

The way I see it is there is competition every where you look. The competition is not other dive businesses but other activities and of course the economy is not what it was back in the 80's..
People today grew up differently than when we were kids. We went out on our own and played ball, rode bikes, went swimming, all without being supervised . Today everything seems to be organized for the kids. Parents spend half the day driving them to little league/soccer/etc..Those that do not go for that sort of thing spend hours on their video game/computers. The ones in diving think that diving in a local quarry is diving, when local ocean diving is at their doorstep! I can totally understand going to a lake/quarry when there is nothing else around and the cost of flying off somewhere is prohibitive, but when a salt water dive is 20 minutes from home and they drive 2 hours to go to a quarry, I have trouble understanding that. some divers go from ow certification to instructor, never stepping a foot in salt water..Is there a fix to this situation?? What dive operations are left after this mess will have to offer superior face to face service , something that online business cannot do. The day of someone opening a dive shop for a little money ($100,000.) is mostly gone. To actually have a business that can make it today a LDS needs to spend $500,000 - $1,000,000 + and stand out from others. I currently teach out of the only LDS in the metro area that has their own indoor heated pool onsite and parking lot and it owns the building and property, not renting.. That is a HUGE investment and a big advantage over other LDS around here. Almost every day there is someone in the pool either in a class, taking a refresher,or just trying out new gear they purchased from us. As such we have run more classes than any operator that I know of in the area. Every other week we have a weekend ow class. Once a month is a 2 week ow course. Almost every week there is a private course going on. Independent instructors come in and arrange pool/classroom time here as pool time anywhere else is difficult. Is this LDS making alot of $$? Nope, just enough to pay the staff, pay the bills on time, keep a decent amount of inventory and survive. Many LDS around here cannot even say that. I know of one that on a regular basis has had their electric meter removed from Con Edison for non payment. It is always behind in its rent..Pool time for them is only 1 or 2 sessions for a ow course, and manufacturers of gear and the pool owners know to get paid up front with a money order/certified check as a check written on their account has a good chance of bouncing..How that one stays open I have no idea. Months go by without a class starting there.
Other LDS in the area, lets take one in Brooklyn as an example ,consider themselves successful if they get 1 ow course a month. Does not look good for the future.

 

[Cap335]

While I am sure the Industry is in a bind we are having a decent year. The first quarter was good, April and the first 2 weeks of May were terrible but when I checked the numbers at the first June we are up about 6% for the year so far.
I think our growth however small is due to groundwork we have laid over the last several years. We still haven't figured the social media thing out very well but we do quality training, no high pressure sales but we are getting our travel program to make a decent profit. We aren't getting rich but we don't worry to much about paying the bills either.

Randy Smith

 

[rcontrera]

I LOVE this question! It seems to come up every few years and the answer is always the same!

In the late 70s and early 80s, people begged for the LDS to teach them to dive. The whole world wanted to see what Mike Nelson and Jacques Cousteau see on the TV every week! We had outside forces driving the people to our doors. Even the worst of us could survive and even thrive! The best part was that we built a huge base of divers that weren't just doing an activity but had discovered a new life style.

Now, a few years later and the underwater TV shows are no longer there (or are pretty crappy) and business is on a decline. Who do we blame? Mail order! Yeah ... that's it! "Mail order is killing my business!" was the main complaint. Funny thing ... mail order helped START this business.

OK ... fast forward a few more years and the economy is stupid rich (or acting like it at least)! People are spending money they don't have on their life list and one item on that list is scuba diving. As an industry, we are thriving again!

Then comes the crash of the economy. Nobody is spending money ... they don't have any! In fact, most everybody is in debt! We trot out that old mail order excuse "The internet is to blame for our lost sales!" Hmmm ... how does that explain the decrease in charters or is there an online version that I don't know about?

We are where we are because, as an industry, we have no idea how to market ourselves. True ... we have some GREAT magazines and the manufacturers are spending THOUSANDS advertising their stuff. But to who? Existing divers!

I travel a bit and every time I get in a plane, I read that airline magazine. I got quite excited a few weeks back seeing an ad that had a big headline of "DISCOVER DIVING!" Imagine my disappointment when I saw that it was for sky diving! A sky diving school in Las Vegas had an ad in the seat back pocket of every seat in that plane. And, since those magazines are in EVERY flight that line takes, that ad had the possibility of being seen by MILLIONS of travelers.

No ... there is nobody to blame but ourselves. We just don't step outside of our little industry "box" and hawk our wares! Those few stores that are doing well are most likely the ones that are doing just that. We give a ton of money to our beloved DEMA to save the whales and whatnot. Why don't they take that money and "Save the Diveshops"? Advertise outside of the industry. Let's see a "Learn to Dive" ad in Sunset, Better Homes, Travel & Leisure, etc.

Until we learn to market ourselves, we are just going to ride wherever the "economy bus" takes us.


(stepping down from the soapbox)

 

[SailNaked]

I really hope that Video games are not killing out door sports, My kids are big fat potatos, (- the fat part). we struggle to get them to get some sun.

we recently ran into some Army troops on sixth st, that said they were forced by their officers to go out to bars because they normally spent weekends playing video games. we are going to hell when soldiers are forced to go to bars.

 

[mjrob]

Sales and marketing--the only way to drive business.

Rcontrera is dead-on right. And I couldn't agree more that DEMA (Dive Equipment MARKETING Association) ought to be doing more to advertise what we're trying to sell. And, sit down and hang on here, maybe even the certification agencies and manufacturers could get together with them--and maybe the certifying agencies could work together...gasp!--to buy some national advertising. I've brought this up multiple times to several of them but no one seems to think they can pay for those things. Co-op advertising could be a great thing for us all; it sure works in other industries. But we have to act like other industries first.

Mark

 

[Island Dude]

Sorry for jumping in so late on this thread, but I am fairly new to Scuba Board and really just starting to figure out the permission groups thing.

I have been owning and managing scuba stores for 25 years now, and I couldn't agree more with the previous post about advertising outside our industry. Certification agencies and manufacturers have some occasional co-op marketing programs which an average dive store can usually only afford to keep in their local market for a limited time frame. Until the big players (DEMA, Cert Agencies, and Manufacturers) decide to go big like the "Got Milk" or "Go RVing" campaigns did many years ago, this discussion if industry free fall will keep cycling around.

There are so many things that our industry does that negatively affects the dive shops and local communities. Such as the sales reps. I have had many over the years that show up at the store, go straight to the sales counter, pitch their product and leave. I have no time for them no matter what they are selling. I look for reps that are interested in long term relationships and try to better the local shops. What do I mean by this? A great rep will be invested in the relationship. A great rep will want to come in and look around your store and ask questions to understand your business and how they may fit into it. A great rep will bring you good merchandising and marketing ideas that other stores are using. A great rep will keep in contact throughout the season to see how they can help. A great rep will give you feedback about your facility, but you have to ask them. No one wants to tell you what you are doing wrong, but we need to hear it. A great rep will not push the early buy programs to guarantee best pricing. These programs are not usually in a store owners best interest. Yes they are great deals and a great opportunity. But several times I have taken part in these only to find out some of the items were being deleted from the line up. Plus I saw several stores go under with deals back in 2008-2010 when the recession hit. When the time came to pay the bill the money wasn't there and the inventory was still on the shelves.

But then we also have ourselves to blame as store owners and a community of store owners. The buying public is being fought for out there and we for the most part are not keeping up with the competition. Go take a look at a Panera Bread, Starbucks, or Vera Bradley ( which my wife and daughter love) stores. They are upscale, extremely clean, organized, and overpriced. Yet customers line up to go there. Now take a look at your store. Can you hold a candle to these stores when it comes to appearance? Maybe you can. But your competition across town is disorganized, unkept, and has poor customer service. What does this store do to your local scuba community? Some people will go in there, assume this is the way all dive stores are run, decide to spend their money someplace else, and never give you a chance. We have to take it upon ourselves to make ourselves look better to the shopping public.

A local gas station/convenience down the road for me was a regular stop every morning for coffee. They kept the store clean, the shelves stocked, and the staff was very pleasing. But the counter tops were worn, the floors were worn, the paint was dingy. and the business was moderate. Then they did a remodel that took two weeks. I was distraught, where do I get my coffee? But when they reopened it was amazing. Granite counter tops, all new sales counter, ceramic tile floors that looked like hardwood, everything was organized, 10 different coffees, a beer cave, fresh updated paint colors, signage inside was large and easy to read, and it was PACKED with customers. Still 6 months later it is packed with customers all day every day. So much so that they have doubled the size of their staff to take care of their customers. In talking with manager, their monthly inside sales (coffee, snacks, beers, etc) is up over 600%! Gang, if you don't think appearance matters think again. From your parking lot, bathroom, seating in your classrooms, displays, signage, and much more it all matters. Don't think Panera or Starbucks is competing for your dollars? You are dead wrong. They are teasing customers from your door everyday. If someone goes to Starbucks every workday (5 days) for the whole year and gets a large specialty coffee every day, they have dropped almost $1200 into their cash drawers. And a lot of people do just this and many several times a day. These specialty retail and food stores are after the buying public in a big way. If we as dive stores do not step up and compete then we are dooming ourselves.