Bass Cat Dealers Boat Inventory

Pretty sure Sherm has a good line up. Dont think there much more room with crowding it.

There are several reasons why there arent more on showroom floors… For the most part it comes down to these 2 reasons..1) Cost of inventory Most dealers as myself have a limited amount of money to work with and with the average cost well over $40,000. now it takes a lot of money to inventory them and interest eats us up.2) Most buyers are very much” I want what I want and wont settle for close to what I want” so they order it just like they want it. Some things can be added or changed and so on but for the most part I dont sell stock boats until its too late in the season to order one to be ready for that first tournament. ShermI do have a Sabre FTD, Pantera II, Cougar AE,Cougar FTD, Calico sitting on the floor along with a Yar-Craft 186TFX & 209TFX besides the pontoons and all the used inventory.. Last edited by pantera296 on March 14th, 2013, 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Bass Cat regulates their inventory and tries to not overload a dealership. They tend to be smaller service oriented dealers also and not high volume retailers like some other brands. The bass boat market is a small market and Bass Cat does like leftover models in the next model year. That is one of the key factors to other companies failures in previous recessions. As a small company that is family owned they do not risk their future and desire to remain the size they are. Bigger is not better.

If Bass Cat boats limits the amount of boats that each dealership it creates a simple supply and demand marketing plan and allows Bass Cat to control the price of the boats that are sold at their dealerships. I would say that this is fixed pricing and allows very little chance for the dealership to deal on a boat. These dealerships are small like Bass Cat stated and they need to earn every dollar possible to stay in business, so every dollar these dealerships can earn is beneficial to their existence. Over the last 10 years prices on boats have escalated at an alarming rate. In 10 years the price on a boat has almost doubled. I bet you that the workers salary hasnt doubled, so the cost increase of the boats arent because of wages and benefits. Most boat manufacturers are located in one or two states because they can get cheap labor and optimize their profits. The boat manufacturers will say that the reason the price of boats has escalated is because of the price materials and shipping. Most materials used to build a boat are oil based products and the price of oil is less than or the same as it was 5 years ago, but each year the boat market claims that there is a 5% mark ups on boats, because of rising costs. So when the price of oil drops why dont we see a reduction on boat pricing or the price to remain the same for a year? I remember the days when a marina would buy 10 boats and the owner would receive a additional discounts on the boats he purchased and was able to make a deal for the customer. Is there collusion on boat pricing in the boat manufacturing market? If you are going to control the amount of boats sold to each dealership why doesnt Bass Cat own the dealerships and hire the people to run it for them and allow the management bonuses for the number of boats it sells. Want the control take it all. This is directed at all boat manufacturers not just Bass Cat.

Please provide the basis for the data suggested in the earlier post.5 years ago, the median cost of bbl or oil was around $65.00. In 2012, it was right at 93. I think that is 44% increase!5 years ago, the avg employer sponsered health care cost benefit was $1.83. In 2009 it is 2.12. I think that is over 15% increase in 3 years. I am sure the 5 yr increase is substantially more and the sky is the limit with recent legislation. I could not find any good government statistics based on recent years oddly enough.As far as cheap labor comment, well that is just a dead give away to your affiliation. There are all kinds of “cheap” labor companies here in Alabama that are very sucessful and their employees are happy for it as well, many would not have a job at the rate of pay otherwise. Also, not so sure about that because the last I checked there were several boat manufacturers that have not done so good from those “cheap” labor locations. There are several manufacturers in another business that had to get tax payer bail-outs due to certain management & labor issues. If you think those have changed since then, think again. The taxpayers just cleared the books for them. Its coming again within 20 years. Small companies have to actually make a profit and are not subsidized by taxpayers and government. That is the way the system works and should work, there is a long history that suggests this is the best system too….a free market one. Plus, those profits are also turned into engineering and development expenditures that insure the companies future, and those wages and benefits associated with the employees they maintain. In regards to price fixing and collusion, I am guessing the poster does not have a degree in U.S. Business law or understands the reprecutions of those types of practices or even insuniating them.I am not an employer or business owner, but undertand basic free economy principals. It is supply and demand. As long as there is demand at a given price, there will be supply. If supply floods the market, prices go down. The important point though is for supply to pick up, they actually have to manage a sucessful business model to impact the market. In regards to inventory, there are a vast many boat dealers that were crushed several years back. Part of that was related to floor plans and associated interest rates. Others, just poor business practices. So why question one of the few in this business that have not been sold or liquidated or currently managed by a holding company. I have seen the affects of holding company management in my line of business first hand. Those organizations do have a very defined purpose I suppose. Guess what that is?Not sure where the basis is for the comments in the earlier post. In the meantime, here are some links to data (some from the government since many only trust them):http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Infl … _Table.asp http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/realprices/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2010/ted_20101101.htm%5Bfont=CALIBRI, SANS-SERIF]http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm[/font]Not trying to rock anybodys world. Just need to back some things up occassionally instead of assuming that the world will beleive you just cause. Provide data to support your point!