Boats Group has announced the findings from a in-depth analysis of sales leads across its portals – including YachtWorld and boats.com. One of the key factors revealed by this analysis is the continuing rise of new boat sales, giving valuable insight into consumer trends across the industry as a whole.
InfoLink Technologies, a respected research firm in the US marine industry, conducted the lead analysis for Boats Group to identify consumer purchase behaviour in the USA, and provide market intelligence. The firm evaluated the activity of more than 2.68 million US households across Boats Group’s portals between October 2013 and September 2017, identifying that 16.3% of these households ultimately purchased a boat. The lead conversion rate increased by 35% (from 12.4%) and a total of 580,000 boats were purchased by Boats Group users since the last time this study was conducted in 2013.
Over the last five years, new boat sales have steadily increased, coinciding with the economic recovery. This is reflected both in the marketplace and among Boats Group portal users, who have been increasingly opting to purchase new boats in larger numbers than had been seen in the previous study. This may be driven in part by a limited supply of “young” pre-owned inventory in the market at present, due to the dramatic cuts in production that were experienced in the last business cycle.
“This study revealed that 1 out of every 6 consumers who submits a lead on a Boats Group portal goes on to buy a boat. This is a very high incidence of conversion, particularly given that, relatively speaking, boats are considered a high ticket item,” said Peter Houseworth, Director of Client Services at Info-Link. “Likewise, those that do purchase tend to move quickly; 42% purchase within 90 days of submitting a lead, which indicates that they are clearly on the purchase path.”
Among those Boats Group consumers that made a purchase, 33% purchased a new boat – 12% higher than the national average. Of the company’s three portals, boats.com had the highest composition of new boat purchases with 36% – more than double that of the national average. Boats Group portals have very strong penetration among new boat buyers given the role they play in the purchase process, from initial research and reading of reviews/articles, to comparing prices in the world’s largest online boating marketplaces.
“One common misconception about the Boats Group marketplaces is that they’re predominantly pre-owned, but the study reinforced what we’ve observed from a listing perspective. As the mix of new and pre-owned boats shifts, we’re seeing more new boat purchases from our audience,” said Sam Fulton, CEO of Boats Group.
“It is an accepted fact that most consumers are doing more research than ever, utilising the tools available to them to make informed purchase decisions. Based on our research and with particular focus on new boat sales across all boating segments, nearly 1 in 5 (18%) of all new boat buyers submitted one or more leads to Boats Group portals prior to their purchase decision,” said Houseworth.
Boats Group and Info-Link will be publishing further results and insights from the analysis in the coming months.