How was DEMA 2009 ?

[ScottZeagle]

Hate to be the party pooper, but....

The people I've spoken with that I trust to be completely honest in their assessment tell me a very different story.

They described the show as "very slow" and they wrote very little to no business at DEMA.

Tobin

I can only speak of what I know personally, as it relates to Zeagle.

We did "ok" as far as writing business at the show, but I never worry about that - it is the orders that come in directly after the show, once the shop people get a chance to get home and digest the numbers, that I worry about...and thse numbers have not been "slow" or lacking.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Privately they tell me they sold almost nothing.

Tobin

Thats not a good gauge though. I never really buy anything at the show unless its already sold. Sure, they have great deals there...but its November. My season dies...why would I spend $10-$20k on product to sit on my shelves. Not a good investment and I would have ZERO turn for months. If it was 4 months earlier, it would be a different story.

I will always go to the show. I cement relationships and build new ones. Meet the people I talk to all the time, figure out a strategy of what I am going to do with their products. And it gives the new guys a chance to get in front of me with their products. Those that weren't there don't have that chance.

Mike

 

[cool_hardware52]

I can only speak of what I know personally, as it relates to Zeagle.

We did "ok" as far as writing business at the show, but I never worry about that - it is the orders that come in directly after the show, once the shop people get a chance to get home and digest the numbers, that I worry about...and thse numbers have not been "slow" or lacking.

Your mileage may vary.

We basically operate the same way. I don't expect to leave DEMA with a large number of actual orders.

However the folks I've spoken are using comparative numbers, i.e. what they sold in 2007 vs 2008 vs 2009.

2009 was much smaller than the previous years.

Tobin

 

[scubafanatic]

Hate to be the party pooper, but....

The people I've spoken with that I trust to be completely honest in their assessment tell me a very different story.

They described the show as "very slow" and they wrote very little to no business at DEMA.

Tobin

...Tobin, your observations are going to be about as popular as the apparently VERY unpolitically-correct 'observations' I made about the ....um, let's just say 'deteriorated' diving quality in Cozumel after the hurricanes in '05 when I reported what I saw there in 02/2006.....almost at the level of 'death threats'. Interesting excerpt from the latest issue of Undercurrent 10/2009 : " ...with fewer new divers entering the sport, and more aging divers hanging up their fins, there's a lot less dive travel. Our subscription base is slipping as well. " Ben Davison is announcing, starting 01/2010, Undercurrent will no longer be mailed to subscribers, but only available online and it's up to subscribers to print out their own hardcopies if they still want to have a paper version. (to save $ on postage/printing costs running the organization $ 6000 monthly)Apparently there are some long term, omnious trends developing in scuba diving as a sport/industry.....

 

[deco_martini]

...Tobin, your observations are going to be about as popular as the apparently VERY unpolitically-correct 'observations' I made about the ....um, let's just say 'deteriorated' diving quality in Cozumel after the hurricanes in '05 when I reported what I saw there in 02/2006.....almost at the level of 'death threats'. Interesting excerpt from the latest issue of Undercurrent 10/2009 : " ...with fewer new divers entering the sport, and more aging divers hanging up their fins, there's a lot less dive travel. Our subscription base is slipping as well. " Ben Davison is announcing, starting 01/2010, Undercurrent will no longer be mailed to subscribers, but only available online and it's up to subscribers to print out their own hardcopies if they still want to have a paper version. (to save $ on postage/printing costs running the organization $ 6000 monthly)Apparently there are some long term, omnious trends developing in scuba diving as a sport/industry.....

Print media is on the general on a decline. That's the trend. I think its not necessarily related to the stagnation of certain dive industry business models.

 

[scubafanatic]

Print media is on the general on a decline. That's the trend. I think its not necessarily related to the stagnation of certain dive industry business models.

...with fewer new divers entering the sport, and more aging divers hanging up their fins, there's a lot less dive travel.

Appparently BOTH print media...AND..... the dive industry are on the decline...I think it's save to say Ben Davison of Undercurrent is a very well respected industry observer and isn't just saying that 'print' is dead....he's observing the ENTIRE picture.

 

[widget]

...with fewer new divers entering the sport, and more aging divers hanging up their fins, there's a lot less dive travel.

Appparently BOTH print media...AND..... the dive industry are on the decline...I think it's save to say Ben Davison of Undercurrent is a very well respected industry observer and isn't just saying that 'print' is dead....he's observing the ENTIRE picture.

Yes, even as far afield as I am, I have recieved Undercurrent as a subscriber for a number of years and always found it a good read. I also think Mr Davison is, unfortunately, reading the market correctly.

I guess differant folk look for differant things in a show, and although I was not there for the first time in 20 odd years, the major manufacturers I deal with painted a rather differant and somewhat bleaker picture to me in post Dema discussions, citing somewhat empty isles and booths and a flat lined local and international industry.

If they took something positive away from the show it was that they had the time to really listen and discuss issues and a way forward with the people who did attend, that was a good thing, and very positive in the context, but new regulator models, Bc designs, dive computers or even just basic fin models cost an enormous amount to bring to market, and the sales to make these products commercially viable are just not there anymore.

 

[scubafanatic]

Yes, even as far afield as I am, I have recieved Undercurrent as a subscriber for a number of years and always found it a good read. I also think Mr Davison is, unfortunately, reading the market correctly.

I guess differant folk look for differant things in a show, and although I was not there for the first time in 20 odd years, the major manufacturers I deal with painted a rather differant and somewhat bleaker picture to me in post Dema discussions, citing somewhat empty isles and booths and a flat lined local and international industry.

If they took something positive away from the show it was that they had the time to really listen and discuss issues and a way forward with the people who did attend, that was a good thing, and very positive in the context, but new regulator models, Bc designs, dive computers or even just basic fin models cost an enormous amount to bring to market, and the sales to make these products commercially viable are just not there anymore.

...well, IMHO, most dive gear categories honestly don't need 'new' products on anything like an annual basis anyway......things like masks / fins / regulators / BCs / tanks are rediculously mature industries with little noticable improvement in years if not decades.......if manufacturers completely stopped 'modernizing' those product categories for a decade we wouldn't know the difference.....I'd say the main categories of products that have shown any useful evolution lately are lights / computers / cameras.

 

[widget]

...well, IMHO, most dive gear categories honestly don't need 'new' products on anything like an annual basis anyway......things like masks / fins / regulators / BCs / tanks are rediculously mature industries with little noticable improvement in years if not decades.......if manufacturers completely stopped 'modernizing' those product categories for a decade we wouldn't know the difference.....I'd say the main categories of products that have shown any useful evolution lately are lights / computers / cameras.

Sure, have to agree, and a lot of changes in recent years have been purely cometic, but the diving market is quite fickle and dos demand new products, materials and technologies on a fairly regular basis, especially from the bigger name brands if they are to hold their market share and not see their customers migrate to a new line from a competing brand, and, unfortunately, the sales to warrent that cost now is very much harder to come by.

 

[cool_hardware52]

...Tobin, your observations are going to be about as popular as the apparently VERY unpolitically-correct 'observations' I made about the ....um, let's just say 'deteriorated' diving quality in Cozumel after the hurricanes in '05 when I reported what I saw there in 02/2006.....almost at the level of 'death threats'.

It's ok, I can take it, I've never been PC.

Sadly in today's world the surest path to condemnation is to speak the truth.....


Tobin