Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/264625
March 2014 | Boating Industry | 37 www.BoatingIndustry.com /// Market Trends /// COMING TO A LOCATION NEAR YOU! Call (315-692-4533) or email (liz@mraa.com) Liz Walz for more information. March 11 | Minneapolis, MN with the North Central Marine Association March 18 | Portland, ME with the Maine Marine Trades Association With an educational line-up designed to make an even bigger impact on your business, Marine Retail University is back for another round of one-day events. Find an MRU near you and save the date! More events to be added soon. MARINE RETAIL UNIVERSITY Evinrude's lead by developing pontoon-specifi c outboards to cater to the audience. Sterndrive- powered pontoons continue to be a very small part of the market — less than a percent of total sales — with their own advantages that he said will likely continue at their current level, or per- haps decline slightly going forward. With many design trends descending on the category in quick succession, Premier has been focused on making its boats easy to get on and off, improving seating and materials and upgrad- ing entertainment features such as sound systems, toys and upscale touchscreen instrumentation that, in some cases, includes integrated owner's manuals for on-the-water troubleshooting. In terms of what's next, Menne looks to the dealers, suppliers and customers that are never shy with recommendations — fi replaces are a fre- quent suggestion — and features that improve the versatility of the boats. "We have seen in the last few years growth in some of our models that are combination, they're designed for cruising, but they also have amenities for fi shing – a live well – and maybe a couple of fi shing seats in the rear and stuff like that," Menne said. "Those type of models are continuing to grow, too." Sales success begets increased competition, and Premier expects additional competition from already established manufacturers that have yet to jump into pontoons. With its unique market position as a high-lux boat builder, the company isn't worried about future entrants impacting its bottom line. Bennington's big growth Few boats show the upward mobility of the pon- toon market better than Bennington's boats fi t- ted with the available glossy African mahogany exterior paneling. Company president Jake Vogel has been with the company since it was founded. After a brief stint away, he has been back since 2009 steering the company past the Great Recession. In the intervening years while the market has exploded, Indiana-based Bennington Marine has moved into the No. 1 spot in the marketplace in terms of units sold. Its crafts range in length from 17 to 28 feet, with a variety of triple-tube and performance options to create something for everybody, should they order it. "Sales have been very strong," Vogel said. "They've continued to push our limits as far as capacity goes, so we've expanded and continued to expand our facilities and have continued to try to manage that growth because we don't want to "We're fi nding a lot of young buyers in our product as well because young buyers they like to be able to go to the sand bar and have a lot of friends and have a good time — pontoons are very conducive to that." — Jake Vogel, President, Bennington P34x41-BI14MAR-MarketTrends-new.indd 37 2/7/14 10:43 AM