Courtesy Endless Pools
When it comes to swim spas, thereโs no one-size-fits-all sales strategy. While some retailers will display a model or two in the corner of their store, others make them the entire focus of their business; while some retailers report modest growth last year, others say their sales are skyrocketing.
We spoke to three different swim spa retailers, each with a different business strategy, and asked them about their swim spa sales.
The Swim Spa Retailer
While swim spas are merely a facet to a larger business plan for many retailers, Joseph Stone, owner of Swim Fitness, flipped the formula.
โThe way I see it, Iโm a swim spa retailer who also sells hot tubs,โ Stone says. โThe difference is, everyone else is a hot tub store trying to sell swim spas. And you cannot approach a swim spa market like a hot tub market.
โItโs an apple and an orange, they just happen to be under the same roof.โ
Based in Northern California, Swim Fitness has showrooms in Manteca and Sacramento with four to five models on each floor. Last year, Stoneโs swim spa sales were up by 300 percent. While an improved economy definitely doesnโt hurt, Stone also has a fairly aggressive marketing campaign to draw people to the store.
โMy single largest capital expenditure in my business is marketing and promotion. So I do spent a lot of money raising the awareness level and putting this product in the minds of prospects out there. Along with a bigger, more expensive gadget, so goes my marketing budget.โ
Stone estimates his swim spa marketing budget falls in the low to mid-teens, large compared to the typical hot tub retailer. Swim Fitnessโ exposure is broad, and includes TV, radio, magazines and social media; while some promotion is done in collaboration with Master Spas, Stone says he does much of it himself.
In addition to traditional marketing channels, Stone targets local customers by sponsoring high school swim teams and clubs. With state budget cuts impacting swim teams, Stone not only sees it as a good deed, but also as a tried-and-true way of getting new customers in his stores.
โYou get the kids excited and soon mom and dad hear all about it. I chuckle because it really works,โ he says.
But marketing is only the beginning. Compared to the hot tub industry, Stone describes the swim spa industry as a โrelationship businessโ with deals commonly taking months to solidify.
โThe gestation for somebody to make the decision can be, on the short side, 60 days. On the long side, Iโve got deals that last a year in consideration. Itโs not just, โbuy this thing and park it on your patio.โโ
That courtship begins on the showroom floor with careful explanations and demonstrations. Stone says most customers donโt have a full understanding of what a swim spa is until they see one in person, so his stores feature both wet and dry units for customers to examine and try for themselves.
When a customer does make a commitment to a swim spa, Stone takes the relationship to the next level with a โwhite-glove presentation.โ
โWhen a customer buys a swim spa, I normally make a personal visit. I do an entire orientation, an entire walkthrough, and I hand the keys over to them, so to speak. There is a major formal presentation at delivery on site with the homeowner, and that takes time. You have to be willing to invest that amount of time.โ
With customers in California, Las Vegas, Phoenix and even Hawaii, Stone is literally prepared to go the extra mile (or hundred miles) to impress a customer.
โI donโt know another dealer who will do that,โ he says.
The Spa Retailer
For Melinda Dalacas, sales and marketing manager at Arizona-based Southwest Spas, hot tubs are her focus โ they consist of 95 percent of her sales while swim spas take five percent. And sheโs pretty honest about the state of her swim spa sales:
โSales have been slow,โ she says, โA little better than 2011, but not anything drastic.โ
While the uptick in sales is modest โ especially when compared to the pre-recession era in which she sold a swim spa each week โ Dalacas notes a couple trends among the customers who do go home with a swim spa. First, the convenience and easy upkeep of a swim spa makes it an attractive option to customers who spend their winters in the Southwest.
โItโs a key point for me because you canโt just walk away from a swimming pool; you have to have constant maintenance. And on a swim spa, itโs so easy to just drain it and close it down. Iโd say 90 percent of my customers are snowbirds.โ
Having such a niche encouraged Dalacas to offer special services just for them.
โWe have a service where weโll drain it, get it summer-ized for them and then we winterize when theyโre ready to come back so they can just get in.โ
Being snowbirds, Dalacasโ customers are consistently older, which matches the swim spaโs demographic.
โThe age group for swim spas used to be between 50 and 80, and now Iโve seen a drastic change where itโs 65 to 80. People in their 40โs or 50โs are not buying swim spas โ itโs all the elderly.โ
And itโs the older generation that is most interested in the swim spa because, as Dalacas says, โthey need it the most.โ
โThe first question I ask customers is, โWhat would you like the swim spa to do for you?โ And itโs the same thing every time: โI have arthritis,โ โI need to exercise,โ โIโm overweight.โโ
A certified aquatic fitness specialist, Dalacas closes more sales by sharing the latest research in aquatic therapy and putting it in perspective for the customer.
โYou have to work hard to let them know, โHey, whatโs your health worth?โ Thatโs the bottom line. โIs your health worth X amount of dollars to live longer and have a healthier, more pain- free life?โ And if you convince them that, thatโs the key.โ
The Roadie
Don McIver, national sales manager for L.A. Spas, has been in the industry for 35 years. In his role with L.A. Spas, he travels to 25 to 30 events a year, including home shows, fairs and expos, selling both hot tubs and swim spas. While hot tubs are the mainstay of the business โ McIver estimates hot tubs account for about 90 percent of sales โ he says swim spas are chipping away at that dominance.
โIt seems every year, an increasingly bigger and bigger percentage of our sales have become swim spas,โ McIver says. He estimates that swim spa sales initially started off at 2 to 3 percent, but have since grown to 10 percent, a shift he attributes to an improved economy and wider product selection.
โWeโve actually been backed up in orders; a lot of people are interested in our smaller versions because they seem to fit just about anywhere,โ he says.
With a greater range of products, McIver sees a greater variety of customers as well. In addition to fitness-minded people who use the swim spa exclusively for exercise, McIver says he sees a lot of families interested as well.
โWe have the families who want a bigger spa. Maybe they donโt care so much about strenuous exercise, but they want some fun. They can swim a little, splash and float and use it like a pool, but also have the availability of exercising and a couple of spa seats they can sit and relax in.
โAnd then we have the family who wants the all-in-one vessel. They can exercise fully, swim and do all the things they can in a swimming pool with the attachment of a hot tub at the end so they can just step over the barrier and soak in the hot tub. They can have the best of both worlds.โ
But another reason why customers are turning to swim spas instead of swimming pools or hot tubs: itโs a compromise product.
โSwimming pools can get expensive, and in some places, you never get the value back out of your swimming pool for what you put into it. A swim spa is something they can use at a very affordable rate, and at the same time, if they do decide to move, the swim spa can go with them to their next house.โ
Swim spas and hot tubs are close cousins in the industry, and the sales process is similar as well, McIver says.
โFor me personally, as far as selling a swim spa goes, if you have the right customer and theyโre looking for something we have to sell, I donโt think thereโs as much of a difference in selling a spa or a swim spa. Itโs just finding the right thing for the right customer.โ
Comments or thoughts on this article? Please e-mail [email protected].