Boating Industry

October 2015

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www.BoatingIndustry.com October 2015 | Boating Industry | 41 It's been another good year for the tow boat segment. According to data from Info-Link, sales of inboard boats were up over 10 percent year-over- year. Most manufacturers feel extremely confi dent about their future. And why shouldn't they? They've been able to achieve something the whole industry is aiming to accomplish: attract Millennials. The average age of inboard boat buyers was 49.1 in 2014, down marginally from 49.7 in 2013, according to Info-Link data. In an era when many categories have continued to steadily increase in age, what makes this segment so special? To some, the simple act of awareness has brought new boaters to the market. "On a national level, I think that the whole Discover Boating campaign has done a good job of educating and making people aware of water sports," said Jack Springer, CEO of Malibu Boats. "I think we have a very active population, and that's becoming more so, and so as they understand what all you can do on the water, I think they're starting to embrace [water sports]." To others, the answer is reimagining the target audience by identifying the true driver of the sale. "When we look internally at what our average age of the customer is, we talk often about the fact that sometimes the infl uencer or the decision maker may not actually be the person that's buying the boat," said Greg Meloon, president of Nautique Boat Company. "It may be a 14- to 20-year-old that's helping a parent or grandparent make a decision on what the best boat to buy is, and so we are a little bit undefi ned in the sense of who our true customer is, who's making the purchase decision versus who the person is that the boat's registered underneath." But most manufacturers agree that it boils down to something much sim- pler: The water sports segment is much more in tune with the needs of young buyers by way of affordability. "People will pay for things, regardless of the price point, when it delivers on the value that we're trying to tailor to what they need. So the key to a price-point boat isn't just getting the price down – it's that it delivers and it can do everything that they want it to do, and they're not compromising a lifestyle or an ideal on the water in order to get into the product," said Daniel Gutierrez, director of design and marketing at Tige Boats. Tige's R-Series is targeted to offer a complete value to those consumers without com- BY BRIANNA LIESTMAN "People will pay for things, regardless of the price point, when it delivers on the value that we're trying to tailor to what they need." — Daniel Gutierrez, director of design and marketing, Tige Boats

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