As you read this we ask that each of you please follow the entire body to the end as the end is very critical to where Bass Cat and Yar-Craft are headed. Things here are just great, scary great actually!
Each year we try to put closure on the year and place an exclamation point on how our year has ended. A form of a state of Bass Cat, and now Yar-Craft also. 2012 was a different year for Bass Cat as we took on a new venture with Yar-Craft in December. By February we had most of the company in Arkansas and we were beginning to gather it in for production. The goal was achieved and we exceeded everyone’s expectations on delivery with Yar-Craft. There are still some rumble strips and challenges, and we will meet those as needed.
What Yar-Craft did for Bass Cat was allow volume to increase at an exponential number in our facility without requiring Bass Cat dealers to sell more product, spreading that volume out to Yar-Craft. Yar-Craft allowed the cost of a Bass Cat to remain more stable through that volume. Of course the cooperation of Yar-Craft dealers through this transition has been exemplary. The benefit for Yar-Craft, beyond that delivery and availability, is a more substantial sister company that will allow the Walleye brand to continue it’s heritage and grow as time allows. We have lot’s of ideas for Yar-Craft, though we also have to return to tooling for Bass Cat now.
The company is returned to a position we were reaching in 2007 just as the recession was coming into play. Now the recession still looms and Bass Cat is flourishing with new products and Challenger Inc. a new boat line. We are improving quality on raw materials, refining consumer requests and moving forwards as a complete unit better than we have since the pre recession era.
It is easy when your busy, to improve, though it is hard when a market is falling to make unique changes. We managed to do that and have continued to expand our market since regrouping during the recession. All as the industry ran into many stumbling blocks and the bass market fell to levels not seen since the first years of bass fishing and bass boat numbers not seen since the early 1970’s. Overall we managed to hang on and regroup to eventually develop more new products and changes through those 2008 and 2009 years when we introduced new hulls and the Jaguar for that very special market on top. The Jaguar is the largest bass boat in the bass market and we see no reason for any company to one up this model with present demands. The storage system is revolutionary and the developments were many which were being designed and molds built during that recession.
Through this we never looked back and went in with our wings tucked, as the economy was in dive mode it was crash and burn or pull out. We went in full bore with designs and more and started pulling out as the economy remained floundering. The pull out was slow to start though in gear now and things are soaring.
In 2012 the put us out front as we built two (2) special production boats along with the prototype from the Classic in 2010, preparing for production in 2011. Really that was two (2) new models, with the Jaguar, in a recession with everyone sucking in and gasping for air. From there we moved those award winning design lines into the Cougar FTD and now the Puma FTD with little intricate details many never see. The little stuff means a lot to us. Some was on that 2010 Jaguar, intro’ in 2009, though most of the Eyra styling was a totally new design. The new consoles in 2011 really capped that all off and things continue to progress.
The Margay in ’12 was strictly a dealer sales item and a customer boat. We know that price structured market can not support either brand and the 1785 BT is similar for Yar-Craft. There simply is not enough money in these markets to make those sizes valid stand alone product here. The dealers and consumers needed them and we built them for many of you.
Now we move forwards and we are blessed with a solid backlog of orders which are both sold and stocking units. The process is being evaluated now and we have had a very strong 2013 season already. Hopefully this all continues and we are able to move up in production in 2013 by Christmas time. Order backlog is very close and if we get a few more weeks of orders we will move up in production. It looks like 2013 is going to be an excellent year and will move right into 2014 it seems at this time.
Bass Cat has built itself on transparency, today that transparency really challenges us. We always try to show what we do and how we do it. Openness of our consumers to our facilities and factory have been unparalleled by others and still are. We have a very open connection to BCB owners and the methods or products we use. Unfortunately we are also leaders and have both predatory and parasitic competition that has challenged our transparency in the past two (2) years. It is said that the highest form of compliment is for a competitor to copy your methods. Unfortunately this has been done to the point where some have even falsely claimed our processes and designs as their original or exclusive designs and concepts.
It seems we have been way to visible for our own companies good and we have some of our competition which has a hot line to the Owners Board and our Facebook sites. It is not hard to replicate a process or method when we put it out there for all to see. Even a novice can figure it out once they see it. Our transparency for BCB Owners still does not make the replication of our processes, sales approaches and methods being stolen a nice thought. The amount of such piracy has us sincerely concerned and we liken that to Asian piracy for software and products. Sure it’s successful, though danged do they have to claim they invented it as an exclusive when we designed it before the competitive company was conceived? We are going to slow our education of the competition. They can learn on their own, though we can not be the ones teaching.
In either case our transparency and our design openness has been compromised by others. They look here to get ideas on how to fix their trolling motor or figure out what parts to purchase with limited issues, and then use those helpful aids on to assist their consumers as their own concepts. To some degree we are at fault as we put a tremendous amount of information out there and it is all quality information. We did that to benefit you as owners and not them as competitors. New widgets we are working on are going to soon be learned about. Just like the post on the RAM mount shown at Meeting in August that mysteriously disappeared. Too much information was shared including the brand and we are going to end some of that sharing for the benefit of our competitive advantage.
We know prying eyes are on us and must adjust how we move to continue and stay ahead. As soon as we post a new item it seems the competition knows about it when you folks do. Materials through the grid are in the works to improve for 2013 and we are focused on continuing those advancements. The loop on this process is going to have a hole in transferring some information to you as Bass Cat owners now. We are going to depend more on our dealers and owners to help spread the word in the future.
As we move on with Yar-Craft the potential in that market to develop new concepts is huge. That walleye market has never really been revolutionized as we have the concepts in bass boats. We really look forward to putting a new twist on a niche there we have found. It won’t happen soon, and it won’t be discussed. When it is done and ready to show it will knock your socks off! The concepts are already in rough form. Where we take Yar-Craft is going to be fun!
As for Bass Cat we are engrained with a commitment and have bumped the tempo up with our design staff. They have learned much in the past few years and they are a core of the company. They have enjoyed watching the development from wood to finished product and they are picking it up. Production wise we have made great strides in leadership and the staff has really brought out those who want to build a better product. New staff is very talented and we have some bright spots in the youth that inspire us with the Nintendo generation.
Of course we still have the open position in house and another for on line sales to fill. Those will be filled in a month or so and resumes have been processed and candidates are beginning to be sifted. This we hope to have in place by October 10th. It should help us to improve customer service and the parts department greatly. Just trying to find the right round peg to put in that hole is where we are.
We intend to continue introducing new products and where we are going is going to shock some. It should lead to greater benefits for our dealers and more opportunities for ownership. We think we found a niche that other companies have not and we are going to try and reach out to a banished consumer group. One (consumer group) we think is grasping to be part of a group like you as BCB owners and the Bass Cat Family are, and we hope the Yar-Craft Family becomes.
Those three major (3) future BCB projects are on the board and one is underway with a second one soon to be started. The third is a tweak to present product and will come along with that Yar-Craft major model introduction on the project list. Of course we still have several mini projects also that will just be ongoing and benefit present models.
The bass boat market does seem to have stabilized and things are going along well for us, though the market is again improved. We have seen a few of our competition seem rather flat and have no real innovation the last few years. We have competitors rebounding from their recent debacles and appear to be refocused from past years. There is not much in new designs we see from these, though they are consistent and honorable in their practices. Some have not really been challenged as these are newer companies, though they will be and bass boat history says they will. We see three forms of competition going into 2013 and those are varying markets and strategies. Thus we will stay the course and try to continue our growth patterns as we have in the recent years. Those groups are among you as owners, tournament anglers who eventually are learning the large incentive dollars are opportunities being purchased, and those of the youth we know are coming into our market and developing.
There you have it as it stands! The company is positioned well. The growth was very significant in 2012 and it looks like the 2013 path is one to gain market share. We are still blessed with a significant back log and we are moving ahead to meet demand we did not anticipate. All on more stable ground than in recent years.
This is all thanks to you as BCB and Yar-Craft Owners as well as the excellent dealership base which works midfield between us. Now we move on and say Thanks to each of you for the opportunities we have to live and build dreams every day.
Sincerely and Good Fishin’,
Rick Pierce
