- September traffic (+40% YoY) and listing views (+57% YoY) suggest steady sales trend through the autumn; Demand stands firm as boat leads (+108% YoY) more than double
- Boats Group’s soldboats.com data shows September boat sales increased +11% YoY
- Southwest region outpaces Florida, climbs to top for YoY lead growth
Unlike fall’s cooler temps, September data from Boats Group’s Boat Trader, YachtWorld and boats.com marketplaces show consumer interest for boats has anything but simmered. In fact, September saw the strongest Labor Day on record in terms of search volume, and impressive year-over-year gains continued for listing views and leads. Though demand for boats stands firm, the market’s natural response to squeezed inventory and the start of the school year, not to mention fewer off-season boat show events, appears to signal the overdue seasonal curve has arrived – but with a new band of enthusiasts ready for the next wave of available inventory.
Last month’s sustained traffic swell (+40% YoY) and increased listing views (+57% YoY) suggest this year’s historic sales trend will continue through the autumn months as leads also remained strong over last year with a rise of +108% more inquiries made to sellers. Finishing out the quarter, all boat types saw YoY increases in demand with the ski/wake, pontoon and cruiser categories continuing to carry the most YoY growth.
While Florida, the Southeast and Great Lakes regions led in total leads, the Southwest and West Coast topped the charts for YoY lead growth. The heightened level of marketplace activity from coast-to-coast has continued to convert to actual sales and Boats Group’s soldboats.com data sources show September transactions saw a lift of 11% over 2019.
Given the continued interest as inventory availability tightens, consumers are finding it more difficult to stay abreast of boats on the market. One way Boats Group is helping consumers keep up with inventory is with the launch of Boat Trader’s new automated consumer service called Search Alerts, a one-click feature that saves customized boat searches and sends weekly alerts of the latest matching listings. An added benefit of Search Alerts is a new ability for dealers and brokers to quickly find and present more timely listings to customers. Since launching, thousands of newly-activated Search Alerts are scouring the market on behalf of shoppers and easing their anxiety about “missing the boat”.
The boating industry has not seen this level of entrants in recent years and it’s too soon to know if the expected seasonal curve will follow the familiar course.
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For more information, contact Jenny Burkett, press@boats.com