Dear MRAA Industry Stakeholders,

Over the past year, we’ve heard from many of you about the challenges today’s marketplace presents for selling boats and running a profitable business. And while macroeconomic challenges like inflation, interest rates, consumer confidence and overall market uncertainty continue to slow us down, the escalating costs of Boats Group online marketplaces, as you have noted, have introduced even more barriers to success.

Your growing concerns and frustrations have been recognized, and we wanted to write to you today to let you know that the MRAA, your dealer association, has heard you — loud and clear — and we are continuing to take action.

Like you, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas Board of Directors, which is made up of 17 individual boat dealership owners and operators, has been keenly aware of and, in many cases, personally impacted by these price increases. Our board members, along with MRAA staff, have engaged in numerous conversations with industry stakeholders related to this issue, and we have dedicated time in several board meetings to determining how MRAA could best play a role in supporting our fellow dealers.

As those questions and conversations continue, we want you to know how we arrived at the decisions we made related to both your concerns and MRAA’s business.

1. In the spring of 2024, MRAA Chairman of the Board, Jeff Strong (owner of Strong’s Marine in New York) and MRAA President Matt Gruhn met several times directly with Boats Group to discuss the challenges our members are facing, including meetings directly with the company’s Chief Executive Officer and its since-departed Chief Revenue Officer. In these meetings, MRAA conveyed its members’ growing frustration with the price increases, the manner in which these increases were, at times, unexpectedly assessed on dealerships, and the lack of communication that accompanied the increasing fees. Boats Group acknowledged that poor communication on its part contributed to dealership frustration, but its leadership also made it clear that Boats Group believed the price increases to be fair and justified.
2. Along the way, MRAA received numerous requests from industry stakeholders to “do something” about the price increases. In this regard, it’s important to understand a couple things. First, MRAA is a non-profit trade association and, as such, must operate under and adhere to anti-trust and anti-competition laws. Therefore, MRAA, like all other trade associations, is prohibited from discussions that seek to set prices or pricing policies of its members or their vendors and strictly refrains from discussions related to boycotts and the like. That being said, MRAA can and has advocated on behalf of its members, by speaking directly with Boats Group and relaying the concerns and frustrations of our members. Which brings us to the second thing we need to understand: Like you and your business, Boats Group is a privately held business working in a capitalistic economy and has the right to make whatever decisions it wants about its pricing structure and the business model it desires, within the confines of applicable law. While we may not like those rate increases, we, as dealers, also have the right to choose our own business model, including who we do business with. And we know that while some dealers have chosen to remain with Boats Group platforms, others have left or migrated to other platforms. Our job at MRAA is to help you find success, no matter which path you choose.
3. Simultaneously, MRAA received numerous requests to create its own online marketplace. We took these requests very seriously, investigating numerous boat marketplace platforms and devoting board meeting time to the topic. We even considered a business model that called for MRAA to co-own its own marketplace. The board appointed an Online Boat Marketplace Committee, which brought together several of the marine industry’s leading marketing minds, to recommend a path forward. That committee met with several online listing providers; conducted a comprehensive study that captured dealership marketing insights, strategies, tactics and best practices; and built a list of all online marketplace platforms that exist in our market. In the end, the Committee and Board determined MRAA could not, on its own, effectively operate and sustain a platform that would meet the needs of its members, citing the organization’s lack of technical expertise, a lack of the financial investment it would take to drive enough consumer interest to an online platform and the expansive list of competing platforms that already exist.
4. Instead, the MRAA Board and Committee agree that the best way that MRAA can support dealers is to focus on what MRAA does best – delivering a comprehensive educational program that helps dealers maximize the success of their digital marketing efforts, no matter what partners they choose or what initiatives they pursue. MRAA collaborated with the MRAA Educational Foundation to create and deliver content that will not only include timely and relevant webinars with marketing leaders but also a vast amount of content from our online learning management system, a report on the state of dealership marketing, our work with subject matter experts, a comprehensive list of online marketplace providers and more. The tools, tips, resources and lessons available through this curriculum will deliver dealers the confidence and the know-how to fuel their success with whatever business model they choose for their online presence. Watch for this to begin later this month and extend through the month of May.

You will see a column written by MRAA President Matt Gruhn in the forthcoming issue of Soundings Trade Only, explaining much of this, but we felt it was important that you heard this directly from us prior to reading about it in the magazine. At the MRAA, we exist to empower dealerships across our industry to create and achieve the success they desire and deserve. If there’s more we can do for you on this topic or others, please reach out to anyone on our board or on the MRAA team at any time.

Sincerely,

The MRAA Board of Directors:

• Joe Lewis, Mount Dora Boating Center, Board Chair
• Jeff Strong, Strong’s Marine, Immediate Past Chair
• Craig Brosenne, Hagadone Marine Group, Vice Chair
• Carly Poole, Buckeye Marine, Secretary/Treasurer
• Craig LeBlanc, Allen Harbor Marine Service, Region 1 Director
• Bob Petzold, Petzold’s Marine, Region 2 Director
• Bryan Buckland, Chessie Marine Sales, Region 3 Director
• Chris Butler, Butler Marine, Region 4 Director
• Paul Berube, Boater’s Exchange, Region 5 Director
• Chad Taylor, Taylor’s South Shore Marina, Region 6 Director
• Jason Shallcross, Reed’s Marine, Region 7 Director
• Eric Smith, Colorado Boat Center, Region 8 Director
• Brandon Sharpe, Arrowhead Boat Sales, Region 9 Director
• Bob Bense, Superior Boat Repair & Sales, Region 10 Director
• Sean Horsfall, Len’s Cove Marina, Region 11 Director
• Susan Duquette, Lakeview Marine, At Large Director
• Wendy Ramsey, RBK Distribution, At Large Director