Written in response to a Letter from "A Unified Dive Industry"
As you well know by now I am not the average dive shop owner. I dropped from DEMA after one year because it was obvious to me from the start that the DEMA heirarchy had no interest in making the necessary changes to improve the industry. DEMA and it's manufacturing members as a whole are directly responsible for the degradation of the industry. Let me explain.
For many years the industry has been "price fixed," and for a time that worked fairly well. Before the advent of the internet and internet retailers, from (name deleted) to less successful ventures like (name deleted) etc..., price fixing worked, and by price fixing I'm referring to both MAP and MARP pricing, because everyone played on a level field. With the advent of these online retailers, some with deep pockets, the manufacturers began dumping product annually directly to them and the products became readily available worldwide at discount prices, far below what a local retailer could sell them for, and more recently even less than they can buy them for.
With the recent economic downturn, (name deleted) and a select few others have bought up unprecedented amounts of gear at prices local retailers would have been happy to pay. Of course it would have been too much trouble for the manufacturers to offer these insanely low prices to all of their dealers, so instead they dumped it to a handful of skillfull internet players and are working whether intentionally or not, to close down dive shops across the country.
We need to face the facts. Until Manufacturers reduce their prices to retailers in the same manner they have to the internet sellers, the industry will continue to crash and burn. With less visible dive shops, the industry will continue to shrink. In order for the industry to grow, for training agencies, retailers, manufacturers, and the sport as a whole to flourish, it must be in the public eye. Less dive shops will crush this industry, even with the advent of online training.
In the hey-day of the sport, which I still argue was in the 1970's through the mid 1990's, the reason the sport steadily brought in new members was because it was often in the public eye. From early adventurers with TV shows such as Jaques Cousteau and Sea Hunt , to movies such as 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea and a variety of others, diving as an adventure was in the public eye. In the 1990's there were still things keeping the underwater world in the public eye. Movies like the Abyss and shows such as Seaquest DPV were popular. From the year 2000 on, the industry has failed to produce anything related to diving. There are now more people who think it might be cool to work on an Alaskan crab boat or attack a Japanese Whaling vessel then there are thinking about SCUBA diving.
DEMA has failed the industry on every front. The Be A Diver campaign should have been completely paid for by the manufacturers and run in every city across this country. Instead, it produced a nice commercial, but has done little with it, as it placed the cost of advertising on the very retailers it has continued to screw.
The manufacturers have hurt the training agencies, the retailers, the consumers and ultimately the entirety of the sport through their greed and misgivings. Now I'm not one to point out problems without offering solutions, so here you go.
Everyone outside of Manufacturing must withdraw from DEMA. The Resorts, Training Agencies and Retailers should all form their own associations with board members who have the interest of those groups in mind. Unification will not work. DEMA in it's current form represents unification and is a complete failure. It is a failure because the minds of wickedness atop it cannot be changed without a distinct and thorough interruption of their greed. Given that Retailers are the backbone of the sport, in fact, at this moment quite honestly the only thing the sport has left, all possible should be done to right that ship.
This would start with a strong DRA (Dive Retailers Association) negotiating lower pricing across the board for all retailers. By making product more affordable across the nation, more dive shops will be able to open and flourish. More dive shops puts diving in front of more people and ultimately more economic growth will come to the agencies and in the end to the resorts around the world who are struggling to stay alive.
For it's part in lowering pricing, Manufactuers will be awarded with higher sales volumes, a steadier base of purchasers and a bright future. There is so much more I can say and so many points to be offered, but I'm not sure you've even indulged me this far into the letter. I welcome you to share my thoughts with anyone who will listen, but my fear is that we may already be too late.
Sincerely,
Ken Barrick, Owner
Off the Wall Scuba
As you well know by now I am not the average dive shop owner. I dropped from DEMA after one year because it was obvious to me from the start that the DEMA heirarchy had no interest in making the necessary changes to improve the industry. DEMA and it's manufacturing members as a whole are directly responsible for the degradation of the industry. Let me explain.
For many years the industry has been "price fixed," and for a time that worked fairly well. Before the advent of the internet and internet retailers, from (name deleted) to less successful ventures like (name deleted) etc..., price fixing worked, and by price fixing I'm referring to both MAP and MARP pricing, because everyone played on a level field. With the advent of these online retailers, some with deep pockets, the manufacturers began dumping product annually directly to them and the products became readily available worldwide at discount prices, far below what a local retailer could sell them for, and more recently even less than they can buy them for.
With the recent economic downturn, (name deleted) and a select few others have bought up unprecedented amounts of gear at prices local retailers would have been happy to pay. Of course it would have been too much trouble for the manufacturers to offer these insanely low prices to all of their dealers, so instead they dumped it to a handful of skillfull internet players and are working whether intentionally or not, to close down dive shops across the country.
We need to face the facts. Until Manufacturers reduce their prices to retailers in the same manner they have to the internet sellers, the industry will continue to crash and burn. With less visible dive shops, the industry will continue to shrink. In order for the industry to grow, for training agencies, retailers, manufacturers, and the sport as a whole to flourish, it must be in the public eye. Less dive shops will crush this industry, even with the advent of online training.
In the hey-day of the sport, which I still argue was in the 1970's through the mid 1990's, the reason the sport steadily brought in new members was because it was often in the public eye. From early adventurers with TV shows such as Jaques Cousteau and Sea Hunt , to movies such as 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea and a variety of others, diving as an adventure was in the public eye. In the 1990's there were still things keeping the underwater world in the public eye. Movies like the Abyss and shows such as Seaquest DPV were popular. From the year 2000 on, the industry has failed to produce anything related to diving. There are now more people who think it might be cool to work on an Alaskan crab boat or attack a Japanese Whaling vessel then there are thinking about SCUBA diving.
DEMA has failed the industry on every front. The Be A Diver campaign should have been completely paid for by the manufacturers and run in every city across this country. Instead, it produced a nice commercial, but has done little with it, as it placed the cost of advertising on the very retailers it has continued to screw.
The manufacturers have hurt the training agencies, the retailers, the consumers and ultimately the entirety of the sport through their greed and misgivings. Now I'm not one to point out problems without offering solutions, so here you go.
Everyone outside of Manufacturing must withdraw from DEMA. The Resorts, Training Agencies and Retailers should all form their own associations with board members who have the interest of those groups in mind. Unification will not work. DEMA in it's current form represents unification and is a complete failure. It is a failure because the minds of wickedness atop it cannot be changed without a distinct and thorough interruption of their greed. Given that Retailers are the backbone of the sport, in fact, at this moment quite honestly the only thing the sport has left, all possible should be done to right that ship.
This would start with a strong DRA (Dive Retailers Association) negotiating lower pricing across the board for all retailers. By making product more affordable across the nation, more dive shops will be able to open and flourish. More dive shops puts diving in front of more people and ultimately more economic growth will come to the agencies and in the end to the resorts around the world who are struggling to stay alive.
For it's part in lowering pricing, Manufactuers will be awarded with higher sales volumes, a steadier base of purchasers and a bright future. There is so much more I can say and so many points to be offered, but I'm not sure you've even indulged me this far into the letter. I welcome you to share my thoughts with anyone who will listen, but my fear is that we may already be too late.
Sincerely,
Ken Barrick, Owner
Off the Wall Scuba
