US Retail Rebreather Market

ForTheFight

The Rebreather World US Store announcement has got me thinking about rebreather’s as retail items in general. The question I am pondering, both for business reasons and out of curiosity is, does a storefront retail market exist for rebreathers? In otherwords, can a brick and mortar store sell rebreathers, consumables and training and have it be a viable part of their business. I know many successful stores offer rebreathers and training but these are more often than not low-to-no profit areas. Some shops use rebreathers as a “where you could go in diving” or as an example of how their training program supports the cutting edge in diving, while I think these programs are good for both OC and CC diving in general, I am not sure that it demonstrates a brick and mortar retail market. I am curious what the community thinks about this, can a full service dive shop offer rebreathers/sorb/etc and training in addition to their recreational and technical program and expect to make a profit. 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….

Anyone’s thoughts are welcome; I am just turning it over in my head.

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This post may be up to 80% accurate...

mempilot

Talk to Mark (N2Diving here on Rebreather World) at Fill Express. He owns and operates Fill Express, Dive Rite Express, and now Rebreather Express. He sells rebreathers, training, and materials out of his bricks and morter store, as well as his online store. He is probably the most well rounded and run dive shop I've ever been a customer of. He now sells 3 makes of RBs: DR Optima, APV Inspiration/Evolution, and ISC Megalodon. He provides all parts in the inventory for these units, as well as training on them (think he's working on the training part for the latter two). He provides outstanding service and great product selection within those three manufacturers. He could probably give you the insight you need.

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MEM "Da Pilot"

Black holes are where God divided by zero.

"If at first you don't succeed, don't dive silent."

"Would you mind not shooting at the thermo-nuclear weapons." ~ Vic Deakins

"Donkey's kill more people annually than plane crashes."

n2diving

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....

kybrt

one year at dema i went to one of those develop your business seminars they have. they pointed out an interesting fact, it is important to remember in the us scuba sales yearly do not eclipse the amount spent on candy for easter celebrations, i think the number was 30 million yearly for scuba vs 300 million for candy sales during a six week period.

this was in pre 9/11 dollars btw.

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Marv


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onetime

$30MM seems ridiculously light. Any idea what they were including in that?

cramerdn

And there is the key. The days of Brick and Morter only stores for small specialized products is gone. But who cares. Just understand that retail is tough and now-a-days retail includes the internet. You would'nt run a buisiness without electricity or a phone, why would you avoid the internet.

I had a friend with a small store that sold wargames and toy soldiors. He complained that the internet was killing his buisness but refused to sell online or deal with ebay. He is long since out of buisiness. He instisted on running the shop with a buisiness model that he addmitted was not viable these days. He showed them; and now works in a call center.

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mempilot

Don't mistake me for someone who has a problem with it. I am one of his customers.

I used to own an aviation Fixed Base Operation in the Midwest that was primarily a flight school. We sold pilot supplies and it was a big part of the business. When we went online with the 'store', our margins went down, but our increased volume more than made up for it. I totally understand the way the market is shifting. I lived it and have no problem with it.

__________________
MEM "Da Pilot"

Black holes are where God divided by zero.

"If at first you don't succeed, don't dive silent."

"Would you mind not shooting at the thermo-nuclear weapons." ~ Vic Deakins

"Donkey's kill more people annually than plane crashes."

kybrt

it was a while ago but i believe it was 30 mil in gear sales, no travel or teaching just fins and regs etc. timeframe was late 90's say 1999 or so.

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Marv


Fidelis Ad Mortem
www.diveboatkaren.com