Hot Tub & Swim Spa Scene FINANCE CHOICES


Money, Money, Money The inside track on selling through finance… ABOVE: The Cyclone, North Spas’ most-financed hot tub


Choosing the right hot tub or spa can be a confusing process for customers, especially with so many different brands and models now available. But the huge range of financing options on offer makes buying a hot tub much less of a luxury purchase than in the past. For retailers and dealers, finance is an important offering and most now provide some kind of finance option, from 0% finance over short periods to higher rates over longer timeframes. While the proportion of financed sales varies dramatically, what is abundantly clear is that financing is an important part of the mix for hot tub and spa retailers aiming to maximise their sales “For us, financing is very important,” says Julia Kendrick, Hot Tub Specialist Sales Consultant at Midlands-based Award Leisure. “We promote our finance offers across multiple channels, including our website, social media, on pop-up banners in-store, in brochures and over the phone. “We have a finance calculator on our website that customers can fill in themselves in their own time.” Continues Julia. “It definitely generates new leads and sales. Not everyone has disposable income, so they appreciate the opportunity to spread the cost.”


FINANCE FALLING About 25% of Award Leisure’s customers take out finance. The percentage was significantly higher for North Spas in Newcastle- upon-Tyne, with as many as 44% of its customers using finance in 2015. The company expected this to increase in 2016 due to an increase in pricing, but in actual fact the opposite happened, with 37% of spas financed in 2016. By 2017 this had fallen to 24% and, according to their Marketing & Sales Specialist Samantha Murphy,


18 Hot Tub & Swim Spa Scene FINANCE CHOICES this decline seems to be continuing in 2018.


“Even though we anticipate a further decline in customers using 0% finance for their purchase, it is still critical to promote it,” says Samantha. “Having the ability to facilitate 0% finance is one of our unique selling points over other hot tub companies in the North East. Finance can make hot tubs accessible to a larger market, especially when a showroom visitor has a budget only fitting online retailers.” One region where the number of customers taking out finance appears to be lower is Exeter in Devon. This is certainly the experience of Dan Johnson, the founder of HydroVue which is based


ABOVE: Julia Kendrick, Award Leisure’s Hot Tub Specialist Sales Consultant


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