www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
Editor’sLetter AUG 2012 SPN
5551
spn incorporating Pool & Spa Industry is the official trade magazine for the UK wet leisure markets and is the only trade publication that invests in the industry it serves.
letter
Editor and Co Publisher: Alan Lewis T: +44 (0)1823 431767
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Go Publishing Ltd accepts no liability for any insert, display or classified advertisement included in Swimming Pool News. While every reasonable care is taken to ensure that all advertisers are reliable and reputable, Swimming Pool News can give no assurance they will fulfil their obligations under all circumstances. The views expressed in the articles in Swimming Pool News are the contributors’ own. All rights reserved. Copyright for all materials published in spn remains with the publishers. Material contained in this publication is not to be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior permission of Go Publishing Ltd.
P
atrick Thorpe is someone who should be listened to.
The man long associated with Certikin’s position in the market place says something in this issue of SPN that many have been thinking for a while but perhaps few have said. He says that ‘business as usual’ is a thing of the past.
Certainly another poor summer has only added to the view that the current economic downturn may be the trading norm for many years to come. So the trade has to go on trying to adapt and deal with these trading conditions rather than to wait for them to improve.
There are clear signs things are changing – and businesses are making them change. The increase in pool refurbishments and renovations are a clear sign that businesses can diversify and lift sales by selling to existing customers a whole range of new products which can make owning a pool or spa more attractive with lower running costs and less maintenance. At SPN we are aware there are plenty of success stories to show what can be done. There’s the commercial pool manager in Bournemouth who reduced his commercial pool’s operating costs by 70% over two years and won a local authority energy saving award.
Or companies who seeing the reluctance in customers to invest in new swimming pools, have aggressively marketed swim spas to the point there’s record sales of the spas all over the country. Or specialist companies who are in 2012 seeing record sales of environmental products like solar covers, heat pumps, filters UV water treatment they have chosen to highlight as niche opportunities. And there’s the South West hot tub dealer who created a new niche for himself by seeing that lower end hot tubs were not selling, changing his strategy to specialising in high end top of market luxury hot tubs – and seeing his sales double in the first six months of the year.
It makes sense that commercial pools, the sector most in need of help with reducing costs, improving revenue, becoming more environmentally friendly are seen as a real area of growth.
In France where the specialist trade in 2012 says it is now showing real growth, the turnaround has been put down to innovation in products, strong industry backed marketing campaigns to the consumer about the health and fitness benefits from owning a pool and spa and finally a formal effort within the trade association to monitor and improve quality of service to customers. In Britain most people think there’s much more to be wrung out of the wellness theme not just on pools and spas but ancillary products such as saunas and steam rooms. And gadgetry will surely be part of the recipe for change as customers enjoy a whole area of innovation whether through music and television or the ability to call via a modem and get the heat pump or hot tub switched on. No one can doubt either that social media sites and web communications have dramatically improved the sharing of ideas and thoughts bounding around the trade.
Adapting to change has never been more important.
Alan Lewis – Editor
Go Publishing also publishes: What Pool & Hot Tub magazine – our sister publication – is the only consumer magazine in the UK that provides the complete and crucial information that potential buyers are looking for! For more information visit the What Pool & Hot Tub website at
www.whatpoolandhottubmag.co.uk
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