Size Of The Technical Diving Market

[tech_diver]

I was once told by a successful store owner:

"We don't like tech diving. It's dangerous and has high overhead cost. We don't like tech gear, it's expensive, has low margins and you have to carry a wide inventory to be able to supply all the different configurations. We don't like tech divers because they build their own rigs and buy the components off the internet."



That was probably about ten years ago. Have things changed?

 

[boulderjohn]

I was once told by a successful store owner:

"We don't like tech diving. It's dangerous and has high overhead cost. We don't like tech gear, it's expensive, has low margins and you have to carry a wide inventory to be able to supply all the different configurations. We don't like tech divers because they build their own rigs and buy the components off the internet."



That was probably about ten years ago. Have things changed?

Not where I live.

 

[Wookie]

I was once told by a successful store owner:

"We don't like tech diving. It's dangerous and has high overhead cost. We don't like tech gear, it's expensive, has low margins and you have to carry a wide inventory to be able to supply all the different configurations. We don't like tech divers because they build their own rigs and buy the components off the internet."



That was probably about ten years ago. Have things changed?

Not here.

But it's interesting to see the most successful stores. They concentrate on making new OW students, they do not convert that many. They are in a place where there is a high concentration of potential new students, and they don't dabble in tech. If you ask them to special order tech gear, they might. They might not. Just because you want to service a niche market doesn't make it profitable or wise. I look at Fill Express and Add Helium as examples. Add Helium is billing themselves as the "rebreather superstore", and it's where I get everything tech except gas. Fill Express had a business model that just didn't work, although the remnants (DGE) does. I'd be willing to bet that DGE sells a lot more recreational gear and parts than tech gear, though.

 

[Stoo]

Interesting. This suggests that OW training is a key to enlarging the market. Both presenting the opportunities and producing divers with better starting skills.

A hundred years ago, a former student (who became a techie) announced he was going to buy the LDS I taught for part time. He advised that he was getting out of the new diver business and going to specialize in supporting technical divers. (Bear in mind that this shop is located 1000's of miles from any serious caves, or the ocean. We do have some great tech diving in the Great Lakes, but it's enjoyed by a pretty small number of people!)

I argued with him that without OW students, the tech market would suffer from attrition and gradually wither away.

He impressed me in that he lasted almost 5 months before going belly-up...

 

[KevinNM]

Not here.

But it's interesting to see the most successful stores. They concentrate on making new OW students, they do not convert that many. They are in a place where there is a high concentration of potential new students, and they don't dabble in tech. If you ask them to special order tech gear, they might. They might not. Just because you want to service a niche market doesn't make it profitable or wise. I look at Fill Express and Add Helium as examples. Add Helium is billing themselves as the "rebreather superstore", and it's where I get everything tech except gas. Fill Express had a business model that just didn't work, although the remnants (DGE) does. I'd be willing to bet that DGE sells a lot more recreational gear and parts than tech gear, though.

Then you have a place like Extreme Exposure. Which does run PADI OW courses, but it's pretty much focused on tech and has been around long enough to show that it's a model that can work in certain places and having built the right community.

 

[boulderjohn]

pretty much focused on tech and has been around long enough to show that it's a model that can work in certain places

You mean like places smack in the middle of one of the best cave diving locations in the world, a place where the basic OW opportunities pale in comparison to the tech diving opportunities? Yes, I can see how such a model would work in places like that. How many such places do you suppose there might be?

 

[Wookie]

You mean like places smack in the middle of one of the best cave diving locations in the world, a place where the basic OW opportunities pale in comparison to the tech diving opportunities? Yes, I can see how such a model would work in places like that. How many such places do you suppose there might be?

Key West, where trimix was brought to the recreational diver. I'm the only guy here who pumps trimix. FLL/WPB where you can get out more days than not, and there are wrecks for all levels of divers. Cave Country. Akumal. Grand Cayman. Chuuk. Christchurch.

 

[sheeper]

I was once told by a successful store owner:

"We don't like tech diving. It's dangerous and has high overhead cost. We don't like tech gear, it's expensive, has low margins and you have to carry a wide inventory to be able to supply all the different configurations. We don't like tech divers because they build their own rigs and buy the components off the internet."



That was probably about ten years ago. Have things changed?

I see a few shops still with that mindset. Of course that's merely shops where the owner(s) have not been tech certified themselves. I watch the shops open and close down after a few months or a year.Tech is both big and important where i'm located. And the successful shops are almost always welcoming to tech

 

[KevinNM]

It's certainly doesn't seem like viable plan in Albuquerque, but I suspect it's viable in a few more places. I've never made it to Hollywood Divers in LA, but they seems to have a very definite focus on tech.

 

[Wookie]

There are a lot more dive shops in places like Albuquerque than there are in places like LA.....