I have been thinking. Drinking and thinking.

In Aus the General consensus I feel, is there is 3 major brands
Naish fanatic and starboard 4th SIC latest mover into Aus shores recently.

most professionals or top paddlers in the country are sponsored by one of these brands besides a couple others.
They are the major floor space holders in majority of SUP shops across the country.
But why don't we see any other the international brands here in Aus?

The big three aren't Aussie brands and aren't made in aus. So how come we don't see some of the other well known brands in Australia? They are all imported here from Asia and beyond. Besides maybe DC's
I follow a bit of social media and it is flooded with sup around the world and it seems i see more of other brands around the world than naish fanatic and starboard. Are these three brands not so succesful in Europe and the states??
Why don't we see the likes of infinity or 404 or rouge and riveria? These brands seem huge the in US. You hardly see a naish fanatic or starboard in a local race photo online of a US race why is that? Are The US brands mass produced made in the US or are they shipped from Thailand like most others?

The reason I ask is I see some really cool designs coming out of these different brands and would love more options in Australia than the general 3/4 brands readily available..

Mainly talking race boards here as there seems to be more local guys doing surf sups in Aus which is good to see

Commercial reality.
You can't blame "The big three" if the distributors of the other boards are ****.
The "Big Three" will sign up the best distributers / retailers.
No refection on the quality of the product, but the downstream distribution is the key.
About to get a bit off topic, but if the manufacturers aren't prepared to pay for local distribution, it's not going to happen.
Regardless of the quality of the product.
Recently devastated when our local shop said he was closing.
It would help if end consumers were prepared to pay for the service they get from distributors / retailers, rather than buying the cheapest crap they can get from the interweb, after traialing it from a local retailer.
If you go in to your local shop, try something on, decide on the right style and model, then walk out and buy it from interweb suppliers, you have just put another nail in the coffin of having choice of boards, clothing, etc.
You have stolen it from the shop you walked in to.
No affiliation with anyone or anything, got sent to a shop by a mate.
He told me I should get in to this.
Retailer put me on the right beginner board, choice of 2 out of the big 3 (I scientifically removed Starboard because I didn't like the colours)
Loved it, needed more.
Needed to get the family involved.
Purchase order of boards over about 2 years
Fanatic - retail local
NSP - retail local
Naish - Retail local
Fanatic - Retail local
Pause
Naish - retail local
Naish - second hand
Naish - second hand
SIC - second hand
Naish - retail local
Naish - retail local
SIC - second hand

All the way I had a local shop to supply me and guide me on what I was doing.
He was the best retailer of the major brands, but always had the right advice on other stuff.
And he's gone.
Woops, missed one
SIC, second hand

If you want a good variety of boards to try, support your local shops.
Ask them to get it in.
I don't follow social media, I just paddle a lot.
Talk to the people who run your local shops (while you have got them)
And ask them about stuff.
More local manufacture would be good to see, not just surf sups.
If a 14' race board is $4299, unless it's gold plated we must be able to do better here.
Will take my tablet and go to bed now.

teatrea said...
Id rekon its due to the size. Of the market.australia very small market compared to usa and europe.europe must be a majority flat water race seen also.probably not worth the other brands trying to penetrate our market.i like the look of mistral boards though.

Agree in Aus yeah small market.
But U.S. is huge and I reckon mainly flat water too as most races I see are flat and a lot of board designs look orientated to flat. But in the vids and pictures I see of US races I hardly ever see for example a starby sprint. Now everyone knows this board is the king of flat but in the US it doesn't seem to have a big following at all? Are the people more loyal to their own nation brands??

Really good insight much appreciated thanks Deano.

There must be more to it in regards to the "biggest" retailer in Melbourne shutting doors after 25 years. Sup is new so obviously wasn't it's main sales area in the past. ?? Did the got to big syndrome kill it. Many small businesses expand for demand but get to big get in to deep and end up folding.

Aussie dollar isn't helping for prices on boards at all. Couple brands on the GC may have the answer looks like they are doing well. (From the outside)
Manufacture boards in China possibly being a cheaper option. Or as they have their own shops and online sales they can sell for less and take less of a margin as there is no middle man waiting for his cut.

I see hobie is doing a big push at the moment nice new van and trailer and sponsoring the latest big events in 2015. But in my eyes to be competive in this market against the big 3 you need to score some team riders that can produce results to gain some positive advertising that helps drive sales. Like Deep has done with surf Sups. Small brand but having one of Australia's best surf sup paddlers on the team has in my eyes done wonders for the brand and in turn have a lot of people wanting the boards and am seeing a lot more of them out there.

Interesting topic.

I was going to write the below, but decided not to. So don't read it.

Ride safe,

JB

**Preparing for red thumbs **

A lot of the time the so called "Big 3" or similar are the ones who invested early and took the risk to support and build a new sport from scratch, it's only once the sports gains momentum and most of the heavy lifting has been done that the smaller guys jump on board and take a piece of the pie. As mentioned most of the big players have been around for some time and gone through the kiteboarding boom and the windsurfing days, and have a business model that will last the test of time (because if they are around now, they've had to). In general you will find customer service and product back up are superior with these companies (note: "In general"). The "Big 3" or similar also tend to invest a lot into the sports, not only in coin but also in endless hours ensuring the sports survive, building clubs and committee's and ensuring insurance is available and so on. Generally this work load is also shared upon the shop staff, which is often where the relationships are secured between brands and stores. The Australian market is quite small in comparison to say the US, however we are still quite a big player in the international scene in SUP, especially in the surf market. But it is because of the limited market that makes it incredibly hard to survive as the overheads and costs of successfully importing and distributing a brand is very high and requires a large turn over to make it viable, but with high turn over comes higher over heads, and so on... A lot of the time smaller brands (no one specific) will come into the market at a lower premium and make a presences but bring nothing to the sport with them but cheap gear, the "Big 3" or similar keep on investing in the future of the sport and supporting the retailers. Everyone has the right to a choice, and I welcome it. But sometimes we lose sight of the little things that happen behind the scenes, and who made these things happen. Our local stores often taught us, and gave us advice, and along with the "Big 3" they formed associations and clubs to bring us fun events and host demos and provide insurance and security to the sports, they fight the battles when authorities try to ban us, and promote us to the other side for acceptance with in the surfing community. One would have to think what the sport would be like if the "Big 3" decided not to invest way back then?

What is meant by big brands in racing isnt big with general enthusist and rec sup paddler.
Most rec paddlers just want a package under $1000- $1200.
ie Australian Waterman,Drift,Blackhawk. etc

I guess what I am saying is the racing fraternity is just a small section of the overall sup category.
Not everyone wants to race,sup comp etc
lots of folk just want to float! Paddle on weekends and holidays.

Deano72 said...

AndyR said..

In Aus the General consensus I feel, is there is 3 major brands
Naish fanatic and starboard 4th SIC latest mover into Aus shores recently.

The '3 major brands' you've referred to were long established in the majority of our big retailers before SUP came along.....think windsurfing and kiting.
So when SUP came along the distributors of these brands already had a retail network around the country.
Add a bit of slick marketing and BOOM......market domination.
These big corporate companies spend a heap of coin on advertising and team riders to maintain their market share.
This is part of the reason their boards are becoming so expensive......and the falling Aussie dollar isn't helping.

It's near on impossible for smaller brands to compete and get boards on shelves in the shops around the country.
This is a real shame because some of these smaller brands are producing some great boards.....and even though a lot of their boards are made overseas (in the same factories as the big brands) they are Aussie owned companies.
The only way these smaller brands can capture some decent market share is to undercut the pricing of the big brands, setup their own shop or sell direct online.
This is obviously having an impact upon the sales of the big brand retailers.....to what extent I'm not sure but to have the biggest SUP retailer in Melbourne shut it's doors after being in business for 25 years says something
Whilst I agree that the retailers need the support of the SUP community, you could also argue that the smaller Aussie owned companies do too.
No one wants to see shops close down nor see small Aussie companies collapse or go broke.
Perhaps the market is not yet big enough to support both....maybe it is??
It's going to be interesting to see what the SUP marketplace looks like in a few years time.....particularly if the Aussie dollar keeps falling!!
Hopefully the sport grows enough to support all forms of retail.....but I've got a feeling things are changing.....not only in SUP but retail in general.

Which big SUP shop closed up

AndyR said..

I think my original question in the post has been lost in the thread though. I was more just curious about are the big 3 in Australia the big 3 globally as I don't see in social media etc much of these brands in Europe and the US.

First, a lot of people on the water do not speak on the social media, so what you can see through the web may not reflect what is really happening. On the opposite, some brands are everywhere on the web sites, but none can be found in the water.

Second, getting a distributor is not easy, as other have detailed. For instance, just finding a guy who wants to commit itself to actually buy a container is hard to find. Guys that are OK to get 10 boards in their shop and pay them if they sell them, this you can find.

Also, building boards is still a manual process, so ramping up the production while keeping the quality is not easy. The chinese workers must be trained, and good workers are hard to find and retain. It is not "well, I am already producing boards for N countries, doing it for N+1 would be a piece of cake"...