Challenges for service companies
Service and repairs has long stood as the service most offered to respondent’s customers but this year it slipped down the rankings a little.
This might be due to growth in the installation market, which has certainly seen a strong year, or challenges facing the service and maintenance companies.
Respondents have specifically said that poor weather has meant that pool owners were less keen to open their pools and were using them less leading to less service hours.
Worryingly, another service company owner reported, “We are seeing an increased amount of customers failing to pay after servicing using the smallest excuses to not pay or to force a discount. Consumer moods are very low and customers are getting increasingly more short and unfriendly with our staff reflecting the mood of the nation right now.”
However, for this sector of our industry, the weather seems to be blamed for having the most influence. Service levels are tied to running a pool, not just owning a pool, so it makes sense that weather conditions have a direct and immediate impact on their business.
If in comparison, we look at the industry as a whole, financial issues such as energy costs, the economy and the cost of living overshadow the weather’s influence.
One respondent summed up their concerns; “Political uncertainty stalled the bounce back in the economy which then led into the Autumn/Winter so we did not see the usual Summer spike in sales. Showroom footfall was the worst it’s ever been in 20 years of business.”
Across the whole UK economy, businesses face challenges from economic uncertainty, high labour costs and weak consumer spending.
The wet leisure industry’s concern about the impact of the weather is a legitimate one.
No matter what is going on in the economy in any given year, the weather – be it good or ill – tends to be a stronger influence. Summer 2024 was the UK’s coolest since 2015. Mean temperatures in June and July were slightly below average across the UK, driven by a south-shifted jet stream that brought northerly winds carrying Arctic air. Cold air from the Arctic is no encouragement to opening your pool or spa or indeed buying a new hot-tub.
Summer 2024 also saw Storm Lillian named on the 22 August. Lillian was the twelfth storm to be named this storm season, and is the furthest through the list the Western European naming group has got since storm naming was introduced in 2015.
That’s a lot of storms.
Is this Climate Change? Well, it depends on your point of view, but the UK weather is definitely changing.
Over the course of the survey the biggest influencers on our industry have changed a lot. We have had COVID and Brexit, cash flow and the Internet. It is perhaps only the weather that has been consistent.
Over the fourteen years of the survey we have often been surprised by how resilient the top-end of the market is. Surviving recession, economic downturn and cost of living crisis the wealthy keep on spending money on their health. In our case, that means spending on wet leisure.
That isn’t to say that these are ‘money-no-object’ purchasers. These are people looking to spend a little more to get the best possible result. They are as careful of their money as anyone, but they do have rather a lot of it.
From a YouGov survey, these are some insights into the top-end customer.
“’l will always choose something customisable over something standard.” People want their pool, spa or sauna to be unique and bespoke.
“I am willing to pay more for luxury brands. But they have to be of superior quality.” We are constantly told that customers will pay more for the very best.
“I think luxury goods are a good investment.” They often turn out to be cheaper in the long run.
A pool, spa or sauna certainly can be an investment and it is often seen as a reward for the purchaser. These are triggers that make it easier for them to spend significant amounts.
Marketing can make more of a difference to a business than almost anything else. Technical know-how and practical skills are only valuable to your business once you have attracted clients who want to pay you to use them.
It’s quite surprising just how much the marketing landscape has changed during the last fourteen years.
Social media has grown from its infancy to a position of dominance.
Local press has been crumpled up and replaced with emails and newsletters.
Local radio is attempting a comeback.
The other channels stay much the same.
What we find in the comments section is that word-of-mouth trumps everything else. Which is interesting because testimonials and social marketing are just managed forms of word-of-mouth.
“Customer recommendations have been instrumental in our success in securing new build work.”
“Direct email marketing to our existing customer base. We have a large client base and they tend to tell others about us and our services as our working radius is quite small, to keep costs down.”
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