Close up on aboveground pools

Pool & Spa News, Dec 19, 2001 by Shannon Harman

The exploding aboveground pool market has had many obstacles to overcome in recent years including inclement weather, a softening economy and shipping problems. Despite all of this, many manufacturers have been able to flourish, in large part because they were able to anticipate potential challenges and create a proactive strategy to fight against them.

In our Close-Up on Aboveground Pools we ask manufacturers to look into the future once again, and the uncertain economy facing them in 2002 and discuss what changes if any they'll be making to grow their business in the coming year. We also offer tips on how to best display aboveground pools so retailers can kick off the new year in grand style.

"We need to be careful to do all the right things. The economy is slowing down and we're looking to provide better service and support to our customers, making sure they are satisfied. We're upgrading our service by offering dealers in-store, promotional and co-op advertising support. We're not planning on cutting back--we're just looking to increase our level of dealer support this year."

Justin Yang, Manager, Sales Administration Intex Recreation Long Beach, Calif.

"We're going to be stressing more POP training with our dealers. We plan to have more regional meetings and focus in a hands-on way with our dealers as far as classes and training go. We want to get more face time with them in the stores and try to help them really utilize their displays for maximum benefit. Training for our dealers involves how to display and sell the product and, a lot of times, how to close the sale. So we're going to be covering everything [with our training this year.]"

Hughsten Smith, Vice President, Sales/Marketing Splash SuperPools North Little Rock, Ark.

"We're being more aggressive and trying to partnership with potential dealers. We're marketing ourselves differently; we're promoting ourselves and we're coming out with new products such as this new 52-inch wall we have. As far as [being] in a down economy, we're trying to encourage new programs such as discount programs, co-op programs and things like that. We're really looking at how we can best help the dealer out and make their job easier."

Sandy Polus, Director, Sales Kayak Pools West Seneca, N.Y.

"We're adding another shape to our line, another pool. Last year we used manufacturer's reps for the first year, so now we have the entire country blanketed with reps. We're also doing three shows this year instead of two for the 2002 season."

Robert Kern, General Manager Portable Pools Inc. Laguna Beach, Calif.

"I think here in the pool industry we're fortunate because when we have times like this, people tend to stay home more and not travel as much. So I don't think we're going to be affected in a huge way.

We'll probably maintain what we've been doing in the past. We're going to continue to attend trade shows and even though the attendance was down at [the International Pool & Spa Expo this year], we're pretty confident it was a quality group that came through and we're very pleased with it. We're going to continue what we have been doing."

Dwayne Carreau, Vice President, Sofpool Ranch Cordova, Calif.

"We're going to be working on new products. We've already redone some of our advertising materials and our brochures. We're also going to be doing more on our Web site, but basically, we'll going to [focus] on new products to try to reach more potential customers. Our merchandising program has slowed down this year because of everything that has happened, but I think we'll try to revive it again next year."

Gilles Rancourt, National Sales Manager Vogue Pool Products LaSalle, Quebec, Canada

"I guarantee we'll be participating in a less big way at the next [national] show. This has been a very bad show for us. We spent a lot of money and didn't get the customers because the traffic wasn't here. All our reps are saying to do other marketing efforts. I don't think it's any secret that the aboveground pool industry isn't in the best shape these days, but our company is in good shape and we're going to grow by being aggressive."

Jim Wallace, President Cornelius Industries Tonawanda, N. Y.

"We've been doing what we can to ensure that we maintain our market share. We've been doing an analysis of our customers and our competition and seeing where we can pick up in those areas. We're always trying new things as far as advertising and focusing on different areas of our marketing. We're not a company that just does the same thing year after year. We're streamlining in our product line and focusing on our. best sellers, but we're still offering our full line. I don't agree with this bad economy [forecast]. I think next year is going to be a great year for pools. I believe people are going to be staying home more and spending more time in the backyard, and we're going to benefit because of that."

Ilene Fink, Director, Marketing Del Air Group Del Air, N.J.

"We're going to just continue to do what we've done in the past, which is to support our dealers as best we can with merchandising materials and good service. It's hard to say what next year will be like because this industry depends so much on weather. Right now, our customers [feel], and we feel, a kind of reserved optimism, a conservative optimism. We're hoping for a good year, but by and large, we feel it will be flat or slightly down from last year."