Need Some Wakeworld Help
 

Hey Everyone, I asked this question about a year ago, but I need to do it again for my Senior Project for college. I am making a Business Plan and want to do a Wakeboard/Lesson/anything dealing with watersports shop. In the plan I am also going to partner with a Nautique Dealer to be a satellite sales place so there will be a couple boats there all the time. This would be located Waterfront on our local lake with excellent dock access. This is all "planned" for High Rock Lake in NC.

Anyways, any info or criticisms anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I want to know things like what brands people want (Boards, Clothing, Vests, Etc)? What kind of things would make a shop a great shop and have people wanting to go there? What are things you would like to see at a shop? How important is a website (especially one where you can sell from it)?

Also does anyone know how to find any wakeboard specific demographics for particular states or regions?

This is just a project and it would be great to have any help since this is such a niche market. This is the biggest place I know of that our people gather.

Thanks!

I dont live anywhere near NC, but I know that at the local shops, Liquid Force stuffs sells alot. As for vests, Jetpilot and Helium. I just know that those do well here...

As far as the wakeboard demographic, just think about the local scene. Core riders, weekend warriors, everybody. With what you already know you could piece something together with some thought. Without doing any research - here's a very very basic demographic of my area (SE Nebraska):
core market: Males age 12-26, Ave household income between 60 and 90K. They live in cities/towns either over 10K people (which there aren't that many in NE) or in a bedroom town within a 20 minute drive.
That's really basic, but you get the idea. Think about what kind of people you see riding, at all, regardless of skill level. What you see at the ramp, boats and tow vehicles, who, out of those ride, or just have a wakeboard....Think about what you're trying to market - the above is more for boards/bindings than boats - obviously. You already have a good idea of your demographic, because you're part of it. Think of where you stand and try and figure out where the rough boundaries are. you're not going to hit everybody that rides, like the 60 yr old men, or the 10 yr old girls, but you're in the core group, so you should already have a good idea of what you're looking at.

Go ahead and ignore what I said... haha