Sales Order book

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Powersalt

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Having come back from LIBS, having had a very good day out I was struck by the attitude of the big powerboat manufacturers, all their in their usual glory................................but with nothing to sell. It would appear if you want one of the mainstream models you will have a wait of over a year maybe in some cases close to 2 years. Obvious upon reflection that the weak pound has given overseas buyers circa 18% discount but that leaves us high and dry.

I was actually ready to be persuaded to purchase a new model if the deal had been right...but there was no deal. So why don't they lay off all the sales guys, stop exhibiting for 12 months and then keep uk prices low. Just a thought
 
Powersalt said:
Having come back from LIBS, having had a very good day out I was struck by the attitude of the big powerboat manufacturers, all their in their usual glory................................but with nothing to sell. It would appear if you want one of the mainstream models you will have a wait of over a year maybe in some cases close to 2 years. Obvious upon reflection that the weak pound has given overseas buyers circa 18% discount but that leaves us high and dry.
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Yup and don,t they know it !
See here ----
http://www.dlb-yachting.com/en/blog-en/8/42/brexit-sterling
 
Thanks for that. Very interesting that they have used the currency market as part of advertising, Don't blame them though.
It was in fact Princess that I spent the time with, the stand covered with sales people, doing very little
 
Powersalt said:
I was actually ready to be persuaded to purchase a new model if the deal had been right...but there was no deal. So why don't they lay off all the sales guys, stop exhibiting for 12 months and then keep uk prices low. Just a thought
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I guess because there are still buyers who are willing to wait a year for delivery of their boat but lock in the Sterling price now. My guess is that the Sterling prices of British boats will rise next year because many of the high value components and materials in the boat are foreign sourced and suppliers will raise their prices soon if they haven't done so already. Not only that but if sales are booming because of the exchange rate, British boat builders will be tempted to raise their Sterling prices to make some hay whilst the exchange rate sun is shining. Either way it would make sense to place an order sooner rather than later to take advantage of the exchange rate disparity
 
Sounds like it was pre 2008 as then a lot of new boats were 1-2 year wait, when they have stock boats everyone thinks they are desperate to sell and expect a massive discount, let's be fair to them they are in this to make money after all, like any other business.
 
After 2008 the factories all made sure they were running lean and my understanding is that you can't just ramp up production overnight. They will all have set their stall out in terms of total production runs, once sold they're sold.

In the past dealers bought build slots and then tried to sell them on meaning deals came up every now and again when the boat came out of the factory and it still didn't have a customer. These days I think most UK dealer build slots have associated customer deposits. A lot of the foreign dealers still buy speculatively because their customers aren't prepared to wait 18 months, they expect to pay and play.

As a customer I wish it was different but for the long term future of the industry it's probably a good thing. Hopefully we will see the builders showing healthy profits.

One thing of course, you sometimes need to see beyond the marketing hype. As a sales person whenever a vendor starts getting bullish about demand I retreat and let those happy to fight it out compete against each other without me.

Henry :)
 
After 2008 the factories all made sure they were running lean and my understanding is that you can't just ramp up production overnight.
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And they would be wise not to ramp up production just based on an exchange rate induced sales blip because as we all know currencies can go up as quickly as they go down
 
For the industry, full order books are great news and we should celebrate that (even if Brexit has been a contributory factor) and I hope we'll see some decent profits coming out of Sunseeker and Princess for a change. Fairline had a target to make 50 boats this year (up from 30 or so last year) and I believe they are also on course to achieve this (and also make some profit I hope).

It's also great new for those of us that rely on new sales to provide a decent stock of second hand boats in the future.

Those people who want a new boat will have to start thinking ahead, perhaps up to 18 months. You can't just rock up at the boat show and order a boat for a summer delivery any more (unless it's a model that has fallen out of fashion).

Pete
 
petem said:
For the industry, full order books are great news and we should celebrate that (even if Brexit has been a contributory factor) and I hope we'll see some decent profits coming out of Sunseeker and Princess for a change. Fairline had a target to make 50 boats this year (up from 30 or so last year) and I believe they are also on course to achieve this (and also make some profit I hope).
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Pete was that story about Fairline selling 10 boats on the first day of LIBS true or not? Or was it a bit of PR fluff?
 
Deleted User said:
Pete was that story about Fairline selling 10 boats on the first day of LIBS true or not? Or was it a bit of PR fluff?
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I read this and saw it as 100% PR fluff... surely just the previous couple of months orders held back and customers invited to a VIP do at the show where they once again sign on the dotted line and hey presto a PR success story goes to press... Don't blame them at all, a good story. But if those 10 orders were all unknown to Fairline prior to the show opening I will eat my hat.

I've got a feeling the story actually said the 10 orders were taken in the first hour of the show... which made the story even less credible IMO

However, I may be wrong and will be having hat for lunch!

http://www.ybw.com/news-from-yachti...irline-yachts-sells-10-boats-in-an-hour-46350
 
Firefly625 said:
I read this and saw it as 100% PR fluff... surely just the previous couple of months orders held back and customers invited to a VIP do at the show where they once again sign on the dotted line and hey presto a PR success story goes to press... Don't blame them at all, a good story. But if those 10 orders were all unknown to Fairline prior to the show opening I will eat my hat.

I've got a feeling the story actually said the 10 orders were taken in the first hour of the show... which made the story even less credible IMO

However, I may be wrong and will be having hat for lunch!

http://www.ybw.com/news-from-yachti...irline-yachts-sells-10-boats-in-an-hour-46350
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Well I understand they were a mixture of retail and dealer orders. I know that the new Targa 43 was announced at the show so it could be that they were genuine new orders (I suspect the Baldrick dealers would order a good few 43's as this size point is very popular over with villa owners running them as day boats). Being an old cynic I suspect there was a little bit of choreography too but fair play it got a bit of press coverage and was a good Princess / SS wind up (my opinion). And when your production schedule for 2017 is only 50 boats then 10 is a pretty large proportion so chapeau to them :)!
 
I'm with Pete on this. Is it important when the orders were place? What is really important is that Fairline is up and running again, taking orders, building a delivering new boats, and is developing new and exciting products. I really hope that the business is now successful. The team has made incredible progress in just a year, and more power to their elbows!
 
rafiki_ said:
I'm with Pete on this. Is it important when the orders were place? What is really important is that Fairline is up and running again, taking orders, building a delivering new boats, and is developing new and exciting products. I really hope that the business is now successful. The team has made incredible progress in just a year, and more power to their elbows!
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I'm not having a go at Fairline just asking whether it was true!
 
Firefly625 said:
+1

PR spin is not a crime in a competitive world, as I said it is a good story and I too sincerely wish Fairline well, it was just a little far fetched imho...
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In fact it wasn't that far-fetched: dealers were told about the Targa 43 the day before the show opened, and in the first hour of the first day 9 dealer orders for the boat were placed (dealers were given more info about configuration and expected pricing than has been put into the public domain). In addition a Targa 48 was sold in the first hour, so that's where the '10 orders in the first hour of the show' came from. There were further dealer orders for the Targa 43 during the show, so the '10 orders for the Targa 43 on the first day' is also true.

You might scoff a bit at the distinction between dealer and end-user orders, but the reality is that all the manufacturers count deposited dealer orders as 'orders' when reporting boat show performance, so this isn't completely unreasonable.

Whichever way you spin it though, Fairline have had a good show, they took a very respectable number of orders, they are on track to hit this year's build target, the workforce has doubled since we visited the factory back in April, and the new Mancini models look good. Looking forward to seeing the Sq53 in Dusseldorf at the weekend, and the 63GTO in Cannes later this year.
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
You might scoff a bit at the distinction between dealer and end-user orders, but the reality is that all the manufacturers count deposited dealer orders as 'orders' when reporting boat show performance, so this isn't completely unreasonable.
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Well you might scoff a lot actually. Of course dealers are going to place orders for stock boats. I wouldn't be surprised if a minimum stock order per year was written into their contracts. The PR story though made it sound like 10 punters walked in off the street unannounced and bought boats which would have been great but is nowhere near the truth. Sorry I have a thing about manufacturers dreaming up sales numbers at exhibitions. One of my competitors does it which infuriates the hell out of me. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
In fact it wasn't that far-fetched: dealers were told about the Targa 43 the day before the show opened, and in the first hour of the first day 9 dealer orders for the boat were placed (dealers were given more info about configuration and expected pricing than has been put into the public domain). In addition a Targa 48 was sold in the first hour, so that's where the '10 orders in the first hour of the show' came from. There were further dealer orders for the Targa 43 during the show, so the '10 orders for the Targa 43 on the first day' is also true.

You might scoff a bit at the distinction between dealer and end-user orders, but the reality is that all the manufacturers count deposited dealer orders as 'orders' when reporting boat show performance, so this isn't completely unreasonable.

Whichever way you spin it though, Fairline have had a good show, they took a very respectable number of orders, they are on track to hit this year's build target, the workforce has doubled since we visited the factory back in April, and the new Mancini models look good. Looking forward to seeing the Sq53 in Dusseldorf at the weekend, and the 63GTO in Cannes later this year.
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yup, suppose indeed an order is an order, so dealers ordering stock boats count as the boat is built and fairline get paid... I bet there is a minimum order requirement if you are a Fairline dealer so they are guaranteeing themselves that story...

I wonder what number of those 10 were retail orders genuinely taken within the first hour.
 
Deleted User said:
Well you might scoff a lot actually. Of course dealers are going to place orders for stock boats. I wouldn't be surprised if a minimum stock order per year was written into their contracts. The PR story though made it sound like 10 punters walked in off the street unannounced and bought boats which would have been great but is nowhere near the truth. Sorry I have a thing about manufacturers dreaming up sales numbers at exhibitions. One of my competitors does it which infuriates the hell out of me. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong
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+1

bugs the hell out of me as well in a similar issue well know in the motor industry...
 
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