Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: Chas on March 17, 2006, 06:10:31 pm
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I don't do home shows, but we have one in town this weekend.
I just got back.
Sundance and Jacuzzi. Best-looking tubs, right up front near the gate.
D1put their slab-topped white tubs in the front row. Ugly.
Phoenix - Where is the 'local' dealer?
Softub
And some brand-x unit I didn't even recognize - wood siding, wood gazebos and speakers set down into the corners without a drain fitting: they had an inch of rainwater sitting on the speakers.
Most of the tubs were outside - CalSpa was inside. Everyone I talked to said "Best" at least a dozen times in their presentation.
Rain is predicted all weekend...
;)
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Why don't you do shows??
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Most of the tubs were outside - CalSpa was inside. ...Rain is predicted all weekend...
;)
Maybe they're afraid their product will get wet....? ;D
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Why don't you do shows??
Cost is huge - results poor. My joke is that it's easy to make a small fortune at a home show, you just start with a large fortune. Also- folks tend to expect a 'deal.' I have tried hackin' a couple of hundred off the regular price, adding a cover lift, step, ozone and extra-large chems, but folks seemed to walk away and buy accross the isle where they are told "Two thousand off our already low prices."
I never could bring myself to drop the prices at a show when my regular customers trusted me to give THEM a good price in the showroom. I always did offer a discount on the show models - the actual, scratched, kicked, sat-in, sometimes wet displayed tubs from the show, and I usually sold just those.
Other than that, I was gaining weight eating the kettle corn and fried twinkies.
:(
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Maybe they're afraid their product will get wet....? ;D
Cal Spa has been in that same place since I used to do the show. In fact, I was one space away. Unfortunately, the one space was a double, and it usually had somebody with a microphone and a cold.
They still have a 20X40 space, same as I used to rent. My price went up to $5500 for just the space - which worked out to about a buck per person who came to the show. Ventura is really an oversized small town I guess.
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Do what everybody else does, tell the customers that the spas sell in the showroom for $15,300 but they can get it at the show for $9,500.
Oh, waitaminute, you're a HS dealer. I hear you guys are all boy scouts. No wonder you can't sell any spas.
John Doe
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Oh, waitaminute, you're a HS dealer. I hear you guys are all boy scouts.
You know, I used to believe that. Then you showed on the forum..... ;)
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I visited our local home show yesterday.
Inside:
Sundance 4 spas
Jacuzzi 6
D1 2 down 3 or 4 on edge
Bullfrog 4-6
Coleman 4-6, 1 gazebo
Outside:
Marquis 3 Everyday
Freeflow many (1 gazebo)
Softtub 1 or 2
Sensations with their 20 x 60 presentation
Too many spas for a successful selling environment in Santa Rosa. I suppose good for consumers to go and see a lot and get confused.
:D
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I worked a homeshow the last two days (in the store today).
There was us, Hydropool
Coast
Arctic
Dynasty
and Cal Spa
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You guys who saw Cal Spa at the home show - was it a local dealer or the company road show?
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You guys who saw Cal Spa at the home show - was it a local dealer or the company road show?
Fairly local. The dealer would be a 30 minute drive from where the show is.
Don't forget Chas, I am in Canada. Cal Spa operates through a distributor here. I believe they market here through a buying group called SIMA. The dealer in question is called West Coast Importers, who until 2 years ago was a Catalina dealer.
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You know, I used to believe that. Then you showed on the forum..... ;)
I did get kicked out of cub scouts after 2 weeks..... :-[
Terminator
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Cost is huge - results poor. My joke is that it's easy to make a small fortune at a home show, you just start with a large fortune. Also- folks tend to expect a 'deal.' I have tried hackin' a couple of hundred off the regular price, adding a cover lift, step, ozone and extra-large chems, but folks seemed to walk away and buy accross the isle where they are told "Two thousand off our already low prices."
I never could bring myself to drop the prices at a show when my regular customers trusted me to give THEM a good price in the showroom. I always did offer a discount on the show models - the actual, scratched, kicked, sat-in, sometimes wet displayed tubs from the show, and I usually sold just those.
Other than that, I was gaining weight eating the kettle corn and fried twinkies.
:(
Chas makes a good point here. Consumers seem to expect very large discounts, or at least they seem to think others offer and give "very large discounts" when honestly they really do not.
Chas sells what is known to be a "good quality" line of spas that he must pay a premium for and when people "think" he can take a lot of money out of them just to sell them at a show, they are misled and fooled by the discount sellers who pay much lower wholesale cost, "price" them in the quality category and then discount them to make them look like a bargain. Consumers love it and are easily misled to think quality goods should have similar discounts when it is impossible. That is why Chas has to pay a small fortune to make a small one.
What is the point of spending the money to be there, when shoppers can not recognize how they are being influenced by what they believe are "bargains".
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D1put their slab-topped white tubs in the front row. Ugly.
Chas, What is a "slab-topped" white tub?
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It is an interesting thought you are going to pay additional funds for a space and than have to set it up and deliver spas to stock it and than staff it above what it costs you to run your store and that somehow you will be able to provide a big "show discounts" it simply goes against common reasoning and sense yet many people want to believe it. Reality is you can afford to give someone a real "home show discount" at your store while others are spending the money to do the show. You can stay back at your place and run a genuine sale ....now the trick is will you get the traffic .....
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"Slab-top" refers to the older style D1. They look like the photo below, though actually I think the ones at this show were even older than the style in the photo. What I'm getting at is that D1 makes better-looking tubs than the ones this dealer chose to put up front.
(http://www.d1spas.com/images/spahead_bg_reflections.jpg)
Another one:
(http://www.d1spas.com/D1Difference/images/SkirtBrown.gif)
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chas, which home show are you at??? ive heard of a few being advertised....just cant remember which 1 is going on this weekend! there goes the rest of my mind ;D
mendos right. somewhere the idea of "blowout" prices and "super" deals fallow home shows. IMO i feel like im at a flee market trying to sell sun glasses @ $5, but this guy only offering $3. ???
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"Slab-top" refers to the older style D1. They look like the photo below, though actually I think the ones at this show were even older than the style in the photo. What I'm getting at is that D1 makes better-looking tubs than the ones this dealer chose to put up front.
(http://www.d1spas.com/images/spahead_bg_reflections.jpg)
Another one:
(http://www.d1spas.com/D1Difference/images/SkirtBrown.gif)
I will assume that is a D1 but it looks very much like a HS, does that make a HS also a "slab-top" style and the acrylics are not?
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I will assume that is a D1 but it looks very much like a HS, does that make a HS also a "slab-top" style and the acrylics are not?
I'm not sure what brand that is but it does look like they've tried to copy HotSpring. You can't really blame them as that design sold A LOT of spas.
HotSpring still offers the Endurol in the Classic Series featuring the Grandee, Vanguard, Sovereign, and Jetsetter. We still sell a ton of the Sovereigns in white because it's available in 110V. That's a huge selling point for a spa that size.
Terminator
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I will assume that is a D1 but it looks very much like a HS, does that make a HS also a "slab-top" style and the acrylics are not?
Yes, that is a D1, right off their web site this morning. And if you think that it looks like a HS, you haven't seen a HS in about 10 years. HS hasn't had such a slab-topped design for a decade or more. They have gone to the more stylized curvy look that everyone else had adopted. Even our Endurol tubs have more curves and look more up-to-date, IMO.
Yes we still offer Endurol - the white product, and as Termite-eater said, they are still sellin'. There are a handful of spas in this product and they are called the "Classic Series."
I'm not itching for a fight MdD - I'm just saying this dealer put the best-looking spas in the back of the booth, not the front.
D1: (http://www.d1spas.com/D1Difference/images/Ezlifter.gif) HS: (http://www.hotspring.com/Spa_Showroom_Hot_Tub/jpgs/pht_classic_couple_in_spa.jpg)
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chas, which home show are you at??? ive heard of a few being advertised....just cant remember which 1 is going on this weekend! there goes the rest of my mind ;D
The one I visited was in Ventura, at the county fairgrounds. There is also one going on down in Los Ageles this weekend.
LA - http://www.thehomeshow.com/
Vta. - http://www.capitalshowcase.com/
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The one I visited was in Ventura, at the county fairgrounds. There is also one going on down in Los Ageles this weekend.
LA - http://www.thehomeshow.com/
Vta. - http://www.capitalshowcase.com/
hmmm, downtown la huh??? ill pass on that one ;) i dont have much luck up there with traffic ;D
but thanks for the heads up. i know there is a show coming up over here at pechanga casino. i guess its that time of year for about one a week
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I'm not itching for a fight MdD - I'm just saying this dealer put the best-looking spas in the back of the booth, not the front.
D1: (http://www.d1spas.com/D1Difference/images/Ezlifter.gif) HS: (http://www.hotspring.com/Spa_Showroom_Hot_Tub/jpgs/pht_classic_couple_in_spa.jpg)
Well Chas, I'm not lookin to tango, but I just find it unusual you would say that when it looks sooo much like what a HS is, or as you say has been. I can see you like the new look that HS has adopted after what, 20 years of that beautiful white. I hear, D1 originates from one of the largest HS dealers back in the 70's and is a well respected manufacturer as well.
I think all Hot Tubs are good, but you are right, shows are tough on good quality and honest dealers. Shoppers seem to have this idea all spas should sell cheap when your wholesale cost for a HS is greater than they want to pay retail. Our local HS dealer dosen't do home shows either for much the same reason.
But, thanks for the answer, I have never heard the term "slab-top" before and was surprised it came from you with it looking sooo much like what you sell or sold, now that you are selling more colorful acrylic. I think you have a good looking product and it is a good choice for the consumer along with several other top notch manufacturers.
Consumers just can't go wrong with good quality, a good dealer, and a long life Hot Tub. Maybe someday enough consumers will learn and tell others, a bargain price is not what they should be attracted to.
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I went to a local Home Show last weekend. I breifly checked out the Hot tubs. I belive there was HS, Artic, D1 and a small company "Spa Discounters". None of the dealers hasseled me or try to sell me. since I wasn't buying I also didn't want to detract them from "real customers"
Artic had the biggest display (most tubs, largerst area).
I did get to see the new HS blue (azzurite?) Yuk. I much perfer the silvers and smooth blue colors than the sparkely flecks in this new blue.
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I just find it unusual you would say that when it looks sooo much like what a HS is, or as you say has been.
I certainly meant no disrespect by using the term slab topped. Yes, a couple of decades ago HS did have the very same design, and as Term said we sold a bunch of them. I don't see anything wrong with the design, and I should have made that more clear. But let's face it, just as in every other consumer product from cars to blenders, styles change.
I was not trying to insult D1 - or HS for that matter - I was just noting that this dealer put the oldest design right up front, in white while the back of his display contained spas with newer styles.