Well, it is Friday morning….only one day left to prepare for our Annual Christmas Party and Sale.  Tomorrow morning at 8AM, we will have divers lined up at the door to get in and enjoy the bargains, the food, the games, and the conversations with other scuba divers.  While our annual sale is a retail event, it is increasingly taking the appearance of a social event.  Our customers look forward to having this event to reconnect with dive buddies that they haven’t seen lately.

When it comes to scuba gift giving, one item will be very popular….the Dive Sports Gift Carde.  I just finished printing the Christmas cards that will accompany our Dive Sports Gift Card sales.  It is amazing how popular gift cards have become.  Tomorrow, we expect to sell over 100 gift cards, activated for various amounts.  Gift cards are a great way to get a friend or loved one a good gift, while avoiding the risk of purchasing something they don’t need or want.  This is uniquely important in this sport of scuba diving.  Divers have brand loyalties, specific dive mission requirements, and other considerations that affect what they need and want.

A Dive Sports Gift Card allows your friend or loved one to purchase what they want, when they want it.  According to a recent post by Ellen Cannon, managing editor at bankrate.com, this very flexibility explains the popularity of retail store gift cards.

The primary driver for the growth of gift cards is that a gift card allows a recipient to choose the gift they really want.

“The desire of the gift giver is to help the recipient,” says Tim Sloane, director of the Debit Advisory Service of Mercator Advisory Group in Waltham, Mass. “They think, ‘When I give someone the gift card, I hope they’ll use it on something they really want.’ If they decide to buy something that they couldn’t have and now the gift card makes it attainable, that’s good too. As a recipient, I would remember what it was that helped me get that gift. Satisfaction with gift cards is great.”

Dan Horne, a marketing professor at Providence College and an expert on the gift card market concurs: “Consumers look at a $50 gift card and think, ‘I can get a $75 item and it only costs me $25.’ Recipients are getting cool things for a cheap price. And the giver thinks, ‘I gave you the means to buy that thing.’ The perceived value is very strong.”

Click Here for Full Text of Bankrate.com Article

We also expect big traffic on the single most popular item we offer at this annual sale…..the dive tuition gift certificates.  I blogged about this great gift at this thread earlier.  On this one day, we give our customers an opportunity to give the gift of learning to dive, or expanding dive knowledge for existing divers, at a reduced price.  Our dive tuition gift certificates allow the holder to take the dive class anytime during our 2008 dive training season.  This is the ultimate gift of flexibility.  The holder chooses when and where they choose to learn.

I will attempt to post a couple of blog threads tomorrow to let you know how things are going.  It is going to be a crazy day, but posting a couple of blog threads would give me a good excuse to take a couple of breaks.  If you are within a couple of hours of our store, drop by and visit us.  Thanks.

Phil Ellis

Give Scuba Gear for Christmas at Great Savings!

Well, we have only two days left before our Annual Christmas Party and Sale.  This is a big deal for Dive Sports and it is a big deal for our local customers.  The store is always packed from morning to night, the food always flow freely, and the bargains are as good as we can possibly offer.

We have been busy as a bunch of bees checking in new merchandise for the sale, changing prices, and planning the games and fun.  One of the highlights of our Annual Christmas Party and Sale is the Dirty Santa game.  We typically begin this around 1:00PM and we provide all of the prizes.  About 75 lucky players will win prizes valued from very little, up to $150 in this game.  Of course, the drama of choosing a gift and exchanging with another gift already uncovered is always cool.  We “salt” the game with several “hidden” prizes to make the decision to trade a little more difficult.

At around 6:00PM, we will begin our big prize drawings.  This year we will have computers, regulators, buoyancy vests, accessories, and many other things in the drawing.  To end it all, some lucky customer will win a complete scuba diving kit.

Plan to join the Dive Sports crew this Saturday for this great event.  It will be lots of fun and there will be lots of bargains.  This party, with all of the participation of our local customers, reminds us that, at our core, we are just a local scuba store.

Phil Ellis

The Best Prices, On the Best Scuba Gear, at DiveSports.com

As avid scuba divers, we all need to be aware of things happening in the scuba industry.  After all, scuba industry events affect us all.  Over the past ten years, the number of new diver certifications have barely kept pace with population growth.  By some estimates, they have actually fallen when corrected for population growth.  Many organizations have made feeble attempts to promote diving nationally;  in most cases with poor results.

The Dive Equipment Marketing Association (DEMA) is the “trade association” for local dive stores, diving resorts, and manufacturers.  While they have managed various attempts to impact diver certifications over the past few years, most of them have had little result.  This may be changing.

DEMA has some new plans for 2008, all targeted at letting non-divers know about this great sport and improving the number of new entrants to scuba diving.  Their involvement with the NASCAR through sponsorship of a car in the NASCAR East series, has interesting potential.  The most interesting new DEMA program is BE A DIVER.  Be a Diver is designed to use cross-sport promotion to reach the target consumer that might have an interest in diving and bring them into a retail store for training and equipment purchases.  Ads and video will be offered in various publications, including sports related television channels.  The following quote was issued today and was taken from DiveNewsWire, an industry Internet publication designed to announce new industry products and initiatives.

BE A DIVER Campaign Moves Ahead

DEMA’S MOST AGGRESSIVE DIVER ACQUISITION CAMPAIGN ON TRACK FOR EARLY 2008 LAUNCH

DEMA’s most aggressive Diver Acquisition Campaign continues to make significant progress since its announcement at DEMA Show 2007.  The elements of the Be A Diver marketing campaign continue to be put into place, making it one of the most sophisticated programs DEMA has ever undertaken to grow the industry.

The brand new DEMA television commercial can be viewed by clicking this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDkbzQp6hfQ

DEMA continues to work directly with lifestyle database information from Pitney Bowes to make it possible for Retail DEMA members to locate their current customers, determine where potential customers will most likely be found, and provide the option for member dive retailers to acquire the actual street addresses for potential customers they wish to target. DEMA’s “Big Wave” Dave Reidenbach will work directly with those retailers wishing to use this sophisticated marketing tool.

The BeADiver.comwebsite construction continues, creating a highly sophisticated, easy to navigate resource that will showcase DEMA members differently than other retailers listed on the website’s Retail Store Finder facilitating easy customer access to DEMA-member stores first.  DEMA member stores will receive recognition of their membership, as well as links to an on-line mapping program to make it easy for potential customers to find them.

The FREE Member Promotional Guide is being finalized and will include everything needed to execute a successful, state-of-the-art advertising campaign including access to digital versions of logos, images, posters, banners, window decals, website banners, outdoor billboards, sales flyer templates, direct mail postcards, self-mailers, and TV and radio spots. There will be two versions of professional broadcast spots to utilize for radio and television: a 30 second commercial designed for the national campaign and a shorter 23 second spot with a seven second tag for the DEMA member business’ message (23:7 cut). In fact, all of the components of the ad campaign can be customized with the member’s message by using the provided templates which have space for logos, and in some instances, sell copy.

Other tools needed by diving businesses to attract non-divers are also coming together – in addition to the television commercials and radio ads, several versions of print ads, and even on-line and hard copy mailers aimed for the targeted customer will be part of the member-only resources provided by DEMA in affiliation with the campaign.

If you are not a current DEMA member, now is the time to join!  Access to the elements of the Be A Diver campaign, including the national and regional campaign tools, highlighted website listing, Promotional Guide and customer lifestyle cluster data is all part of the value of being a DEMA member. Never has your DEMA membership had such a high return on your investment!

For more information about being a member of DEMA and about DEMA’s Be A Diver program, visit www.dema.org.
© -  Material posted and distributed through DiveNewswire is protected by International Copyright law. Any UNAUTHORIZED reproduction, re-distribution or abuse of this information is strictly prohibited. DiveNewswire Networks LLC – 2005, 2006, 2007

Material Properly Sourced and Used for News Purposes Only.

Original Source Link:  http://www.divenewswire.com/

 As this new DEMA initiative matures, we will be having more to say about the BE A DIVER program.  For the health and growth of this industry and this sport, we all hope the 2008 efforts of DEMA will be successful.

Phil Ellis

Discount Scuba Diving Equipment

Yesterday, I was talking to Mike Piantoni from XS Scuba about our upcoming weekend Annual Christmas Party and Sale.  In the discussion, we realized that I had not ordered the newest addition to the XS Scuba M-Line….the Beta Titanium Dive Knife.  I guess the rush of preparing our new website, the recent new releases at the DEMA show, and the end of the year tasks had simply caused me to forget.  We have had great success with the M-Line masks and snorkels, and were eagerly anticipating the addition of the Beta Titanium knife to the line.  So, he is express shipping a variety of these knives in so we can have them for our Saturday sale.

Last year, XS Scuba obtained the patent rights and exclusive manufacturing rights for all of the masks and knives from the old Ocean Master line.  These products represent a little step above the typical masks, snorkels, and knives.  The features of the M-Line products are simply not matched by any other line.  The M-Line Titanium knife is unique.  First, the blade is real titanium, not the flash-coated titanium you find on most of the dive knives available.  The M-Line it titanium through and through.  The handles on the M-Line knives are really ergonomic.  They feel good in your hand.  XS Scuba is offering three distinct different blades; the standard sharp point, the traditional diver’s blunt point, and the tactical tanto point.  Handles for each of these blade designs on these knives are available in all black, or black with blue or yellow accents.  You really need to see these knives in person to fully appreciate the quality, style, and utility.

I think this line of knives normally retail for about $139.00.  That’s a lot for a dive knife, but this one is really worth the investment.  This is the maintenance free knife for the scuba diver that wants the best.  We have a limited number of these inbound to us, so make sure you are in our store early on Saturday morning to get yours.  We were able to do a little wheeling and dealing with Mike, so we are going to offer these during our Christmas Party and Sale for only $99.00.

Drop by and take a look at the XS Scuba M-Line Beta Titanium dive knife.  We think you will like what you see.  We will also try to get this special up on our online store, but the press against the date for the in-store sale is eating all of my resources.  Remember, you can always give us a call and order this on the telephone.  Of course, you get our holiday free shipping for any purchase of $35 or more.  Thanks.

Phil Ellis

Buy XS Scuba M-Line Products from Dive Sports!

I am amazed at the number of recalls, especially in the toy sector, on products made in China.  I can’t think of a single toy company or large toy retailer that has not been crippled during this holiday season by these recalls.  Millions of toys have been removed from the shelves for consumer protection reasons.  In fact, this series of toy recalls seems so coordinated that I am left to ask……”Is this a coordinated effort to tarnish Chinese manufacturing by groups that oppose the transfer of jobs?”  “Did they just start using the suspect paint and materials this year?” A serious question for those of us in our industry is bound to be…..”Will an anti-China manufacturing bias affect the scuba diving industry?”

There is no doubt about it, China plays a gigantic role in the equipment used by scuba divers in the United States.  Some of the most popular regulators are made in Taiwan and mainland China, Chinese made buoyancy vests are becoming more and more popular, and several major, name-brand scuba companies have their primary manufacturing in China.  Is this good for scuba diving?  I think the simple answer is….YES!

Divers have been well served by Asian-made scuba diving equipment for many years.  If you take a look at the variety of accessories available to divers, like webbing pockets, knives, finger spools, dive bags, slates, and a variety of other items, we would be paying much higher prices without Chinese manufacturing.  Several of the most popular regulators used by the growing number of technical divers in the United States and Europe are made in China.  Several large, name-brand scuba companies use BC vests, harnesses, wing, and back plates made in China.  One of the most popular twin set isolation manifolds sold here in the US is made in China.  There is no doubt, China and the other emerging manufacturers in the far east play a gigantic role in our industry.  If there is an consumer backlash against Chinese and Asian scuba diving equipment looming in the future, we will be paying much higher prices for the stuff we use in our sport.  Without the economy of Asian manufacturing, much of the new product we see each year simply would not exist.

We should all ask ourselves a simple question; “Have we been well served by the Asian equipment we are currently using?”  “Are scuba divers threatened by Chinese and other Asian manufacturing?  Try, for a moment, to forget where we WISH the stuff was manufactured, because that ship has already sailed.  Forget, for a moment, how we feel politically about Asian manufacturing.  Think about what is best for us as diving consumers and what is best for our sport.  Already depressed by the high entry price into our sport, we can not expect good things if we lose the lowest cost scuba manufacturing capability in the world.

These are difficult questions for me as a scuba retailer and as an avid diver.  Chinese and other Asian-manufactured goods are simply a fact of my life.  Try, like me, to be reasonable about these considerations.

Phil Ellis

Purchase Discount Scuba Diving Equipment from DiveSports.com

Well, we are only one week away from our annual Dive Sports Christmas Party and Sale.  For the past 8 years, this sale has always been the first Saturday of December.  Each year, it gets larger and larger and the fun continues to grow.

This year, we expect to have the largest crowd ever.  We have been receiving merchandise all week in preparation for the large crowd of bargain hungry scuba divers.  We will be open on Saturday from 8AM until 8PM.   We will play our Dirty Santa game at around 2PM.  This game should be familiar to everyone, except in this one, we supply all of the gifts!  We Expect to draw for our prize giveaways at around6PM.  This year, we expect the prizes to total very near $10,000 in retail value.  Our free prize basket will include dive computers, Dive Sports Gift Cards, wetsuits, regulators, and accessories.  Some lucky winner will walk away with a complete scuba diving outfit, complete with buoyancy vest, regulator, and gauges.

Make plans to join us next Saturday for this great party and sale.  The food will be plentiful, the prices will be right, and the fun will be endless.  Spend a day with the Dive Sports crew and all of the north Alabama divers.

Phil Ellis

Dive Sports Annual Christmas Party and Sale! 

Steel scuba cylinders are becoming more and more popular among scuba divers in the United States.  Over the past five years, steel has taken considerable market share away from aluminum cylinders, the mainstay of the scuba cylinder industry for the past 20 years.

Worthington Cylinders of Canada entered the scuba cylinder market about two years ago, providing a ready and available supply of low-pressure (2400PSI) and high-pressure (3442 PSI) steel scuba cylinders in a variety of sizes.  Since that time, they have quickly become the dominant force in steel cylinder supply in North America.

About two weeks ago, I received a really nice video from Mike Piantoni, owner of XS Scuba, one of the two North American distributors of the Worthington cylinders.  This video details the manufacturing and testing process for Worthington steel scuba cylinders.  I thought it might be of interest to readers, so take a look and let me know what you think.

Phil Ellis

Buy Worthington Steel Scuba Cylinders at Dive Sports

We are busy with the receiving and pricing process for lots of new merchandise in preparation for our Annual Christmas Party and Sale on Saturday, December 1, 2007.  We have just received one of the coolest little stocking stuffers I have seen in a while.  Full color, 3D dive map cards for the shipwrecks of the Spiegel Grove in Key Largo and the USS Oriskany in Pensacola, Florida.

Shipwreck diving is extremely popular with our local and Internet customers.  Of course, the talk of the town is diving the USS Oriskany on our weekend trips to the Florida panhandle and the Spiegel Grove on our south Florida trips.  We are constantly fielding questions about the depths, layout, and dive specifics of these wrecks.  Now you can get a full color, waterproof card that shows these two wrecks in perfect detail.  Everything from the depths to various features, prevailing currents on the wrecks, boat travel time from port, and many other details are provided on these cards.  They are three-ring punched to fit the popular dive log binders and they provide a perspective of the wrecks that should make diving them a pleasure.  There is a single card for the Spiegel Grove and two cards (overview and control island closeup) for the USS Oriskany.

If you intend to dive these two wrecks, you have gotta have these site cards.  We are going to try to get these cool cards on our website for electronic purchase over the weekend.  Of course, they are available right now for purchase in our store.  If anyone is interested in these cards, they can give us a call at (800) 601-DIVE and we can take an immediate telephone order.

 Phil Ellis

3D Color Dive Site Cards for Oriskany and Spiegel Grove

My drive to work this morning was amazing.  While I expect that many people were not travelling to work today, the streets were packed with cars.  Before I pulled into my store parking lot, I made a quick swing around the Wal Mart parking lot just to take a look.  I have never understood the 3AM, 4AM, 5AM shopping thing, and I just wanted to see how many cars were there at 7AM.  It was no surprise; the parking lot was packed.  Why do people enjoy this mad shopping rush?  Why do they fight these crowds?

I have a great idea that will allow you to miss the mad shopping rush.  If you know someone that has everything, as most of us do, why not give them a gift that will last forever?  Buy them a scuba diving class for Christmas.  Scuba diving is an amazing sport, is actually not as expensive as most believe, and can be done by people of almost any age.  There are very few activities left that offer the sense of exploration and discovery that comes with learning to scuba dive.  In this age of plenty, it is difficult to amaze most of us.   The first visit to the depths of the ocean will usually do it.

Our customers who have become scuba divers in the past year are now experiencing a sense of friendship and community that they have missed for years.  In the busy maze of work, home keeping, and daily living, we often fall into the rut of doing the same old thing day after day, week after week.  Our new scuba divers are renewing their love for meeting new people, going new places, and doing things that are a little adventurous.  This great activity has offered them an opportunity to do something different.

If you happen to live in North Alabama, take the opportunity offered by Dive Sports every Christmas season.  During our annual Christmas Party and Sale, we will be offering tuition certificates and discounts on training materials and equipment that will allow you to give someone special the amazing gift of scuba diving at a very reasonable cost.   In fact, do it as a whole family.  If you are already a diver, why not make a new dive buddy?  Give your best friend, the neighb0r who watches your house during vacation, or the guy that does you home maintenance a great gift…..a scuba diving tuition gift certificate.  Remember, there is no dive buddy better than the one YOU make.

Drop by our store on December 1 and take an opportunity to give a gift that will be outside of the norm.  Unlike many other gifts, I promise they will not return this one for a refund or exchange after Christmas.  We will be having lots of fun, lots of food, and some great prices on the latest scuba diving equipment.  This is also a great chance to meet the area scuba divers, because they will all be here.  This first Saturday in December has become a tradition with local scuba divers.  Come join the club that has no officers and no scheduled meetings…….join scuba diving!

Phil Ellis

Save on Brand Name Scuba Diving Equipment

Thanksgiving is the most unique of American holidays.  We all reflect on it in different ways, but in the United States, is is all about the recalling of family to gather around.  This is a short post, but I just wanted everyone to know that I wish them a great Thanksgiving holiday.  Thanks.

Phil Ellis

Buy Discount Scuba Great with Full Factory Warranty