Hot Tub & Swim Spa Scene FINANCE CHOICES
FINANCING FAST TRACK Award Leisure
Coast Spas Classic ‘Element’ All Seats From £7,995. Optional features, we are currently offering them half price: • 100% Full Foam Insulation £975 • Premium Shell Colour Upgrade £150 • Underwater Light + Waterline Colour Changing Lighting £470
• Ozone Purification System £395 • Bluetooth Stereo System with Radio + Speakers with Subwoofer £695
Delivery, Commissioning, Installation, Chemical Starter Pack and Chemical Training £395
Steps are £185 and a Cover Lifter is £255 RRP £11,515
CURRENT OFFER £9,755
With a minimum 25% deposit, the monthly repayments would be £203 per month over 36 months on 0% credit finance.
ABOVE: An example of a finance offer from Heritage Spas
in the county. “Less than 10% of our sales are financed – probably because in Exeter we have a disproportionately amount of high net earners,” explains Dan. “Here, if we offer finance, it’s usually as a lever to upsell. That said, those that bought on finance have tended to have a much greater buy-in to hot tub ownership.” Launched by Dan late last year, HydroVue’s role, he explains, is to provide specialist retailing experience and selling knowledge to hot tub and pool retailers, many of whom may be highly technical but don’t always understand sales, marketing or recruitment. “My aim to help them bridge this gap. I carry out a range of roles, from helping them find staff to managing their web presence.”
PROMO TACTICS
The dealers Dan works with use varying promotional tactics for financing deals, from subtle adverts in-store to bold, payment-driven online ads. Many use social media, but more to promote the fact they offer finance rather than to quote rates. One retailer offering more finance, not less, is Aqua Warehouse in Essex. They have been offering finance via Hitachi for a number of years but have seen a significant growth in sales utilising finance over the last two years – both in their own retail showroom and through their dealer network. “Over the last 12 months around 20% of sales were via a finance option and I can only see this trend growing,” says the company’s Graham Message. “We’re seeing more and more Vita Spa & American Whirlpool
dealers embracing finance and promoting it to help increase their footfall and overall sales. We even know a few dealers that assume every customer will buy on finance, unless the customer says otherwise, so their percentage of finance sales is a lot higher. This is a major change that I don’t think we would have seen a few years back.”
BIG TICKET
Does finance help encourage ‘bigger ticket’ purchases? As already mentioned, in wealthier areas like Exeter, it can certainly be used as leverage to upsell. HydroVue’s Dan Johnson again: “Finance helps ‘lift’ people to a tub that suits them and that they really want, rather than settling for second choice. It removes a big objection to buying a hot tub in the first instance – the ‘I can’t afford it’ syndrome.” But it’s not just in the wealthy parts of the country that finance encourages upselling. Award Leisure’s Julia Kendrick: “Not everyone has a large amount of disposable income, so having the option to spread the costs means customers can sometimes spend a little bit more and upgrade to higher spec spa.”
For Northern Spas the picture is slightly different. The company often offers hot tub installations surrounded by Trex or Millboard composite decking. “This decking can sometimes cost nearly as much as the spa,” explains Samantha Murphy. “We’re unable to offer finance on decking, so there’s often a scenario where a customer has the budget for a hot tub but really wants decking too – in this case we may recommend financing the spa. As our finance is totally interest free and the cost can be spread over three years we have great success with this.”
Hot Tub & Swim Spa Scene FINANCE CHOICES 19
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