DaveP
02-18-2010, 12:11 AM
The Miami Boat Show tends to be looked upon as being the “bell weather” of the marine industry for the upcoming year. To sum it up in the 5 days that I attended the show, I would say that the show boiled down to one word. ENCOURAGING!
Without a doubt 2009 was “THE” toughest year for the Marine industry as well as many industries across the United States and the world. The Marine industry was hit unusually hard in 2009 as being a luxury item, it is one of the first things to be put on hold when discretionary dollars tighten up.
The Miami Boat show this year was significantly different from the Miami Show of 2009. Was the show smaller than 2009? Absolutely, no doubt it! But there still was an amazing amount of hardware to be seen!
I believe that there were 5 signs of ENCOURAGEMENT…
The first sign of encouragement was the people traffic. From Opening VIP Day to Monday, every day had extremely good people traffic. As the saying goes, “getting them in the door” is the hardest part and in the door they came!
The second sign of encouragement were the questions being asked at the Finance Booths around the show. Last year in Miami, there were not only less people but there were also very few questions about boat buying or boat financing. Myself, being in the Marine Finance Industry, had first hand experience fielding questions from the public as well as from many boat manufacturers. The public interest was significantly higher than that of 2009!
The third sign of encouragement were the optimistic grins of the exhibitors on Monday. Most of the exhibitors were very encouraged by either their sales or the excellent leads that they had fielded at the show.
The fourth sign of encouragement was that manufacturers were talking about production schedules. The schedules may not be the schedules of 2 years ago but most of them have some sort of set schedules and are returning to some sense of normalcy. Normalcy may be building a boat or two per week instead of 10 or 12 but some sense of a steady schedule is the NEW normalcy for now.
The fifth sign of encouragement was that there were “NEW PRODUCTS / MODELS” at several of the booths ranging from boat builders, engine builders, after market suppliers, etc… Hardly anyone was thinking about new anything that last year.
So if you were wondering what the Miami Show was like and what may lie in store for 2010, I will definitely say that we are SLOWLY on the road to recovery. It will be a long road ahead but there are many positive signs that point toward a recovery. Will the Marine industry be like it was 3 years ago anytime soon? No, definitely not but along with the economic recovery of the country a new sense of “normalcy” within the industry will come to light as well.
A client of mine at the show I think summed it up best. “People are sick and tired of being sick and tired! People want to do something!” I couldn’t agree more!
If you think you may be in the market for a new or used boat, there are some great deals out there! The same goes for after market suppliers for those who want to make upgrades to their current boats!
All in all, 2010 may not be 2007 but it sure as heck isn’t going to be like 2009!
I hope you have a great 2010 boating season!
Best Regards,
Dave Patnaude
President
NJ Performance Powerboat Club
Without a doubt 2009 was “THE” toughest year for the Marine industry as well as many industries across the United States and the world. The Marine industry was hit unusually hard in 2009 as being a luxury item, it is one of the first things to be put on hold when discretionary dollars tighten up.
The Miami Boat show this year was significantly different from the Miami Show of 2009. Was the show smaller than 2009? Absolutely, no doubt it! But there still was an amazing amount of hardware to be seen!
I believe that there were 5 signs of ENCOURAGEMENT…
The first sign of encouragement was the people traffic. From Opening VIP Day to Monday, every day had extremely good people traffic. As the saying goes, “getting them in the door” is the hardest part and in the door they came!
The second sign of encouragement were the questions being asked at the Finance Booths around the show. Last year in Miami, there were not only less people but there were also very few questions about boat buying or boat financing. Myself, being in the Marine Finance Industry, had first hand experience fielding questions from the public as well as from many boat manufacturers. The public interest was significantly higher than that of 2009!
The third sign of encouragement were the optimistic grins of the exhibitors on Monday. Most of the exhibitors were very encouraged by either their sales or the excellent leads that they had fielded at the show.
The fourth sign of encouragement was that manufacturers were talking about production schedules. The schedules may not be the schedules of 2 years ago but most of them have some sort of set schedules and are returning to some sense of normalcy. Normalcy may be building a boat or two per week instead of 10 or 12 but some sense of a steady schedule is the NEW normalcy for now.
The fifth sign of encouragement was that there were “NEW PRODUCTS / MODELS” at several of the booths ranging from boat builders, engine builders, after market suppliers, etc… Hardly anyone was thinking about new anything that last year.
So if you were wondering what the Miami Show was like and what may lie in store for 2010, I will definitely say that we are SLOWLY on the road to recovery. It will be a long road ahead but there are many positive signs that point toward a recovery. Will the Marine industry be like it was 3 years ago anytime soon? No, definitely not but along with the economic recovery of the country a new sense of “normalcy” within the industry will come to light as well.
A client of mine at the show I think summed it up best. “People are sick and tired of being sick and tired! People want to do something!” I couldn’t agree more!
If you think you may be in the market for a new or used boat, there are some great deals out there! The same goes for after market suppliers for those who want to make upgrades to their current boats!
All in all, 2010 may not be 2007 but it sure as heck isn’t going to be like 2009!
I hope you have a great 2010 boating season!
Best Regards,
Dave Patnaude
President
NJ Performance Powerboat Club