sk any five people in the industry to define a swim spa and you’re likely to get five different answers.
Sometimes they’re called “counter-current” pools; others refer to them as “therapy pools.” One company even coined the futuristic-sounding name “swimming machine.”
The way these vessels are assembled, marketed and sold can vary just as much from company to company.
One thing manufacturers do agree on is that sales of these pool/spa hybrids have increased steadily over the past nine or 10 years — and it’s likely the best is yet to come.
Even major portable spa manufacturers are starting to roll out their own versions of swim spas.
“People are very hungry for what we have,” says Chris Wackman, senior vice president of sales at Endless Pools, a manufacturer in Aston, Pa. “I really think swim spas are becoming more and more well-known.”
Bob Dapper agrees. “Sometimes when we demonstrate the product at home shows, I will hear the husband explaining the product and how it works to his wife and family,” says Dapper, co-owner of the Indianapolis-based swim spa manufacturer Royal Spa Corp. “So, swim spas do seem have come quite a long way. The word is getting out there.”
Manufacturers say two prime factors are fueling the steady success of swim spas: They can perform a variety of applications in a small space at a reasonable price (usually under $15,000 retail). And their therapeutic benefits are attracting the fastest-growing demographic in U.S. history: baby-boomer seniors.
Boomers are a boon
In fact, swim spa professionals are in the enviable position of watching their target demographic group develop right before their eyes.
“The market is steadily growing with the aging of the population,” says Marc Campbell, senior vice president of San Juan Products, a swim spa manufacturer in Lakeland, Fla. “We have noticed an upswing, and it will continue to increase because of the aging of the overall population.”
Campbell is right on: Today, a baby boomer turns 50 every 7.6 seconds and by mid-century, seniors will outnumber young people for the first time in American history, according to MSNBC.com.
“I can’t stress enough that the people who come to us are at the leading edge of the baby-boomer generation,” Wackman says. “These are the people who coined the terms ‘jogging’ and ‘high-impact aerobics.’ These people are now starting to hurt. Recently, Time magazine had an article about the crisis of arthritis and how it’s being diagnosed at a much earlier age. It’s from all the pounding that people are taking from running and aerobics.”
Swim spas provide the boomers with two things:
• A therapeutic soak with the spa application to relieve aching joints and muscles
• A lower impact way to exercise by jogging in place against the pool’s resistant water jets.
As a result of all this, swim spa manufacturers say that year after year, they’ve seen sales increase.
“Our sales are up 15 percent from the year before,” says Joe Fleming, sales and marketing manager at Blue Hawaiian Fiberglass Pools, a swim spa manufacturer in Largo, Fla. “In the last few years, we have had more sales than usual. In fact, we are in the midst of printing up a new brochure that will, for the first time, have a section dedicated just to swim spas.”
Royal Spa’s sales of swim spas have been solid as well. “We’ve been able to maintain a solid growth since we started making them eight years ago,” Dapper says.
Carl R. Meyer, swim spa innovator and president of Rio Swim Spas in Brownsville, Texas, says his company’s sales staff has never really experienced a flat year. “Sales have gone up in each year,” he reports. “It’s steady growth. These are small increases every year, but very steady.”
Consequently, the stability of the swim spa market has emboldened manufacturers to be a little more diverse in their offerings, leading more and more to customization and specialization.
A swim spa by any other name...
One trend is to use a larger fiberglass shell than a traditional swim spa and then jet it for swimming, notes Michelle Miller, national dealer coordinator at Hawaiian Fiberglass Pools in Adelanto, Calif.
“People have realized that they’ve limited themselves with a traditional 8-by-16-foot when they to sell their house,” Miller says. “Buyers say, ‘What am I supposed to do with that?’ Now they can say, ‘It’s a pool and, oh, by the way, it’s a swim spa, too.’”
The ability to just install swim jets on a small fiberglass pool has redefined the idea of what a swim spa is.
“The line between large spas and small pools is blurring,” Campbell says. “There was a time when there was a spa market and a pool market. Now, more and more, we are building pools that have more features, but are accommodating the smaller backyards out there.”
This adaptability has helped fuel sales. “Dealers are becoming more adept at realizing they can make a sale by offering more flexibility,” Campbell continues. “Adding the swim spa to the backyard may be only a small function of what they want to do with that environment, so they have to be able to adapt.”
Getting the word out
Experiencing steady but modest growth is all right, but spa manufacturers think they can really make the market boom.
“Sometimes [swim spas] are hard to explain unless you see one in action,” Meyer says. “And there are still people out there who, after all these years, haven’t heard of one. It happens all the time. That tells us we all have to keep doing what we are doing until everyone knows what one is, until it becomes a household word.”
Miller says manufacturers are taking their idea mainstream. “They’re advertising in airline magazines and consumer magazines,” she notes.
Endless Pools is one of those manufacturers. It sells directly to consumers and utilizes national magazines to generate leads.
“We advertise in about 130 magazines, including The New Yorker, Sunset and Better Homes & Gardens,” Wackman says. “Plus, we have a very rich Web site that generates nearly half our leads.”
Royal Spas helps its metropolitan dealers with television advertisements. “We’ve been running TV commercials to let people know what [swim spas] are,” Dapper says. “We will go into a major market and put on TV commercials that fire in several directions [covering several Royal Spa dealers in one large demographic area] and then directs people to our Web site to find their closest dealer.”
Home shows and county fairs also have been good marketing venues for Royal. “It’s great for those who haven’t seen one before,” Dapper says.
Meyer also believes in show demos. “It’s a good way to generate business,” he says. “We go to the trade shows and then our dealers go to the home shows and mall shows, and so on. More and more people are getting into this business and they’re advertising, and that is what is keeping everything going.”
