Rebreather World - View Single Post

n2diving · 9th October 2007, 01:42

Quote: (Originally Posted by ForTheFight)

does a storefront retail market exist for rebreathers? The margins on this kind of gear, both units and consumables, is slim relative to mass market OC gear, there is also the question of the opportunity cost of both the inventory on hand and the space in the store….

The harsh reality is I'm nearly certain that a storefront retail market is not viable. That window is firmly closed, US dive stores are struggling now. You are exactly right, plenty of stores have some sort of rebreather about (from what I've seen usually a Drager SCR gathering dust, or perhaps a YBOD.) But again, it's not because they really plan to sell them, it's just a bit of 'bling'. Or perhaps they are just the remains of attempt at retailing rebreathers. In these challenging economic times, shops are looking to control costs not looking to invest in a clearly unprofitable low volume business.

Ron Benson, at Going Under Dive Center (yes, that's the real name) tried as hard as anyone I know to focus exclusively on store front retail, stocking and teaching an astounding range of brands and models. He is an excellent and very knowledgable instructor, and a very sharp individual. I certainly can't speak for him, but I know that he has recently narrowed his focus considerably and he was very open in telling me that trying to develop the retail storefront rebreather business has not met his expectations.

I do believe that the sale of CCR's will move almost exclusively to the Internet. The fact that my storefront also sells them is almost incidental. It does allow us to provide training and logistics support. However, I'm not going to try to personally instruct on all the units (although I have a project underway to cross train some of our staff on several different units, that may be what mempilot is thinking). We use 'specialist' instructors for each of the models. Our location, logistics and diving conditions make us viable as a pleasant training location, and some of those CCR's we sell even on the internet we also provide the training. Thus not just any strorefront could be a viable 'clicks and bricks' strategy either.

The one opportunity that might be viable as a strorefront retailer is a travel destination that focuses on rebreathers, such as Dive Tech in the Caymans. I have no idea if they are actually profitable at it, but they are certainly doing it well.

But these are just my, admitedly biased, thoughts....

9th October 2007, 01:42	#3 (permalink)
n2diving Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Optima Other CCR Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Other CCR Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Florida, USA Posts: 271	Re: US Retail Rebreather Market Quote: (Originally Posted by ForTheFight) does a storefront retail market exist for rebreathers? The margins on this kind of gear, both units and consumables, is slim relative to mass market OC gear, there is also the question of the opportunity cost of both the inventory on hand and the space in the store…. The harsh reality is I'm nearly certain that a storefront retail market is not viable. That window is firmly closed, US dive stores are struggling now. You are exactly right, plenty of stores have some sort of rebreather about (from what I've seen usually a Drager SCR gathering dust, or perhaps a YBOD.) But again, it's not because they really plan to sell them, it's just a bit of 'bling'. Or perhaps they are just the remains of attempt at retailing rebreathers. In these challenging economic times, shops are looking to control costs not looking to invest in a clearly unprofitable low volume business. Ron Benson, at Going Under Dive Center (yes, that's the real name) tried as hard as anyone I know to focus exclusively on store front retail, stocking and teaching an astounding range of brands and models. He is an excellent and very knowledgable instructor, and a very sharp individual. I certainly can't speak for him, but I know that he has recently narrowed his focus considerably and he was very open in telling me that trying to develop the retail storefront rebreather business has not met his expectations. I do believe that the sale of CCR's will move almost exclusively to the Internet. The fact that my storefront also sells them is almost incidental. It does allow us to provide training and logistics support. However, I'm not going to try to personally instruct on all the units (although I have a project underway to cross train some of our staff on several different units, that may be what mempilot is thinking). We use 'specialist' instructors for each of the models. Our location, logistics and diving conditions make us viable as a pleasant training location, and some of those CCR's we sell even on the internet we also provide the training. Thus not just any strorefront could be a viable 'clicks and bricks' strategy either. The one opportunity that might be viable as a strorefront retailer is a travel destination that focuses on rebreathers, such as Dive Tech in the Caymans. I have no idea if they are actually profitable at it, but they are certainly doing it well. But these are just my, admitedly biased, thoughts.... Last edited by n2diving : 9th October 2007 at 02:02.
(Offline)