Yeah it's pretty obvious that racing is strong in Australia from watching the ISA Worlds. France looks pretty strong now as well, and of course the US and Hawaii. But the many countries were fielding teams that suggested that SUP racing might be only in its infancy in that country. Some of the competitors there were doing their best - and I admire them for it - but were just weekend warriors really. So you can see why companies like Naish might want to have different marketing strategies in different parts of the world.

Krist said..
So i think I have it clear now , because you have a strong market in Australia we can go suck a lemon right ?

correct.

There is no getting around the fact that any team rider agreement between a manufacturer and rider squeezes out the retailer. In a market where there are little or no retailers supporting that brand, it makes sense for the distributor to strike up a direct to customer arrangement in order to move product at wholesale prices and help create awareness of the brand. That might encourage local retailers to stock the brand as there is clearly a demand for the product. But where you have retailers willing and eager to stock the brand, it would be suicidal to undercut them by offering wholesale deals to customers.

The majority of people who own sports cars never race them on a track.

A race board isn't "a board you can only use when racing", it's a "board that could be used for racing".

If you are a runner, you can look up the time of the world record holder in your age division and there are websites that will tell you how you compare. The majority of the people who use these websites rarely actually take part in a race. They use websites like this - and buy expensive running gear - because they want to challenge themselves, and improve, without the hassle, aggression, and attention that races involve.

I think the same thing is true of SUP. The fitness and self-improvement market will be far larger than the number of people who take part in races, and they will still want sporty gear, not big touring tubs.

I just deliberately bought a race board that is uncomfortably tippy for me. I have no intention whatsoever of ever racing it. But the challenge of it is making flat water paddling fun for me again, where it had lost its gloss before. There are more people like me than there are people who race regularly. I just don't think that retailers in some markets are really seeing this at the moment. The "fitness, fun, and challenge" sector of the market will be bigger than the pure race or (non-inflatable) touring market. Just look at your local gym: how many people there actually take part in races?

Every industry in our slowing economy is cutting over heads and reducing costs, you need to be competitive to get business it's not just a given anymore. if your customers cannot afford to purchase your product it's no longer relevant................

Your spot on , the club I am in has a lake time trial every week and it's very popular for bettering yourself and just being with other like minded paddlers and the after paddle board talk usually last long after everyone has finished their lap . we have boards from $300 to $4000 and everyone is there to improve their personal time and get fit because paddling is the most pleasurable exercise I and most people who try it can find so all that said if I see Joh Blo in Europe getting his boards for 33.33% cheaper then me I feel a little jipped and as I have said before I get that the distributor is giving up their time with demoing and sponsoring of events it was just a to much like having my nose rubbed in it cheers K

Yeah my own group of buddies are pretty much like you guys in that respect. We all downwind, and all have multiple boards. We are in the water a lot, for e.g. surfing, touring, fitness, downwinding, socialising, family outings and introducing newbies to the sport. We all do other sports as well (with varying levels of involvement) nd many competed at them in our youth. But we only SUP race rarely, and on those occasions pick races which are nice or interesting paddles in themselves, and do it socially, really, as an excuse to all get together and have a laugh. Generally, within our age categories we do pretty well when we race, and there are often wins or podium finishes. But we couldn't really care less about that, and sometimes don't even stay for the medal awards. A problem for us with racing is you actually get to paddle less than if you don't race: If you are in training, you have to have rest days and everything you do needs to be set according to a training plan. F**k that! We are having too much fun SUPing to worry about that kind of cobblers. We just want to do what we want, when we want, and enjoy it.

Rather than more races, what we need is more clubs IMO. But clubs take time, effort and skill to run, and that's time we could be spending SUPing...so we just do it informally.

We are, I think, pretty typical of the many other groups of paddlers round here.

I actually feel a bit sorry for the retailers and distributors because the nature of their business means that it is difficult for them to belong to such a group of buddies. At some point business gets in the way. Maybe this is why they underestimate this demographic: they aren't a part of it.

The Naish distributor for the UK is also excellent, and puts a lot of effort into supporting the sport. The retailers that Naish uses are more variable IMO. So I don't think this scheme is anything to do with the quality of the distributors, and might not even be related to the quality of the retailers either, and I think it is very important to make this clear. This scheme probably aims to solve a specific marketing issue that Naish may have, to do perhaps with eg. market visibility or perhaps oversupply. We don't know the delivery details either. It is perfectly possible in the UK at least that maybe delivery of any of the items bought under this scheme won't arrive until Spring 2017, when there are only 6 months left until the announcement of the 2018 boards. I have absolutely no idea if this is the case, but the situation might not be as simple as some are imagining here.

Personally, I think it's a great idea by Naish. Anything that reduces the cost of boards, even if for only a few, is a good thing over here. I just wish they'd send a Maliko and a Jav my way... maybe I should apply and see what happens.