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Your Retailers Have Spoken. They Think You Need To Be Here. In these challenging economic times, it's more important than ever for manufacturers and retailers alike to get their business done in one place, in one weekend. Surf Expo's unique breadth of exhibitors and commitment to a business-first atmosphere makes choosing Surf Expo as the show to attend a no-brainer. 11/18/2008 Surf Expo Announces Lineup For January 2009 Educational Seminars Give your store every advantage through Surf Expo's full roster of educational seminars, happening January 15, 16, and 17 in Orlando, Florida. Bring your staff or brush up on your own skills as we discuss open-to-buy strategies, Web site management, understanding surfboard technology, and much more. 11/18/2008 Travels With Fish: Cocoa Beach On the final day of our Surf Expo North Florida tour, we stop off at the Ron Jon Surf Shop mega store, plus Quiet Flight and Cape Surf. 10/31/2008 Travels With Fish: Daytona Beach The off-season in a tourist mecca like Daytona Beach brings its own challenges as shops either struggle to maintain or simply shutter the doors and wait until spring. So how are retailers coping? 10/30/2008 Travels With Fish: Jacksonville Beach Surf Expo is back with another episodic adventure! This time reporting from Northeastern Florida as I travel from Jacksonville Beach to Cocoa Beach and hit the stops in between. 10/27/2008 Per Welinder Explains The Birdhouse Deal Tony Hawk and Per Welinder, business partners for the past 15 years, recently reached a definitive agreement whereby Tony Hawk has acquired all interest in the Birdhouse Skateboards brand from Blitz Distribution, Inc. So what's it all mean? Blitz President Per Welinder explains. 10/16/2008 Top Ten Tips for Successful Exhibiting Wondering how to plan your exhibit program to maximize your show results? Candy Adams, aka the "Booth Mom," lays it out in ten simple tips everyone can follow. 10/14/2008 The Secrets Of Visual Merchandising How your store looks is sometimes more important that what you are selling. We’ll explore the basics on merchandising your store from a visual perspective and also discuss how to build a formula to keep your store fresh and exciting to your frequent shoppers as well as your new guests. 10/06/2008 The Girls Of Surf Expo All the latest swimwear fashions, modeled at Surf Expo's Fashion Shows and at the swank Peabody Hotel. 09/25/2008
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Boosting Surfboard Sales in Today’s Confusing Market!
 In the two years since the closing of Clark Foam, surfboard sales have been on the decline—much to the dismay of surfboard shapers, glass shops, fin and accessory companies, and surf shops alike. There are many reasons or theories as to why this decline happened, especially after several years of steady growth in hardgood sales.
As an industry observer (and consumer), the reason seems obvious— today’s consumer is completely and totally confused with too many choices, blanks, shapes, and materials.
Foam, epoxy, TufLite, Aviso, Firewire, four-fin, moontail, vector fins, whatever. It all spells product overload. In addition to the overwhelming number of choices and options, prices have also risen on new boards.
Now more than ever the consumer needs to be educated by experts working in the shops.
“Too many choices, too many options, not enough information, too expensive if you buy the wrong board”—I’ve heard it all while standing in shops along both coasts. Even surf shops with more than 300 new boards in stock are frustrated, as their sales are still flat.
As evidenced by the success of recent consumer-oriented surfboard expos in Southern California, the consumer wants to know about all of the new materials, new shapes, new fins, and more! Today’s consumers has more choices and questions than ever before in the history of surfing, yet more must be done to educate them about which board, shape, fin set-up will help improve their surfing.
I know that you, as retailers, are nodding your heads in agreement. But what can you do, you ask?
Provide Plenty Of Consumer Materials/Handouts
Knowledge is power, so ensure that your surfboard customer has plenty to read. I’ve seen excellent info from Lost, Channel Islands, Surf Tech, FCS, and Futures, among others, as well as recent issues of the surf mags, discussing design, materials and function. Make sure that your surfboard sales staff is trained on all of the different materials, shapes, fins, and more.
Have Surfboard Workshops And Other Educational Events
Many of the top surfboard brands (and their sales force) are eager to organize fun, informative events to speak directly to your consumers. Offer your board reps and local shapers opportunities to educate your consumers face-to-face.
Have Demo Surfboards For Key Styles, Types
This is a key element in re-building your surfboard sales. Not even the best salesman can fully explain the differences between a TufLite 2 and a Firewire. Your customer needs to find out for himself, if he is going to spend his hard-earned dollars. Work with your key vendors and shapers to have demos available for your customers to ride; incorporate it into your current rental program. The same can be done for the various fin systems available; FCS and Futures have great demo availability!
Don’t Stock Too Many Surfboards!
In general, surf shops have too much inventory, with surfboards taking up a lot of room, a lot of cash, generating lower profits. Select your brands, shapes, and lengths carefully, mixing local and international shapers. Utilize the custom order program wherever possible.
Price Competitively
Thanks to the Internet, today’s consumer is extremely price-savvy. Ensure that your prices are competitive, relative to local and online competition. If you want to provide incentives, use your private label products—i.e. buy a surfboard at full price, get a free shop sweatshirt.
There have been plenty of waves over the past 2 years, so it’s not a lack of surf that’s hurting surfboard sales. The consumer is confused—it’s your job as a surf shop owner/manager/employee to take the time and educate your consumer. Explain the options and performance differences. Have consumer-oriented board/shaper events, and offer demo boards to ride! Done correctly and consistently, you will see your board sales start to increase!
This article was written by Dave Seehafer and was brought to you by the Board Retailers Association. For more information on Seehafer, log on to www.globalwaveventures.com or phone: 949-466-4110.
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| Comments
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Owner,
CCR
,
12/30/2007 3:14:21 PM
Excellent article. Do you have more advice for selling boards online? Seems to me that the wholesale on boards is too much to compete with cheap China pop outs or local shapers that barely know how to shape.
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ActionWatch Retail Panel Grows to 200 Stores “This is a significant milestone,” states Cary Allington, co-founder. “The panel is large enough to very accurately reflect the market in most of the product categories we track.”
11/19/2008 Billabong International Outlines Global Success During Chairman and CEO Speeches. A transcript of the speeches made by Billabong International Chairman Ted Kunkel and CEO Derek O'Neill during last month's '07/08 Annual General Meeting.
11/18/2008 Sole Technology Gets Invite To Secret Ryan Sheckler Skate Park Everything you see here isn't even the entire park. There's another level full of ledges, mannys, flatground and whatnot -- not to mention the entertainment room, offices and on and on.
11/18/2008 Consumers Anxiously Await Black Friday Deals According to NRF’s 2008 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, 72.0 percent of consumers have completed less than 10 percent of their shopping, compared with 2.2 percent of shoppers who say they have completely finished.
11/17/2008 Orange 21 Announces Financial Results; Outlines Cost-Savings Measures "We are clearly feeling the effects of the general slowdown in the economy," commented Stone Douglass, the Company's newly appointed Chief Executive Officer. "In response, we are doing everything we can to maintain our sales while dramatically reducing expenses." 11/17/2008 Towing Now History At Ghost Trees Reports Surfing Magazine In a decision to be announced later this week, officials at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have closed a loophole in the laws governing the use of personalized watercraft in the Sanctuary.
11/17/2008 Quiksilver, Inc. Completes Sale of Rossignol Company to focus on core apparel and footwear brands Quiksilver, Roxy and DC. 11/13/2008 Ocean Minded And Zappos Team Up For Lake Mead Cleanup Ocean Minded recently hosted its first-ever beach clean-up at a lake location. On October 28th, the company partnered with online footwear retailer, Zappos.com, and held a clean-up at Lake Mead’s National Recreation Area.
11/13/2008 OGIO Promotes Two to VP Positions, Reports Record Growth Despite the economy's alarming state, Utah-based OGIO is celebrating one of its most successful sales spikes in its 20-year history.
11/12/2008 Wakeboard World Cup Series Heads To Qatar For Final Stop Following the highly successful World Cup Stop in Putrajaya, Malaysia, last weekend, the world's top professional waterski and wakeboard athletes are now heading for Doha on the sun-drenched coast of Qatar.
11/12/2008 Burton Canadian Open Snowboarding Championships Dates Changed Due to the recent cancellation of the Session at Vail, an optimal window has opened in the North American snowboard event schedule.
11/12/2008 Black Box Teams With Skate OG Frank Messmann For Europe Push Black Box Distribution has announced it is partnering with Frank Messmann to create Black Box Europe. Originally a Professional Skateboarder, Frank has been a part of the skateboard industry for 20 years.
11/12/2008
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