Moai 2023 S/S SUP Preview
Retail Buyers Guide: SUP S/S 2023 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Moai
Interviewee: Pleuni Holthausen, Founder
Many SUP brands expected a comeback to a more rational market in 2022, with a moderate and sound growth. How did things play out eventually?
We believe the SUP market will return back to a normal growth. The COVID years where exceptional. Due to a lot of reasons season 2022 was slower then the years before, customers choose to spend there money on holidays and restaurants, the overall spending was lower, the trust in the economy went down. A SUP board is for most of the recreational market still a luxury product. But the upside of the past two years is that the SUP board found it’s way to a lot of newcomers on the water. So supping is more popular then ever. For us our brand is growing pretty fast so we have a lot of new retailers in countries we where not located before. Therefore we are still growing. We expect the Sup market will grow back to a normal growth for season 2023.
Will you attend Paddle Sports Show in Lyon? Do you think trade shows remain a place where things happen, after a couple years of (quite successful) Zooms & virtual showrooms?
Yes MOAI will attend the Paddle Sports Show in Lyon, We believe trade shows will still remain a place where thing happen. Seeing your colleagues and customers face to face and see and feel the products is still a different experience then via a Zoom meeting or a virtual showroom. So we hope trade shows will remain.
What is your strategy to ensure the SS23 products will end up in stores early in the ’23 season?
We have containers ready for shipment with our factory and good agreements with our transport companies. So we can supply our dealers and distributors in time to start season 2023.
In 2022, the majority of SUP brands did cope with the increased costs of material/shipping, not reflected (that much) of the MSRPs. What about the 2023 models?
Also in 2021 there where increased transport prices, the prices of transport just dit not stabilize. So we already anticipated on these prices for season 2022. The increase of material costs made that the prices increased slightly compared to the prices of 2021. But we try to keep the beste pricelevel as possible to maintain a stable position in the market.
5- Please forgive the recurrent question: Beyond the all-around supremacy, any noticeable movement to report in the other categories (touring, SUP surfing, race, river, foiling…)?
In Holland we have a lot of cities with canals. So we see movement in the compact sup boards. The smaller models are easier to store en to carry then the regular ones. Especially for people living in the city the regular bag of an inflatable sup is still too big to store in their apartment. The compact sup boards are the ideal solution for these customers.
Inflatables: Which new technologies & models are you implementing in 2021?
For next season we are adding compact sup’s to our line up. And past season we already introduced a new kids board and the ultra light series made from Woven drop stitch.
7- When it comes to the order forms, do you have any piece of advice for retailers? (quantities, categories, inflatable to hardboard ratio, restocking schedule…)
In our assortment we see the majority of the sold boards are still the MOAI 10’6 and MOAI 11. These all-round models are still most popular with the customer. But check what your client base is before you order. Do you have a lot of touring customers, the touring and ultra light boards will be more popular, We also have retailers specialized in supping with dogs so they order the MOAI 12’4 more then the other models. Therefore the mix of the models is not the same for every retailer.
Key Products
MOAI 10’6 (all-round)
MOAI 11’6 (touring)
MOAI 12’6 Limited (ultra light
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