Boating Industry

March 2014

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March 2014 | Boating Industry | 39 www.BoatingIndustry.com /// Market Trends /// with individual versions starting north of $55,000. Peter Barrett, the company's senior vice president of market- ing and corporate development, said its trifecta of pontoon brands — Starcraft, Sylvan and SunChaser — makes its combined market share more than most in the industry would expect. That diversity has allowed the company's pontoon offerings to find success at different sub-seg- ments and price points. Overall, Smoker Craft has seen consumer interest surging in the performance realm, a factor that has specifically benefitted Sylvan. "We definitely see the market trending to- wards performance," Barrett said, citing the company's V-shaped Revolutionary Planing Technology (RPT) tubes and triple-tube mod- els. "We're seeing a need for more performance and we're seeing everything powered by higher horsepower." One of the reasons for the increased focus on performance, Barrett said, may be the phe- nomenon of families that traditionally owned two boats downsizing to a single pontoon that can do it all. Additional features and improved comfort have aided this transformation. As a result, the company's pontoon demo- graphics now include more young families that may have considered entry-level runabouts in the past. "The pontoon has evolved into a vehicle that the consumer can do a lot more with, and they're taken much more seriously than they have been in the past when the pontoon was … really just used for cruising," he said. "Now the con- sumer looks at the pontoon as the multipurpose water vehicle." As usage shifts, so has the company's marketing message, now includes more including of families swim- ming, tubing, jumping off of the boat and enjoy- ing more active pursuits. Trends toward more youthful, exciting de- signs and features have become a major focus for Smoker Craft's product planners who have incorporated more floor plans with bars, LED Starcraft's Stardeck SL55 comes standard with a third tube with the company's HMX Performance Strakes. P34x41-BI14MAR-MarketTrends-new.indd 39 2/7/14 10:43 AM

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