boat show specials??

[nuffy]

Was rather dissapointed in the boat show,so thought id stock up on a bit of gear at sundown marine as i thought the prices would be good<show specials>spent about $300 and the guy reduced the prices further the more i bought,picked up a copy of fishing monthly looked at the sundown marine specials page and noticed the seat i just bought was $6 cheaper.Couldnt be bothered going back and thought oh well he knocked $10 off the rod.Dropped into tackle wharehouse on way home and noticed the rod there $15 cheaper and the braid that the guy said was dirt cheap the same price.So beware what you buy there or screw them down as they have put there prices up to compensate

[vanurose]

Your right on about that.
I live in FNQ and I asked a friend to call me from the boat show on a price of 2 specific Penn reels while she was there on her mobile phone. Would you believe the reel was $40 more expensive than what I could get it for here and also the Fathers Day special up here threw in a matching Penn rod too. So I will not be sucked into show specials again.
Cheers
Rose

[charleville]

As a marketing manager in a different industry, I have made the decision for my company both to participate and not participate in trade shows. It can be tricky to build a business case and to realise the benefits in bankable terms of setting up a stand and staffing it for a few days.

The costs can be quite substantial to divert a significant part of your resources, including your sales staff to such a show. There are the costs to be paid to the organisers for getting the bit of real estate on which to set up the stand - and prices fluctuate according to position just as in real estate; if you have a stand custom made for the event, the $ can go through the roof; then there is the cost of deploying your staff away from your normal business for huge hours each day; plus of course, you will need to advertise that you are at the event etc etc etc......but wait for it.... after doing all of that, the customers expect that you will then discount all of that stuff that you have moved from your shop out to the show. :( It just does not add up. :(

My experience was that shows such as the boat show are great for promoting new products, especially those that need some explaining. I am sure that Evinrude are still at a stage of doing really well in creating the etec brand by promoting them heavily at boat shows. At the retailing end of the business though, it is more telling to me to see which retailers do not attend the boat show, eg numbers driven people like BCF.

I have doubts that tackle retailers will make a sufficient return on costs to set up at a boat show unless that is their specific way of doing business such as the el cheapo sellers who attend all of these things selling rubbishy cheap Chinese made junk to the masses hungry and wide-eyed for such stuff.

On the other hand, trade shows are great for brand building and to some extent businesses will participate simply because they fear the longer term consequences of not being there.

I would not really expect to attend any trade show thinking that I would get any better bargain than what I could get either at sale times in a normal year or by exercising the simple art of asking a retailer to "sharpen their pencil" before they quote me a price on anything.

[tinnieman]

I went on Wednesday afternoon, my advise would be to leave anyone not essential to your buying at home, after parking, entry and some food 2 people are easily up for $100+, I am glad I didnt take the kids!!!

I have done a bit of research on what I wanted (14' tinnie) and noticed the prices on the 'show specials' are pretty much the minimum specifications that would get a boat on the water. Dont get me wrong, some of these were great prices if you didnt want electric start or electric trim and tilt,or your happy with a motor that will be 'adequate'. But when you actually trick it up the way you want it dont be surprised to see the price increase by another 3 to 4 thousand on the 'show special' price. Which incidently was about 2 grand more than the same boat when I priced it 6 weeks ago!!!

On a brighter note, edition seven of Beacon to Beacon is out, what a great improvement to my last copy (edition 1). Pity about all the advertising. You would think with that much advertising the price would be a bit lower. I have been on the executive commitee of a small sporting organisation which put out a quarterly colour magazine, cost nothing to us and recieved $2500 per quater from the printer - all costs and a tidy profit for the printer covered by advertising revenue........makes me wonder where all the money goes on the Beacon to Beacon sales....