Southampton Boat Show attendance

[ylop]

For me, the entry price is only a fraction of the overall cost of attending, travel, accommodation, food, and that's before I've bought anything. I think those complaining about ticket price are either not the target audience or making an excuse. I'd go if I was shopping for a new boat or trying to get something expensive like new sails, cover etc where seeing lots of options would be good. I wouldn't go for a speculative wander and even if it was close enough for a sensible day trip I probably wouldn't do that every year, because stuff doesn't change that often.

 

[Tomaret]

It seems to be remeniscient of the pronouncements made in successive years after the Excel shows about going from strength to strength and great new initiatives being planned for the following year whilst it was obvious to everybody else that it was fading fast. I suspect SIBS has got three to five years left.

It’s a pity because I used to enjoy the Southampton Show when it was full of stands but I was never in the market for a new boat and with my level of spend exhibitors were never going to get their money back even if two or three times as many attended.

 

[flaming]

It seems to be remeniscient of the pronouncements made in successive years after the Excel shows about going from strength to strength and great new initiatives being planned for the following year whilst it was obvious to everybody else that it was fading fast. I suspect SIBS has got three to five years left.

Southampton is in a much stronger position than London, simply because the vast majority of the marine businesses that could exhibit come from the south coast so the proportion requiring to put up their staff in hotels and incur significant costs is a lot lower. London hotels around Excel used to jack up their prices during the show, which was a significant factor in exhibitors not returning, even when they'd actually hit their sales targets.

Remember that the Show is run by British Marine, the industry body, for the benefit of its members. We, the paying public, are as much the product as the customers. As the product evolves, i.e we spend our money in different ways, so the offering will appeal to different businesses. In years past there were chandlery stands galore... My first ever "behind the scenes" Show was in 2001 when I worked as a temp on a chandlery stand. That one company had 4 stands scattered across the show and each one was taking at least £80k a day. More at the weekends. And there were several other chandlery stands as well. The end of show staff party was pretty memorable....
By the time I worked for the show organisers in 2010, that company had just the 1 stand. The company is still going strong but they weren't there at all this year. I just looked at my receipts, I've spent about £1k with them online this year....

That said... Even back in the good old days chandlery was only ever actually riding on the coattails of the boats. Without the boats, there is no show. Provided the UK remains a good place to sell boats then companies will want to exhibit their boats in the UK. A lot of the reason that London withered was simply that the manufacturers started saying to the agents that they would only support 1 UK show, which is kind of reasonable... Then the big MOBOs pulled out and that was all she wrote.
If the Show ends up shrinking in attendance numbers, because fewer people see the value to them of attending, then it will probably shrink in size as the "extra" stands make the decision not to attend but if boats are still getting sold then it will continue.
When I worked for the organisers one of my jobs was to go round the exhibitors at the end of the show and get quotes about how their show had gone. I lost count of the number of exhibitors who had sold significant numbers of boats to people they'd only met when they walked onto their stand during the Show. I heard plenty of tales of the couple with an older boat who went onto a nice new boat on the marina "just to have a look" and walked off an hour later having paid a deposit. That's what the show is for...

 

[Concerto]

I lost count of the number of exhibitors who had sold significant numbers of boats to people they'd only met when they walked onto their stand during the Show. I heard plenty of tales of the couple with an older boat who went onto a nice new boat on the marina "just to have a look" and walked off an hour later having paid a deposit. That's what the show is for...

My late parents did exactly that when they transfered from sail to power at the old Earls Court show. I also bought 2 new boats there and found comparing boats side by side was so useful.

 

[Russ the Diver]

I live in Devon, so for me and the other half to drive to the show and back would cost around £50, add in the price of the tickets @£26 each providing we go Monday to Thursday. We might like a drink and a bite to eat whilst there,guessing the price of a pint @£ 6.50 and say a sandwich @£5
This totals £125
I see no point driving all that way to look around a few boats I cant afford.
And especially as ive been reading alot of exhibitors are pulling out.
Lets be honest here, why should there be a huge cost to go into a show to buy stuff anyway, you dont go online and pay an entrance fee!

OR am I missing something here???

 

[Sandy]

I wonder if any of the posters on this thread can show it to somebody in the Southampton Boat Show senior management team. They might get an idea that their decision to withdraw free tickets to RYA members was not a good idea. I have commented to both the RYA and SBS on a tweet, but am not going to email them as I have much better things to do with my time.

If as @flaming suggests this is actually a B2B show then why not run it as such and we can all meet up at boot Düsseldorf - Bootsmesse & Wassersportmesse - boot 2023 . I still have a few days of my 90/180 to use.

 

[doug748]

I have not been for twenty years, for many of the reasons Russ the Diver has mentioned. The timing is not good for me either, like a lot of traditional boaters, I am thinking of coming out of the water soon and September is "Last of the Summer Wine" time.

If it fell apart, a smaller show in November, situated west of Southampton might tempt me, if the focus was on boats, new and used. Don't think I am the target demographic though.

.

 

[Blueboatman]

They should relocate the show to the banks of the Liffey, with the shoreside stuff inside the Guinness Brewery

 

[flaming]

If as @flaming suggests this is actually a B2B show then why not run it as such and we can all meet up at boot Düsseldorf - Bootsmesse & Wassersportmesse - boot 2023 . I still have a few days of my 90/180 to use.

No, it's not a B2B show, it's a B2C show, but it's run for the benefit of the businesses.

 

[Laysula]

Wrong time of year for me. I used to go to Earls Court regularly with my mates, just for a day out in the winter. Buy something to eat, have a beer at the Guiness stand and usually spend a bit of money on stuff I wanted for the boat. September is coming towards the end of the sailing season whereas January was looking forwards to the season.

 

[Frogmogman]

Flaming is quite right when he says “ Without the boats, there is no show. Provided the UK remains a good place to sell boats then companies will want to exhibit their boats in the UK.”

I don’t suppose that a serious boat buyer would be put off by any of the reasons being put forward here, so from the point of you of a builder, the fall in numbers may will be mainly what the old sales manager at Contessa (when I used to work on their stand at boat shows) used to describe as tyre-kickers, giving sales staff more time to concentrate on punters who have pockets-a-jingle. The down side for exhibitors occurs when falling attendance leads to hiked prices for the stands….

I totally get that the model has completely changed for chandlery etc. That said, we’ll be going to the Paris show to try on and buy new oilskins, as looking online doesn’t tell you how comfortable they’ll be, and as has already been pointed out, many chandlers don’t hold that much stock these days, so would likely order them in.

FWIW, the free RYA pass may be a thing of the past at SBS, but FFV members still get in to the French shows gratis.

 

[Resolution]

I would add a further endorsement of Flaming's comment that "Without the boats there is no show". The value of boat sales either struck or initiated at the show must still far exceed that of the smaller stands. In my opinion, they were always there to provide support and cheerful noise, while the big deals were done quietly in the private portions of the stands by Princess, Sunseeker etc.
A couple of other comments:
- the cost of setting up a stand for real-sized boats is enormous. London used to keep half the staff in my company totally occupied for about six weeks, and the costs were @@****!!!
- Would I be right in thinking that the majority of contributors on this forum have been boat owners or users for many years and consequently have little to learn new from yet another trip to yet another boat show?
- Obversely, how many contributors here are likely to be shelling out a couple of hundred thousand new (smaller) pounds for a brand new yacht or Mobo?

 

[Daydream believer]

That is the reason I didn't go.
As it stands, it will wait until next year...

By which time the price of the sail will have gone up by more than the £16 that you are complaining about. Seems like good economics.
Have you thought about a job in the treasury??

 

[Clancy Moped]

When I used to go there always a bloke selling massage chairs, I wonder if he ever made a sale...

 

[flaming]

When I used to go there always a bloke selling massage chairs, I wonder if he ever made a sale...

Got to know him quite well when I worked for the show…

it was a bad day that he didn’t sell 10.

 

[Clancy Moped]

Got to know him quite well when I worked for the show…

it was a bad day that he didn’t sell 10.

?Im surprised! He seemed to spend a lot of time telling people it was not a rest stop...

 

[Daydream believer]

When I bought my current boat My wife ( yes she did the research ) looked up which 31 ft boats were about that would suit my /our needs.
She then rang every broker & arranged a viewing
We had extremly different responses from each broker ranging from excelent to totally indifferent.

By visiting & dicussing in their offices we had a better idea of what to expect from after care. We got to look on the boats without people pushing. We had all the time to look & got to test sail the one we chose. Obviously we would have test sailed any boat & yes we would not have travelled so many miles. But in the end we preferred that way & would do it again. We saw the Elan at the boat show & nearly bought it there & then. But in the cold light of day we realised that it would have been a BIG mistake.

I had no intention of buying a boat when I went to the show, but when the wife said "Wouldn't it be great if we could afford this" I then said, "Well actually we can", the search was on. So the boat show did do something.
But if we bought another, ( unlikely) I doubt that it would be at a boat show.

A wealthy friend of mine wanted a Hardy. ( He had just sold his business property in London for £several m. It had always been his dream boat. He went on the stand & presumably because of his tatty jumper & faded jeans the rep was a little off hand & rude to him. My friend, being the shy type, was devastated. He went back the following day & bought a Beneteau Princess from the adjoining stand. Unfortunately it was a carp boat & he hardly used it after lots of troubles with engines, gearbox & delaminated hull to name just a few items.
I think that if he had gone to the Hardy brokers premises with an appointment, ignoring the boat show, he may have had a better response & bought his dream boat. It would have cost three times , as much, but that was of no consequence. The boat show actually did him a disservice., as it nearly did us.

 

[Clancy Moped]

When I bought my current boat My wife ( yes she did the research ) looked up which 31 ft boats were about that would suit my /our needs.
She then rang every broker & arranged a viewing explaining that we just wanted to look & discuss the boat. If we liked it we would return for a test sail but would not waste brokers time until we had looked at all the options.
It was amazing that one company we rang to say that having been delayed in a traffic jam we would be very near to their closing time, Could they hang on. Answer was sorry we close at 16-00 . We would not stay on, even if you were here.
Needless to say at 195 miles we turned round, went home & discounted that one.
Another gave us the keys & said " you will find it on XX pontoon. Bring the keys back when you are done & carried on doing something else.. ( We had travelled 130 miles for the appointment)
But the Beneteau & Hanse dealers were really keen to sell - not pushy- but very helpfull. The Jeneau, not so.
We went for the trial on the Hanse & the wife was sold on it
But the point of this, is that we had a better idea of what to expect from after care. We got to look on the boats without people pushing. We had all the time to look & got to test sail the one we chose. Obviously we would have test sailed any boat & yes we would not have travelled so many miles. But in the end we preferred that way & would do it again. We saw the Elan at the boat show & nearly bought it there & then. But in the cold light of day we realised that it would have been a BIG mistake.
I had no intention of buying a boat when I went to the show, but when the wife said "Wouldn't it be great if we could afford this" I then said, "Well actually we can", the search was on. So the boat show did do something.
But if we bought another, ( unlikely) I doubt that it would be at a boat show.
A wealthy friend of mine wanted a Hardy. ( He had just sold his business property in Curtain rd London for £4.5m. He went on the stand & presumably because of his tatty jumper & faded jeans the rep was a little off hand & rude to him. He went back the following day & bought a Beneteau Princess from the adjoining stand. Unfortunately it was a carp boat & he hardly used it after lots of troubles with engines, gearbox & delaminated hull to name just a few items.
I think that if he had gone to the Hardy brokers premises with an appointment, rather than the boat show, he may have had a better response & bought his dream boat. It would have cost three times , as much, but that was of no consequence

Feeling, who were on my list, were more or less in the car park. They refused to let us view a boat despite absolutely no other punters in sight. We walked away having bought a new Jeanneau 37............yes, we did let them know.

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

Surely a 30 minute delay on a 2.5 hour journey isn’t a huge crisis, or reason not to visit a unique event such as a boat show. Like lack of free tickets, this just reflects the desire to attend was low, as where there is a will there is a way.
(Our drive was over 8 hours each way, and typical M6 chaos added an hour or so, but cest la vie.)

Not quite the point I was making, but the one you make above. The there was no will because the way could be no way to see much of the Show before time was up.

 

[Daydream believer]

Feeling, who were on my list, were more or less in the car park. They refused to let us view a boat despite absolutely no other punters in sight. We walked away having bought a new Jeanneau 37............yes, we did let them know.

It seemed to us that some just did not want to sell their boats. Inspiration Marine are excellent & Clarke & Carter at Felixtowe were also out to sell us a boat if they could. But not in a way that was pushy. I would recommend their sales team , even though their boat failed to match the Hanse in several ways.