Paddlesports Retailers See Tough Season Ahead

 

In anticipation of their customers’ evolving shopping habits many retailers have apparently placed fewer orders than usual for boats but more orders for accessories . It may be too early in the season to gauge precisely how consumer spending habits will change in regard to paddlesports sales, but a quick check around the market sees many retailers expecting fewer big-ticket purchases.

“I think that’s exactly what’s happening,” said Jersey Paddler General Manager Rich Hage. “For our big show we’ve got coming up… I’ve ordered 20% less boats, but I’ve kept the accessories orders equal or a little higher. It’s best to play it safe until we see what everyone’s doing.”

Tim Tucker, owner of kayak and canoe storage system manufacturer Talic, agrees. “I have heard that… [Retailers] are planning on ordering fewer boats. They’re changing their focus from boats to accessories… We have had a lot of shops say they’re planning on ordering our products as they need them, so we’ll be getting orders all season long…Nothing’s written, we don’t have any contracts with anyone, but their guess is they’re going to be ordering more accessories.”

Because it is so difficult to predict sales for this current market in advance, most retailers are approaching the season conservatively.
“We’re just being conservative [and] moving cautiously,” said Melanie Singer, manager of Nantahala Outdoor Center’s Outfitter Store. She confirmed that the store had made fewer boat orders and more accessory orders so far this season. “It does seem to be kind of the feel industry-wide. We understand the economic times are hard for the consumer.”

There are a few retailers, however, that are unwilling to sit and wait on the customer before placing their orders for the upcoming season. These retailers are expecting consumers to continue spending as usual and have even increased their orders.                                                       

 

“Dealers who ordered very cautiously going into the fall and winter [are] now seeing that people are still buying kayaks,” insisted Jim Hager, head of North American Operations with Pyranha Kayak.
Jim Buley, manager of Valley Mill Boats and director of Valley Mill Kayak School, agrees. “We’re being somewhat positive in this era of negativity. That’s really what [this economic crisis] is – negativity and paranoia become a self-fulfilling prophecy for a lot of people,” he remarked. “We’ve seen a little downturn of sales in January and February, but we’re not launching into full-on panic mode. We didn’t really back off on anything this season for orders. We’re anticipating people are still going to want to paddle, people are still wanting to stay local – more so than traveling.”

“We haven’t really changed too much. As far as orders go, it’s pretty standard for what we did last year,” said Buley. “We have a camp, kayak school and retail shop – if your school has a good year, chances are your shop’s going to have a good year.” Valley Mill has a kayak school that influences its boat shop sales, providing Buley with other factors that help to predict the upcoming season. His comments indicate what may be a discrepancy between orders paddlesports specialty retailers can expect versus more generic outdoor stores that offer canoes and kayaks as just one aspect of their merchandise.

“Because we are more specialty, higher end [boats], we’re definitely picking up a faster pace going into the season,” said Hager. “We’re experiencing good numbers. Dealers that offer kayaks as another sku to tents, backpacking, tennis, golf; those dealers that aren’t as focused aren’t doing as well. Dealers that are a bit more specialized with training and schools are doing well. But at the same time, I can see retailers selling high volumes of commodity boats, expecting their sales to be down.”

This discrepancy is one that Jackson Kayaks President Eric Jackson has noticed. “I’ve seen a mix of [buying patterns],” he said. “There seems to be… dealers responding in three different ways: One, is ‘we’ve got a bad economy, let’s hunker down and order super conservatively and see what happens.’ They don’t want to get stuck with inventory they can’t sell. [Second] is some dealers saying ‘man we’re doing great, taking more than ever before’ and putting their eggs all in the same basket. In those cases they’re buying more boats [from one brand] because they’re eliminating other brands, just focusing on one boat.” 

 

Another buying pattern Jackson has noticed is the small group of retailers who are approaching this season with a “business as usual” attitude. “They’re adjusting and being careful in their business to make sure they’re profitable and doing the right things… But we’re not seeing any changes on our end.”

Jackson estimated that about 30% of his company’s retailers have ordered fewer boats than usual from the vendor, with probably around 40% of retailers ordering more and about 30% keeping their orders equal to last years.

Ultimately, orders coming in over the next few months will show if consumers are as nervous about spending as retailers anticipate.
“The unknown factor is the retailers are [right now] gearing up for the season, but they’re doing it from their point of view, their experience, their gut feeling… They’re not in the spring yet,” remarked Jackson.

March kicks off the paddlesports buying season, with April and May following as the biggest months, and only then will the industry be able to see if their caution was necessary, or just a time-wasting worry that will ultimately cause them to submit multiple late orders.

“The costumer ultimately will determine what the sales are going to do over the next four to five months,” Jackson concluded. “The customer will override any buying decisions the dealer made.”