Charting the Course: The Rising Tide of Europe and the United Kingdom's Booming Boat Market
There has been a massive, noticeable shift in the boating world and I am not talking about COVID 19. The boating industry has been profitable in both Europe and the United States, however, the country of focus where the shift has been most prominent is the United Kingdom. You may be asking yourself, “Why am I being told about Europe when I have my own distribution issues stateside?”. To answer that question, I can confidently make the claim that the next boating boom will be outside of the United States; it will be in countries like the United Kingdom where no distribution network is yet to be found.
In the United Kingdom, the sales of new and used boats grew around 6% in the first year post Covid. britishmarine.co.uk. (n.d.) This revenue shift was represented by over £250 million in boat sales revenue. As of now, approximately five thousand companies related to the marine industry span across the United Kingdom that sell boats or boating products. These boating companies employ 200,000 people to the small isle who helped generate over £9bn in turnover; resulting in a contribution of £1.5bn in Gross Value to the nation’s GDP from the marine industry Britishmarine.co.uk.(2023) . Making a huge impact on the boating economy world wide.
Due to the marine industry’s significant growth in the United Kingdom, a question developed: Could an international boating distribution center in the United Kingdom be sustained?
COVID 19 affected every part of the industry; we are still seeing the ramifications of covid today in the boating world. The main issue during COVID 19 was the supply chain delay; at the peak of COVID 19 the manufacturing network was somewhere from 18-24 months behind the production schedule. This manufacturing hiatus affected the United Kingdom as much if not more than the United States as their boating needs were secondary to the American customers. Although the United Kingdom was an afterthought on the world map of COVID 19 the boating industry grew by a projected 20 billion USD globally. The boating industry in the United States went as high as 230 Billion in Economic impact. This growth is also reflected in the United Kingdom in the 6% growth from 2018 to 2022. Using the blue ocean strategy one can see that the United Kingdom is firmly planted on the blue side with an uncontested market space and new demand.Currently America is more of the red ocean than blue. America is not as open compared to Europe and the United Kingdom where there is more of an uncontested market space. The United Kingdom is a perfect example of the blue ocean as the competition is limited to non-existent regarding Pontoons and Ski Boats. The thing that makes America so special in the boating world is the factory's ability to produce boats. Being able to provide your customer boats on time makes a huge difference in customer satisfaction as well as repeating customers. The world has changed and so has our customer. We are now in a hypersensitive time where boating needs to be seen as a stress reliever compared to a stress inducer and having boats on time to all your customers can do just that.
One final way to prove the needs of a European distribution network is through SWOT. In our latest SWOT analysis where the strengths of economic growth and potential environmental impact were identified as well as the weakness of the supply chain shortages. While there is weakness in the industry there is also opportunity. These opportunities are reflected in growth of the industry reflected in migration patterns. Lastly came threats the threats were demonstrated with the weakness of the global supply chain, the price of gas, climate change and war as all of these things can impact people's ability to boat. We in the boating industry have a responsibility as retailers and manufactures to get our customers the product when they want it. The current clip of customers leaving is around 40% within the first 5 years. As of now the boating market in the United States of America has increased by 36% (2023 NMAA).This is wonderful news for the boating world as the demand for recreational boating is still evident in the United States. This increase is also reflected in the United Kingdom the current research states that there has been a 35.5% recreational boater growth rate in The United Kingdom as of (IBIS 2022) Showing the need for distribution centers within the English market. You may be asking yourself if I am not in England and I want to apply some of this research to my own company. “How might I do that?” I would say the most crucial part for any American Retailer goes as follows: Make sure you are providing a stress reliever compared to a stress reducer.
If you are a manufacturer reading this you now know how to keep your customers happy. The answer to that would be to open an international boating distribution center in the United Kingdom or Europe as a whole to provide all your customers timely service.
