Pools Spas & Saunas 2021 - Wet Leisure

Would you describe most of those sales as being at the top-end of the market, budget conscious or somewhere in between?

The chart shows that customers looking to make budget conscious purchases are an even smaller sector of the market than last year. Perhaps that furlough money and the savings from un-taken overseas holidays are allowing people to treat themselves.

Having said that, one respondent probably has hit the nail on the head when they say,

“People are looking for the best possible products but they want to pay the lowest possible price.”

It is also true to say that as the nation has become more focused on home and health, people see more value in what the wet leisure industry has to offer and so are willing to pay a slightly higher premium for the best possible products and installations.

 

What marketing and advertising do you do for your business? Please check all that apply.

Respondents often say that the Internet is a threat to their business, but it’s the World Wide Web that they turn to when they want to market that same business.

A website, a social media presence and email marketing have become the three main pillars of wet leisure marketing.

Almost 84% of UK businesses have a website. That’s about 1.7 million websites. They are the cornerstones of online marketing. Interestingly, exactly 84% of the survey respondents have a website for their business.

70% of UK businesses consider communicating with their customers as being particularly important during the pandemic and almost 70% of those see social media as the best platform to do that. 68% of the survey respondents are using social media.

81 percent of small businesses in the UK – and around 40% of survey respondents – use email marketing to attract new business and for customer retention.

In the first year of the Wet Leisure Industry Survey, social media was being used by 46% of respondents and email was about the same at just under 50%. Local Press is now being used less than half the amount it was and newsletter use has fallen from 43% to just over 10%.

When asked what marketing works best for them, respondents list word of mouth, website, social media and Facebook in that order.

“Word of mouth.”

“Recommendation, from existing clients, architects and contractors.”

“Word of mouth still remains our best form of marketing. Look after the customers and they look after you!”

“Social media – but we also find a lot of our custom comes from reviews & word of mouth from our current hot tub customers.”

“Most customers find us through word of mouth or by our locality on a busy garden centre.”

“Facebook, Instagram and website optimisation through Google.”

“Village magazines.”