Local Dive Shops

[PhilEllis]

I often quote these statistics and almost all of my posts talk about scuba store business models. I don't do this out of joy. I talk so much about business model because I WANT local scuba stores to be successful. After all, I am one of them!

I simply want local dive stores to understand that it is not the internet, or greedy consumers, or anything sinister that is killing them....it is their dogged determination to hang onto a business model that worked well in the 1980's but is a failure today. Of course, the scuba manufacturers that continue to reinforce this outdated model are greatly to blame. With all of the powerful information available to the scuba companies that PROVE that the current business model will fail, reluctance to actually educate the local scuba store about it is almost criminal. What a shame!

I want all local scuba stores to understand that they MUST CHANGE THEIR BUSINESS MODEL!

Thanks
Phil Ellis

 

[ReefHound]

What would we do without the LDS?

Better question is what would the LDS do without us?

Without them we will all be getting classes on-line?

When an LDS closes it's instructors don't die. If all LDSs were gone tomorrow, you'd have independent instructors conducting classes on their own.

Additionally, I would not think that a brand new diver would be able to do enough research to get the right stuff on line. I listen to my LDS.

Now this is really presumptious. Because a person is new to diving doesn't mean they are new to life. Basic consumerism applies. How do you go about buying a car? Do you go to the dealership and depend on the salesman to give you a fair education about the various vehicles on the market and determine which one is best for you?

 

[caseybird]

I want all local scuba stores to understand that they MUST CHANGE THEIR BUSINESS MODEL!

Thanks
Phil Ellis

Please tell us what you consider a viable model for a LDS. How do you manage to make sales profitable? If you use the web as a retail outlet, do you maintain a brick and mortor showroom? Where does the cash flow come from? If all dive shops sell retail over the web, how many web stores can exist?
Serious questions. I am interested in hearing from someone with real experience.

 

[djanni]

I often quote these statistics and almost all of my posts talk about scuba store business models. I don't do this out of joy. I talk so much about business model because I WANT local scuba stores to be successful. After all, I am one of them!

I simply want local dive stores to understand that it is not the internet, or greedy consumers, or anything sinister that is killing them....it is their dogged determination to hang onto a business model that worked well in the 1980's but is a failure today. Of course, the scuba manufacturers that continue to reinforce this outdated model are greatly to blame. With all of the powerful information available to the scuba companies that PROVE that the current business model will fail, reluctance to actually educate the local scuba store about it is almost criminal. What a shame!

I want all local scuba stores to understand that they MUST CHANGE THEIR BUSINESS MODEL!

Thanks
Phil Ellis

I don't know anything about the Scuba Equipment industry, it's business demands or the dynamics that drive it. I do know something about business in general. What you've described here seems so obvious.

I lost my favorite LDS about a year ago now. They went out of business. Couldn't hang on any longer. I miss them.

It's depressing to realize there are shop owners who hold on to their past business models to the bitter end. I would speculate that either they see the world changing around them and choose to ignore it, or they don't know how to change with it or perhaps they don't see the changes.

Obviously there will be survivors and highly successful ones at that. As you've pointed out the key is to realize change is needed, that change isn't a bad thing and most importantly, have the desire and willingness to change.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I often quote these statistics and almost all of my posts talk about scuba store business models. I don't do this out of joy. I talk so much about business model because I WANT local scuba stores to be successful. After all, I am one of them!

I simply want local dive stores to understand that it is not the internet, or greedy consumers, or anything sinister that is killing them....it is their dogged determination to hang onto a business model that worked well in the 1980's but is a failure today. Of course, the scuba manufacturers that continue to reinforce this outdated model are greatly to blame. With all of the powerful information available to the scuba companies that PROVE that the current business model will fail, reluctance to actually educate the local scuba store about it is almost criminal. What a shame!

I want all local scuba stores to understand that they MUST CHANGE THEIR BUSINESS MODEL!

Thanks
Phil Ellis

Careful, you're going to be accused of being cynical. LOL

I think I agree with you on just about everything you said in your last few posts.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Oh, Mike,
I was talking about the guys who do go to the shop, want to try it on and walk out to order online. We both know there's plenty of that.

Well, that's not me. I only remember being in a dive shop once in the last few years and that was when my wife and I had an afternoon to kill in the Chicago area. We took the yellow pages and just went on a tour of dive shops. I should have taken notes because some of the things that I seen and heard would have made for some good conversation. LOL

Unfortunately I had to sell my conpressor so I might need a fill from time to time but I'm still pretty independant of dive shops.

So bitter about the dive industry. Maybe the best cure for that is salt water, generously applied.

I might be bitter. As much as I love to dive, there isn't anything that I like about what the industry is doing with it...or should I say to it?

 

[CrazyScuba]

Please tell us what you consider a viable model for a LDS. How do you manage to make sales profitable? If you use the web as a retail outlet, do you maintain a brick and mortor showroom? Where does the cash flow come from? If all dive shops sell retail over the web, how many web stores can exist?
Serious questions. I am interested in hearing from someone with real experience.

That's exactly what we've had to do to continue to grow our business, change our business model by going online, as well as having our brick and mortar store that we've had for 21 years. We're continuing to maintain our excellent record of great customer service in store and with online customers, despite what some previous postings have stated about poor customer service for online shops. We won't provide poor customer service just because we're online, we're online to help our business model grow. But you do still need your local LDS to provide air fills (just read the reports about people dying because they decided to rig their own "home based" compressor system to save money on air fills), proper technical support and training. Yes, when dive shops close, some instructors go out on their own or switch shops, but many don't. The shops are not making money on classes, people don't want to pay that much so raising prices is nearly impossible. It's the "I want it now, I want it cheap, I want it my way" attitude of the 2000's. Not necessarily the safest attitude in a life support sport, but if we want to get more people trained and into scuba, we have to keep class prices low enough to get them into the sport. We're in this sport because we love it, yes, we want to make a profit and have a comfortable living, but this all started because of a great love for the sport. That's another reason why customer service is so important to me as a shop owner. I love the sport and I want it to grow, I want my customers happy and diving in properly fitting and performing gear that will meet their needs.

Hey, what Phil said about online stores is true, the expenses are equal to or more than a brick and mortar store. We have to carry more inventory with additional expenses, and less profit margin. And to maintain customer service at the level we maintain it at takes a highly trained staff.

Britt
CrazyScuba.com :fish:

 

[MikeFerrara]

But you do still need your local LDS to provide air fills (just read the reports about people dying because they decided to rig their own "home based" compressor system to save money on air fills), proper technical support and training.

I'm not sure which deaths you're talking about but I don't know any one who set up a fill station to save money on an air fill. I had a dandy system and if all I needed was an air fill and there was someplace to get one I'd rather put the time on some one elses compressor. On the other hand many of us dive mixes that most shops just don't know how to do. The shops that can are a couple of hundred miles in the wrong direction and yes, then the cost is a problem.

Yes, when dive shops close, some instructors go out on their own or switch shops, but many don't. The shops are not making money on classes, people don't want to pay that much so raising prices is nearly impossible. It's the "I want it now, I want it cheap, I want it my way" attitude of the 2000's. Not necessarily the safest attitude in a life support sport, but if we want to get more people trained and into scuba, we have to keep class prices low enough to get them into the sport.

Back to the loss leader classes? Personally, I don't care about getting moore people trained especially if we're not going to train them right. At the worst case end, I'm damned tired of pulling divers out of the water and directing traffic for ambulances...on the other end, the popular dive sites are a mess because of the way training is done.

We're in this sport because we love it, yes, we want to make a profit and have a comfortable living, but this all started because of a great love for the sport. That's another reason why customer service is so important to me as a shop owner. I love the sport and I want it to grow, I want my customers happy and diving in properly fitting and performing gear that will meet their needs.

I understand you wanting your business to grow but why do we need the sport to grow? What is it that we're trying to do?

Hey, what Phil said about online stores is true, the expenses are equal to or more than a brick and mortar store. We have to carry more inventory with additional expenses, and less profit margin. And to maintain customer service at the level we maintain it at takes a highly trained staff.

Britt
CrazyScuba.com :fish:

I never ran an online store but I'm sure there are plenty of expenses. However, a retailer only (online or not) doesn't need a pool, UW liability, travel associated with diving, the time associated with teaching and entertaining, compressor, student/rental equipment and maintenance, and I'm sure there's more.

Personally, I think that the marriage between training and retail has been a total diaster. Let good retailers sell and let good teachers teach. One of the problems with dive shops is we tend to find a compromise that gets less than great reatil and training.

 

[redacted]

It is still going to boil down to "survival of the fittest". But if you enter the race late, it isn't going to get any easier. The members of the dive retail industry are going to have to stop whining and adapt to the existance of real price competition. Some will not survive.