There are still no discernible signs of a recovery in the U.S. recreational marine market. Powerboat sales are down 45% from where they were five years ago and the recent move by Genmar (builder of 15 powerboat brands) to file Chapter 11 reorganization protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court has created further turmoil. The nearest thing there is to a consensus is that “with all this shit around there has to be a pony somewhere” but no-one can define, let alone find, the pony.
There is however room for focused optimism for a good number of businesses for two primary reasons. First, there are still some 17 million boats over here and most of them will be used and/or worked on. Second, nearly 60 million adults (that’s more than one quarter of adults in the U.S) went boating in 2007. There is no reason to suppose they will not want to go again or own something to enhance their experience.
While the numbers above should not be considered a business’s total addressable market they are large enough to provide a basis for optimism. A business that knows its total addressable market (the total amount of revenue it could generate if it acquired every potential customer for its products) is going to be in a much better position than those that do not. Having that knowledge should spur businesses to focus their efforts on new ways of reaching and selling to those customers. New ways are required because if a business’s existing products, promotion and distribution were really compelling and effective they would have reached market domination already. Since very few businesses or brands can claim such domination there is room for focused optimism for others. There is room in the existing market for determined businesses to make considerable gains.
Posted by: James
Categories:
Marine Industry