Local retailer feels pinch of competition, marketing

 

Canoe shop owner sees his sales dip about 35 percent

 

MATT MONAGHAN

Statesman Journal

 

October 19, 2004

 

Jim Bradley sits in a lawn chair outside his small, homey canoe and kayak shop quietly reading a magazine.  The 52-year-old paddle sports enthusiast waits patiently for a customer -- an increasing rarity at Oregon Canoe Sports.

Bradley doesn't know why sales at his specialty shop have dipped about 35 percent in the past four years.  In 2000, Oregon Canoe Sports had sales of about $130,000. This year, Bradley says he will be lucky to hit $85,000.  A venture that Bradley once had ambitions of expanding has now become one that he is passively looking to sell.

What makes the case of Oregon Canoe Sports more perplexing is that the overall industry of paddle sports has grown significantly in sales and participation in the past four years.  Canoe & Kayak Magazine, a paddle-sports publication, found in a recent survey that the number of people kayaking, 8.8 million, has more than doubled since 2000. Even more people are canoeing, making the total participation level of paddle sports more than 33 million.  According to the Outdoor Industry Association, only hiking attracts more participation as an outdoor sports activity.  As a result, leading paddleboat manufacturers such as Johnson Outdoors have seen yearly double-digit percentage sales increases during the same period.  As a whole, the industry generates about $500 million annually.

However, those facts are little consolation to Bradley.  His 2,000-square-foot retail and warehouse space on State Street is full of boats and accessories he hasn't been able to sell.

Bradley insists that big-box retailers aren't the reason for the specialty shop's slide, but evidence from Copeland Sports, a sporting goods chain with a store in Salem, points to the contrary.

Dave Morris, manager of the Lancaster Mall Copeland Sports, said paddleboat sales at the store have been better than he expected.  "It's been pretty surprising," Morris said. "We sold out of some models so fast we've been giving rain-checks to customers."

A lower price might be the reason.  During Copeland Sports' recent month-long grand opening, the retailer was selling a Perception Swifty model kayak for $249. Oregon Canoe Sports sells the same boat for $389.

Chris Mitchell, executive director for the Trade Association of Paddle Sports, said manufacturers have made a successful effort to flood the large sporting goods stores with products. 

The upside, Mitchell said, is more people are being exposed to canoeing and kayaking.  The down side, he said, hits specialty shops such as Oregon Canoe Sports.

"A lot of manufacturers put them any place that they can," Mitchell said. "The specialty retailers have been struggling with that, partly because the consumer wrongly interprets lower price as better value."

Bradley thinks that there is more to his frustrations than just the locations where the manufacturers have been marketing their products.  "I think the industry needs to rediscover its roots," Bradley said. "They made it visible by putting it on the sports shows, showing guys going over waterfalls, but that's never been the bread-and-butter of the industry."

Earlier this year, ESPN aired a segment called "Extreme Kayaking" about an outdoor sports program obviously aimed at the 18- to 34-year-old audience.  Yet according to the survey conducted by Canoe & Kayak Magazine, the average age of its readers is older than 40, married and with an advanced college degree.  Locally, Cascade Canoe Club, which Bradley started in 1994, is largely comprised of members that match the survey's demographic.  "You look at the ads are geared towards extreme sports enthusiasts. But the people I see on the water are over 30, over 40, over 50, some of them are retired," member Ed Deery said.

If the paddle sports industry missed the boat in terms of marketing, Bradley said it could be a while before his shop gets turned around.

"To me, the fundamental attraction isn't glamour," he says. "It's more about ability to get out into nature, breathe some fresh air, see some wildlife and get away from the noise."

©Statesman Journal 2004

 

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