Driving a hard bargain key to marine success

By ROBIN BAILEY

In 1973 boat salesman Roger Arkell decided rural Albany was the place to pitch his personal assault on the marine industry. Twenty-eight years later he has proved to the sceptics that his decision was the right one.

Roger's Boatshop, now with a second outlet in Wairau Rd, is one of the country's biggest trailerboat and outboard dealerships.

Arkell is regarded in the industry as a man who drives a hard bargain. He admits it, saying survival in one of the hardest areas of retailing requires toughness, dedication and the ability to read the market.

"The marine sector in New Zealand has been through some hard times," he says, "not the least of them being the Muldoon boat tax in 1979 that came close to wrecking the industry. Then came the various fuel crises that created their own sense of impending doom in the marketplace.

"At the height of the first price hike I was told I would be out of business when the petrol price reached $1 a gallon. Now it's over $1 a litre and the industry continues to grow."

Roger Arkell got into things marine at Samuel Parker Ltd, selling that company's range of Parkercraft aluminium boats. He set up many of the company's dealerships, discovering what worked and what didn't.

The young sales manager later put forward a proposal - that Samuel Parker Ltd introduce a results-based system of payment and promotion rather than success by seniority. When this was rejected, Arkell decided it was time to take the plunge into business for himself.

Convinced that location on a main road was more important than being close to the water - and because overheads were lower - Albany was selected as the place to set up shop with wife Robyn as business partner.

Two years into the venture the business was soundly based and Arkell was ready to expand. A Browns Bay site became available and, noting the population growth along the East Coast Bays, the second outlet was opened. At the same time he expanded the servicing side of the business.

He also took on board Bob Mirabito (23) for the Browns Bay outlet and Paul Bayer (22) at Albany to test his theory that young people with enthusiasm, given the right direction, made the best salesmen. Mirabito is still on the team, along with other long-serving staffers, service manager John Van Doorne (13 years), salesmen Scott Little (18 years) and Chris Tobin (10 years). Also a key player is 30-year-old son Nigel, who grew up in and around the business and runs the Albany premises.

In 1987 the company set up on the corner of Wairau and Archers Rds in Takapuna, running three yards until 1990, when the Browns Bay outlet was sold.

Along the way the company made some important decisions, notably in 1978 taking on board Gerry Gerrand's range of Buccaneer boats. This association was well established by the 1983 NZ Boat Show where the pair launched a 4.7m cabin boat powered by a 75hp Yamaha outboard. Then, Yamaha was virtually unknown in New Zealand.

Moller marine boss Greg Fenwick had convinced Arkell that Yamahas were the outboards of the future.

"I have to admit, he wasn't wrong," says Arkell, with Rogers Boatshop now one of the biggest sellers of the Japanese motors in the country.

The association with Buccaneer continues, along with the Haines Signature Australian-designed boats built by Reflex in Christchurch and local Fyran range.

Arkell believes this country's expertise in composite boatbuilding, developed largely for top-of-the-range racing yachts, has had a spin-off for trailerboat manufacturers.

"We're not getting into super-expensive materials like kevlar, but there are composites available now that make for lighter but stronger hulls and decks."

For the immediate future he sees the low kiwi dollar making the marketplace difficult for imported boats, leaving opportunities for New Zealand to follow the Rayglass lead and make more boats in the 7m to 11m range.

When that happens Arkell is sure they will be on both the Roger's Boatshop yards.