OPINION
“It’s Going To Be A Good Season; Touch Wood”
THERE IS AN OLD PROVERB THAT SAYS, “BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, IT MAY COME TRUE”. ALL THE SIGNS ARE THAT THIS COMING SEASON WILL BE A GOOD ONE BUT ARE WE ALL READY TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT? By Jamie Adams
‘M
ake hay while the sun shines’, they used to say and that is of course very true for our industry as well.
Although a huge increase in the number of indoor and basement pools being built goes some way to protect us from the vagaries of the weather and a steady growth in the sauna market means we are not always working outdoors; at the end of the day nothing makes the tills ring like a long, hot summer. After the wettest winter on record, this first flush of a warm, dry spring has put a smile on everybody’s faces. The question is, will this better weather carry on through the year and into the summer?
The signs are that it will. El Niño to the rescue.
For those of us who don’t want to rely on Lady Luck, there are always German scientists. German meteorologists have published a report saying that they are 75% certain that 2014 will be the hottest summer on record. Their findings are based on studying El Niño, the ocean currents and climate pattern that can affect our weather.
Even with all the technology that is now available, long range forecasting is a long, long way from being an exact science. Having said that quite a few forecasters are agreeing with the German experts in saying that this coming summer should be warm and dry. And that will make a big difference.
The Wet Leisure Survey Report highlighted quite how important the summer weather is to our business. Up until last year, the wet leisure industry was having an increasingly difficult time. What the survey pointed out was that the summer weather in 2010, 2011 and 2012 was not only poor; it got progressively worse over those years.
2013, of course was different. 2013 was the sunniest summer since 2006 and the driest since 2003 and the report showed that businesses bounced back in terms of how they found trading conditions last year. Of course, blue skies aren’t the only thing that affects us.
What about the economic climate? People don’t like predicting the weather too far in advance and they don’t like making economic predictions with much confidence these days either.
88 April 2014 SPN
Having said that, the signs are good. The global economy is expecting 3.7% growth this year, which is the highest since the crash. In the UK, the British Chamber of Commerce predict that the size of the overall UK economy will be back to where it was before the crash by the end of this year. In 2013 the economy grew by 1.9%, which is the strongest growth since 2007. That is all good news but that economic growth needs to translate into consumer confidence before people start splashing out on pools, spas and saunas.
Confidence, that’s the trick I certainly felt that all the people I met at SPATEX this year were full of confidence for the year ahead and the Wet Leisure Survey shows a similar picture. Eighty five per cent of the businesses who took part thought that 2014 will be at least an ‘OK’ year and 55% of them think it will be good or very good. Confidence puts a spring in your step. Confidence gives you the energy to get on and do things.
Of course, where those steps take you and just what you get on and do will make a big difference to how well you benefit from the better times that, hopefully, lie ahead. I think the Wet Leisure Survey gives some good pointers as to where the growth areas probably lie.
So where are the best opportunities? More and more businesses are now operating in all three main sectors of the wet leisure industry; pool, spa and sauna. It just makes sense as the best way for any business to maximise the revenue from the skills and resources it has to hand. The sauna
market, although still not as big as pool and spa in absolute terms, is the fastest growing of the three.
Another growth area that the survey picked up on was in service, repairs and retrofit products. Every year there are more and more existing pools and spas in the UK and so it makes sense that this section of our industry is generating more and more work. There will be quite a lot of pool repair work following this very wet winter and that
can be an ideal opportunity to suggest to a client that they upgrade their pool with energy saving products, be that LEDs, heat pumps or replacing damaged pool cover slats with solar ones.
Energy saving products and technologies are a growth area across the board and offer a real opportunity as they are just as useful and practical to spec on a new build as they are to fit to an existing pool. It’s also fair to say that the wealthy have weathered the recent storms better than most. There is solid growth at the top-end of the market and a growing demand for what might be described as ‘luxury’ products and fittings.
Time goes ever so quickly. It might seem like there is plenty of time between now and the beginning of the summer, but the height of the season will be on us more quickly than you think. At least, it always seems that way to me.
Now is the time to make marketing plans and business plans, because when we are all working flat out, and I hope that we all will be, there never seems to be enough time to step back and make those decisions. So decide where your strengths lie, where your best market is going to be and how all those new customers that you hope to gain are going to find out about you. I think this is going to be a good year for the whole industry. Touch wood. SPN
Jamie Adams is Managing Director of Golden Coast, the current chairman of Pool Industry Promotions (PIP) and a board member of the British Swimming Pool Federation (BSPF).
www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
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