Post
by Wesley Tucker » Fri Sep 12, 2003 4:31 pm
Ok, time for some demographics and maybe some soul searching.
Slalomskateboarder.com registered it 300th participant this week. Is that a big deal? I don't know. What it means, though, is that at least 300 confirmed people have expressed an interest in slalom skateboarding and want to pursue learning more and possibly participating in the sport.
The good news is that manufacturers can anticipate at LEAST 300 people interested in their products. That doesn't mean a board maker or a wheel seller can expect to sell 300 units. But it does translate into at least some people buying some boards and some wheels. With a little luck everyone will buy a little bit all year round. This would make it at least feasible for the board, wheel and truck guys to keep up the good work and not get discouraged.
How does 300 customers translate into the real world? Well, I look at it this way:
300 users = 1.5 sales annually (average)
1.5 x 300 = 450 sales
Average sale for complete board =
Deck = $200
Trucks = $50.00
Wheels = $30.00
Bearings = $15.00
Hardware = $8.00 (includes risers)
TOTAL = $303.00 (let's round it down to $300.00)
So, 300 hundred users can expect to spend ($300 x 1.5) annually, or $450.00. 450 x 300 = $135,000.00 annually on slalom skateboard equipment sales. Of course, none of this includes accessories like cones, safety gear, timing equipment, travel, etc.
Ok. Let's go one step further. Annual sales are $135,000. That translates into monthly sales of $11250.00, or $2600.00 weekly and even $520.00 daily (five working days.)
That's $520.00 a day divided up between Bahne, Comet, Fibreflex, Gravity, Ick, PLankRR, Pocket Pistol, Roe, Turner, Abec11, 3DM, Indy, PVD, Radikal, Seismic, Tracker and maybe one or two others who's sales haven't impacted the sport.
So what do y'all think? Is that enough revenue to see the sport continue like it has in the past two years? Or will we see some manufacturers reconsider their commitment and move on to more profitable opportunities? Or, better yet, can we hope the slalom skateboarding manufacturers will find other markets for their products and expand sales based on greater visibility? (Turner has the downhill gun, a Flywheels competitor from 3DM, etc.) Although I think we'd all like to see "our guys" stick solely with us, I think we'd also agree the best thing for everyone involved is for the manufacturers to grow, make money and continue to make equipment for us.
Anyway, after a little over a year only, SS.com has 300 users. Now, I know that's not everyone who slaloms. I also know there are registered used who came here, registered, looked around and haven't been back in 6 months. They probably never got around to riding cones, either. So maybe we can use the same formula for riders that we used for sales and say there are 450 of us? That's still around a total sport-wide market of $200,000 max.
So here's some questions:
1. Do we need to double that number in a specific time (one year, two years, whatever.)
2. Can the manufacturers expect to see greater sales from existing users (300 users spending $600 or $700 annually?)
3. Can we expect to see some manufacturers in the next year give it up and move on to other things?
4. Can we expect to see some manufacturers expanding their business by making and marketing products to other sports? (The Roe Skimboard, the Pocket Pistol Snowboard, etc.)
Oh, one other thing. In case anyone asks where I got my numbers, it's just a basic application of marketing. For every three known propects there are two unknown. That's a ratio of 1.5:1. The sales figures are just guesses based on what I've seen the past year. For every guy who has a new board every week there's a guy like me who's got two new decks in two years. So I think an average of two completes annually is a pretty good guess. Sure, some of you out there are spending the kids college fund on skate equipment, but some have a board and will ride it til it's ragged. So again I think it's a safe average.
