Operational Survey - How Many Dive Retailers Will Attend DEMA Show 2011? In about seven weeks from our press date the DEMA Show will take place in Orlando, Florida. Alternating with Las Vegas, the show was last held here in . . . keep reading Retail Confidence - A Mid-Year Survey A look at how diving's retailers have fared in the first half of 2011 Ask companies in the diving industry to say how their year is going so far, and the answer's a mixed bag. It's that, or many are answering with caution. So how are we doing post-recession? There are few gauges in the diving industry and with the recession's effects supposedly subsiding, and since diving is mostly a discretionary activity (in other words among the first to feel a recession and the last out), it would be nice to know where we stand . . . keep reading EDITORIAL Sales Tax Match -- The Final Round A California lifeguard can earn $100,000 a year and retire at 80 percent of his pay. States' spending, like federal spending, is out of hand. That's w . . . keep reading How Stable is Diving's Retail Base? Dive retail health is an important measure for the diving industry; much of the industry's business is connected there, and dive stores create most of the industry's customers. This industry has few economic gauges, including no reliable way to know how dive retailers are doing in any short-term measure, but one long-term gauge is retail stability. . . . keep reading Confidence Survey: Retailers look at this year and next: The mood at dive retail You can practically see the recession in the year-over-year results of this survey. The recession officially began at the end of 2007, ended in 2009, and the economy started climbing out of it in 2010. That mirrors the results of this year's survey considered alongside the results from the previous two years. . . . keep reading Strategic Discounting - How and When to Cut Prices Without Cutting Your Business's Throat Everyone loves a good deal. You do, I do, even your best bud Bob does, and that's part of why he comes to your shop. Especially after you gave him that sweet deal on a new regulator. No wonder he sent his boss, his brother and that guy he kind of knows from his bowling league. . . . keep reading Operational Survey -- Dive Retailers and Discounting For retailers, the practice of discounting products and services is perhaps one of the most important areas of business consideration. In major retail operations like Sears, discounting doesn't apply at the store management level because the price is the price. At smaller independent retailers discounting is discretionary, and the way it's handled effects, either positively or negatively, sales levels, profitability and customer relations... . . . keep reading Dive Retailers and Social Media Marketing - Survey 2010 Social networking has been around as a marketing device in the dive industry for less than two years. As with everything new and novel, especially with marketing technology, questions surround the applications, effectiveness and future of the "Facebooks" and "Twitters" of today and tomorrow in the marketing of diving's business. . . . keep reading How Stable is Diving's Retail Base? Dive retail health is an important measure for the diving industry; much of the industry's business is connected there, and dive stores create most of the industry's customers. This industry has few economic gauges, including no reliable way to know how dive retailers are doing in any short-term measure, but one long-term gauge is retail stability. . . . keep reading In an Economic Downturn, How Do You Spell Relief? It Might Be 'R-E-N-E-G-O-T-I-A-T-E Y-O-U-R L-E-A-S-E' You've heeded Franklin D. Roosevelt's advice, recognizing as he did that, "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." You've already dulled your sharpest paring knife; staff is at a minimum; inventory is threadbare; marketing (hah!). Still, a graph of recent revenues shows that after they flatlined, they went over a cliff. Not so good, but hopeless? Too many tenants believe that putting their heads in the sand will solve all their problems, and they always seem to find out too late that an unflattering negotiating posture yields little value. So why not just ask your landlord for some help? Before you do, however, take a deep breath and remember that your landlord is your business partner, not your adversary. . . . keep reading Showroom Aquatics -- Considerations for an In-Store Aquarium Walk into many dive stores today and you're in kind of a typical retail environment. Customers see dive equipment, accessories, maintenance and training area, an airfill station … but we are not really selling those things. We're selling diving; both the experience and the dream. The other things follow. So what should your customers see and feel when they come into your store? . . . keep reading Operational Survey November/December 2009 -- Retail Confidence Survey... Retailers Look at This Year and Next -- The mood at dive retail The confidence survey for this year speaks for itself. In fact this survey put alongside the one in 2008 speaks for the economy, which entered the recession toward the end of 2007. The confidence survey for this year speaks for itself. In fact this survey put alongside the one in 2008 speaks for the economy, which entered the recession toward the end of 2007. . . . keep reading More