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Hobby Dilemma - How To Get New People Involved?


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9 hours ago, johnedoe said:

It wasn't too long ago that white's put a lot of restrictions on the dealers and their online presence if I remember correctly............. I might be wrong but I seem to remember hearing that.

That was a while back, we've been trying to encourage our dealers to be active online for the past several years.

Just to be clear, this wasn't meant to be a "help White's sell more detectors" thread, that's on me, not you guys (though I appreciate the good intentions)! It was a more high-level view of the hobby and it's slow decline in the US. There are other countries where hobby detecting is growing at a fast rate (China, Peru, Mexico, etc) and then of course gold booms and busts all over the world.

8 hours ago, jasong said:

You would think 65+ would be the largest demographic for a gold prospecting/metal detecting related detecting channel, but in fact, it's not even close.

Here's our channel right now, which I would say is indicative of the metal detecting hobby overall based on my travels and interactions with hobbyists across the US. Like golf, it's an older, whiter guy's hobby. Our field team is all over the map, from 26 to 50something, so we have a good spread to cover these bases.

Screen Shot 2017-05-24 at 8.10.37 AM.jpg

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I think that's a pretty accurate representation of the current industry too.

But the reason I posted my chart was to show the growth segments. Which are the demographics which currently have interest and are potential customers, but don't yet own detectors and don't attend shows, for what I believe are the reasons I posted.

I'm just posting for general interest, not in specific reference to White's. I just think the detector industry as a whole has really passed over a lot of potential customers due to their pricing schemes. Treasure hunting in general appeals to a lot of different age groups after all so the fact that a large segment is absent as product users should be a red flag for any manufacturer.

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2 hours ago, jasong said:

I think that's a pretty accurate representation of the current industry too.

But the reason I posted my chart was to show the growth segments. Which are the demographics which currently have interest and are potential customers, but don't yet own detectors and don't attend shows, for what I believe are the reasons I posted.

I'm just posting for general interest, not in specific reference to White's. I just think the detector industry as a whole has really passed over a lot of potential customers due to their pricing schemes. Treasure hunting in general appeals to a lot of different age groups after all so the fact that a large segment is absent as product users should be a red flag for any manufacturer.

I appreciate it. I think having a less risky purchasing decision (sub $300 machine) is the way to go to get those people interested. Hard to justify spending $800 to try something out when many people under 35 are spending half their pay on housing...

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