2011 Swimming Pool Buying Trends: What a Difference a Year Makes

For full disclosure, let me just start off this little article by saying that I’m not an economist (although these days, that might be actually lend the following words quite a bit more credibility). But what I do understand, and clearly have my finger on the pulse of, is the state of the swimming pool industry.

Although only one month has passed in this new year of 2011, I’ve got a very, very good feeling with respect to the buying trends of swimming pool shoppers around the country. As of right now, in my conversations with many fiberglass pool builders and manufacturers, plus from stats I’m seeing on the web, I believe that the swimming pool shopping/buying rate has increased roughly 40% or more in most areas since last January. I’ve arrived at this number from a variety of factors, but let me just give you a few examples of the positive signs I’ve seen:

• I was talking with a small fiberglass pool builder in Texas a few days ago and he has already sold 5 pools this month.(This from a builder who is only 1 year old)

• I was talking to a major fiberglass pool manufacturer last and they just had their best January for since 2007.

• On a personal level, January traffic on the River Pools website blew last year’s traffic out of the water. In fact, our site had roughly 9,000 more visitors this past month than the same month in 2010. Just this coming week it appears I’ll have at least 7 in-home appointment for some very serious inground pool shoppers.

What’s This All Mean?

I could go on about some of the positive information I’ve been getting from others, but my point here is simple—The pool industry is headed back up, this much I’m sure of. Just how much exactly? Well, time will tell, but I look forward to writing another brief ‘State of the Industry’ in about 6 months. Although I don't ever expect things to turn back to the easy credit days of pre-2007, I do know that the worst of the storm is over. In fact, there are even a few rays of sunshine finally breaking through the clouds that have been surrounding us for over 2 years now.