Customer Perception vs Your Definition
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

They say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.  So are perceptions.  As a Dive Industry Professional, you might think it is important to spend a considerable amount of time thinking about who you are as an industry professional and how your business is defined, so that you can communicate that idea to your potential customers, in hopes of getting them to see your business as you do.   That concept may have had some degree of validity to it back in the economic eras of the past, but I don’t think it applies as much in the 21^st century.  I believe that today’s consumers are more interested in what you can do for them, rather than who you are or how you see yourself.  What you can do for your customer is more important than how you define yourself.

The age of consumerism took a new direction after World War II.  The industrial age that began in the 1900’s changed from a war-time economy to the great post-war economic boom of consumerism.  The economic focus had been on how programs, products, and services were made.  NAICS codes were developed to define industries and what specific industries made.  As the age of consumerism took hold of the economy, the economic world view shifted from how things were made to how things were sold.  Sellers of products defined themselves as wholesalers, retailers, catalog showrooms, mail order houses, and the newly created concept – suburban shopping malls.  The insatiable appetite for goods and services put consumers in the driver’s seat of the economy and market focus shifted from manufacturing to retailing.  Considering the fact that retailing is part of the supply side of the economy, and the demand side, a significant paradigm shift in supply side / demand side economics had not yet taken place.  I wonder if Historians will record this stage of global economics as the turning point?

This is the era that many of us in the global diving community are familiar with and in some respects, still cling to.  Specialty manufacturers strategically focused on selling their products to specialty retail stores such as sporting goods stores, dive stores, surf shops, boating supply stores, and fishing tackle stores. That is how resellers defined themselves back then, and the practice continued for many years to follow.   If you have been in the diving industry since the 70’s or 80’s you have seen the shift from sporting goods stores to dive shops, to dive centers, to adventure sports centers.  You may have also seen the shift from brick-and-mortar stores, to mail order sales, to internet selling.  Forty years ago, there were over 2,400 dive stores in the United States.  Today there is less than 900.

The number of sellers in any given market is proportionate to the number of buyers that rely on their goods and services.  As the number of buyers decrease, so does the number of suppliers.  The retail industry has historically been the ultimate link between the buyers and sellers of the global economy.  They are the undisputed connection of supply side and demand side economics.  It is time in our industry’s history for the retail industry to make a paradigm shift and take the lead as the major stakeholder group of the Global Diving Community.  As members of the Global Diving Business Network, Dive Retailers are the bridge that connects buyers and sellers of diving equipment, dive training, dive travel, and diving related lifestyle products.  Being both buyers and sellers in the Industry Channel of Distribution, retailers are in a unique position of strength and leadership.  They are in constant contact with the consuming public on a daily basis and should be the stakeholder group that understands consumers the best.  Their knowledge of current consumer behavior can propel their stakeholder group to prominence in the industry.

Dive Retailers, by now, should have figured out that the consuming public has taken the predominant role in the global economy.  Consumers today are more educated than they have ever been, and they know how to do their marketing research.  They know what they want, and they have developed new purchasing skills that are more compatible with their 21^st Century lifestyle.   The best thing that retailers can do today is to become experts in consumer behavior.

The art and science of marketing is about moving products from conception to consumption, through channels of distribution.  The process doesn’t start with manufacturing anymore.  It begins with marketing.  Marketing is involved in product development and relies on its understanding and connection with the consumer.  As finished products work their way through the channels of distribution, it is up to marketing to know how, when, and where, the consumers will make their purchasing decisions.

Understanding customer perception is how Marketing Professionals can be successful in the distribution and sale of programs, products, and services.  Manufacturers and Retailers have historically defined who they are and set up channels of distribution accordingly.  They make decisions based on their assumptions of how their customers perceive their products and how their customers make their purchasing decisions.  The actual results could be anything from success to total failure.  It all depends on how aligned your corporate definition is to your customers’ perception.

There are many examples of ongoing conflict of perception vs definition in the diving industry.  Much of this conflict has become more apparent since the global pandemic that had a devastating effect on our economy, but the underlining causes have been in our industry for many years.  The pandemic changed the way consumers think about products and how they purchase them.  Perception and definition differences are present in manufacturing, distribution, retailing, advertising, and marketing.  Especially in trade show exhibiting.

Let’s take the example of the production, distribution, and sale of masks, fins, and snorkel.  Some producers define them snorkeling equipment, while others label them as scuba diving equipment.  Would you be surprised if I told you there is a considerable market for them as sporting goods equipment, gift shop merchandise, and pool and water toys.  If you were distributing these items, would you sell them in dive stores, sporting goods stores, free diving stores, boat supply stores, fishing and tackle shops, pool supply stores, or resort gift shops?  If you were purchasing these items for resale in your business, would you write orders at a dive show, surf show, boat show, outdoor show, or home improvement show?

Maybe it is time to stop trying to narrowly define ourselves and start telling our customers what we do for them.  If they believe that we can fulfill their needs, it really doesn’t matter how they label us.  We could be their dive shop, watersports center, sporting goods store, or outdoor adventure outfitter.  The important thing is to know is how our products can meet our customers’ needs.

Become a Member of our Global Diving Business Network: Annual Membership in the Dive Industry Association is $125 and includes placement in a number of Trade Directories and websites.  Our organization uses websites and directories in advertising and marketing campaigns to refer business to our members.  By joining our network, you are becoming part of a network that works actively on your behalf to bring buyers and sellers together for the benefit and growth of the Global Diving Community.  Download a Membership Application today.

For more information about the Global Diving Business Network, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director, Dive Industry Association, 2294 Botanica Circle, West Melbourne, FL 32904.  Phone: 321-914-3778.  Email: gene@diveindustry.net  Web: www.diveindustry.net

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