2009 numbers for the kayak industry keep declining because of the recession.
In contrast, in the third quarter of the year (Q3: July, August and September) Wavewalk sold as many kayaks as it did in Q3-2008 and Q3-2007 combined, and we’re very grateful for that.
We’d like to thank all our clients and supporters, and we’ll keep doing the best we can to provide people with the world’s best kayaks, and support them with the best service we can.
Yoav
Previous blogs on similar subjects:
June
March
February
January
2008
[a publicly traded outdoor products company] reported the results of their watercraft division in the third fiscal quarter, and it looks like a disaster, with 26% decline in sales, kayak factories being closed etc.
It looked even worse than their last year’s reports, which were pretty bad.
It doesn’t seem like their management thinks things may improve for them.
Pete
What were they thinking? That people would keep getting their credit cards out of their wallets and pay for those poorly designed and over-hyped branded kayaks? Did they imagine such thing could last forever?
Customers today are more careful and more educated, and they have the means to find information and evaluate it on their own. People no longer depend on magazines and websites that earn money from advertisement, and they don’t even trust those outdoors, paddling and fishing magazines and websites anymore because of all the covert advertising that’s going on there.
Marco
good job wavewalk!
it’s time they regulated the yak industry, and L position yaks should have stickers on them that warn the user that “sitting in this kayak could hurt your back” IMHO
That’s not going to happen, but people will stop buying those yaks once they realize how bad the problem is, and that there’s a good alternative.
That’s what happened decades ago with all the skiing boots that didn’t offer good ankle support – they got the boot!
Well well maybe it’s not just the current economic set back. I fish with folks who keep trying “different” boats in the hope of a better outcome. Truth be told those sit on tops are all the same. I guess the only real differences between them are how wet your butt gets and how fast. Oh yeah let’s not forget the spiffy new ports and holes in them to stuff things into the hull. Next season should show the true results of all the concerns they are having with reduced “new ” model counts and much less ad dollars being spent.
sots should bear a special sticker saying “be aware that this paddle board features big holes that you can see, but it may also have small holes that you don’t see, and these holes may cause water to leak in without you noticing it – until it’s too late”
every household has at least one sik or sot, and they don’t necessarily like it that much. why buy more of those yaks when it’s clear they’re all the same, and not that great, to say the least…
Congrats!
How much of this success is due to the new w500?
Well, as you can see from the customer reviews, since May 1st most our sales have been W500, and people love it.
It’s hard to say how many of them would have bought a W300 instead, if we didn’t offer the W500.
My feeling is that the introduction of the W500 was a turning point for us, because this boat, although similar in many ways to the W300, is more user-friendly, and inspires more confidence.
In the past, prospecting customers used to ask more questions about the W300 before they ordered one, but it seems the W500 is pretty much ‘self evident’. In fact, the very first customers who had ordered a W500 did so without even seeing a picture of it – All we had to show them were a few computer-generated images from the CAD file that was used to produce the mold for it
Yoav
Just how different these two models really are?
It depends – Most people who’ve tried both prefer the W500, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you would.
It seems the bigger the person and the longer the time they need to spend in the boat the more they tend to like the W500.
Technically speaking, the W500 is a more accomplished boat: It’s stabler, faster and more comfortable than the W300. However, being narrower and smaller gives the W300 a different, fun feeling in paddling, especially if you’re a lightweight person who likes to play.
Yoav