Dealers Who Adapt Find Success During Difficult Market Conditions

By Liz Keener, MRAA Certification Manager

Walk into any dealership right now, whether it’s yours or anyone else’s, and you’ll see the showroom floor covered with more clothing, tubes, paddles and camp stoves than boats. We all know the industry is having a severe boat inventory issue caused by a slew of unfortunate events.

But during a recent round of dealership visits, one of the things I admired most about the dealers we talked to was their adaptability. They’re finding ways to make their situation work.

A photo of boats, accessories and garments inside a marine dealership.

Every dealer we visited experienced strong rental demand this summer. How did they adapt to that? One put a bigger focus on rentals in lieu of having enough boats to sell and saw a huge increase in their rental revenue. They also bought boats at auction with cosmetic defects that would prevent them from being good pre-owned showroom boats, but became perfect for short-term rentals.

More than one dealer found visitors wanted to spend time on the water, but didn’t want to worry about the hassle of driving. So they added more captain services.

One of the dealers added more diverse retail merchandise that complements boats and the boating lifestyle.

And every single one of them reworked their showroom, creating more merchandise areas with boat clothing, flip flops, towels, fishing equipment and the like in the wide-open spaces where boats used to reside.

At many dealerships, service boats sit in front of the dealership, more prominent than before, in the hopes to demonstrate that the business is still open. And some store already-sold customer boats, inside or out.

There’s no doubt, all of us adapted to change over the past 18 months, both personally and professionally. But the dealers who find new ways to be innovative and pivot remain strong and will continue to be throughout the next 18 months and beyond.

If you’re struggling with how to adapt, need some pointers on what changes you can make now, or want to spend this unique time working on your business rather than in it (maybe get Certified even), let us know. We’d love to connect you with any resources you need and provide you with any best practices we can.