SIC boards

[ukgm]

Wow, taking the SIC name and wrapping it onto crap boards--that has to be the dumbest thing to do with a performance brand ever. I joked that they bought marketing rights because it was inexpensive to change the B to an S. Maybe it's not a joke.

Yep, dumb dumb dumb, and very bad business. There is (or was) value in that brand.

I agree. It's rare when two brands of different price points, histories and aims can marry and not see both weakened in the process. It's exactly why when you get buyouts of two retail brands that the names are generally retained and not just rebadged with that of the new parent.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

10, I'm going to push back that the BIC boards are crap. They're not high-end, but they do the job they're supposed to do well. I'm seriously looking to buy a few for my nonprofit because they have much better shapes than a lot of boards of that price, and the durability is really good. Their flatwater Cross boards are pretty slow, but they make a really good casual board.

I've had an 8'4" Dura-Tec for a few years now. My girls fight over it.

If you want to think about expanding the SUP market, then you need good quality boards at a low price. BIC does a pretty good job with this. I'm thinking about getting a 10'6" to replace my Pau Hana 11' as an all-around ride.

[addapost]

Well it’s certainly true that people don’t want the word BIC on their board because for most of the population this is synonymous with cheap biros not watersports. BIC means “cheap crap”.

So changing to SIC would be a good move for the BIC brand.

But it will destroy the SIC brand in the process. So why not do a Toyota/Lexus type arrangement? Then you’ve got it all covered. You buy a BIC you know what you are getting - cheap, durable, disposable. You buy a SIC you know you are getting top end. But then you don’t want to slap SIC on your cheap plastic models, which is what they seem to be doing?

Unlike in the car world, in the SUP world the “Lexus” brands generally do not make much money- the Toyota Corollas make the money. BIC sells boards. A LOT of boards. SIC is not going to change their high end DW and race boards. The only thing that joining with BIC and expanding what they offer will do is allow them to actually stay in business making those high end boards.

[Area 10]

10, I'm going to push back that the BIC boards are crap. They're not high-end, but they do the job they're supposed to do well. I'm seriously looking to buy a few for my nonprofit because they have much better shapes than a lot of boards of that price, and the durability is really good. Their flatwater Cross boards are pretty slow, but they make a really good casual board.

I've had an 8'4" Dura-Tec for a few years now. My girls fight over it.

If you want to think about expanding the SUP market, then you need good quality boards at a low price. BIC does a pretty good job with this. I'm thinking about getting a 10'6" to replace my Pau Hana 11' as an all-around ride.

I didn’t say that the BIC boards were crap. I said that the BIC BRAND is synonymous for most people with “cheap crap”.

Ask 100 average non-SUPing people what they would expect a SUP to be like if it was from the BIC brand and about 90% of them (I’d guess) will say something similar to “cheap crap, not designed to last”. It’s only Watersports geeks who know BIC for pretty much anything other than cheap biros.

No-one is going to aspire to own a BIC board for this reason. So there’s an upper limit on what you can charge. The problem BIC faces for me is actually that they aren’t cheap enough. In Europe at least, they don’t look that good value next to some of the cheap Chinese imports from local brands.

By contrast, SIC is a brand people would aspire to. The upper price limit is not fixed to the lowest common denominator. So it might not be a big money earner, but it could be a steady one - if the brand image isn’t destroyed. With the BIC distribution network there is a chance to seek many more SICs than before, so it could do well - but only if it keeps that whiff of exclusivity. Otherwise you are just down in the dirt scrabbling for business alongside Walmart.

I agree that the boards themselves serve a purpose and generally do their jobs well.

[PonoBill]

There are a lot of ways to make a merger or acquisition deliver value, but the way that is generally most successful is retaining and enhancing the strength of both entities. Using the strength of one brand to enhance the strength of the other. BIC makes a fine general market board, and there's no doubt that revenue lives there. Margin, probably not so much. The weakness of their construction strategy is that it's expensive to change shapes.

They are a sophisticated company, I'm reasonably certain they understand the ramifications of their strategy. To me, it indicates they doubt the long-term value of the SIC acquisition and they're just going to milk it for what they can, while they can. Otherwise they'd integrate it into their brand lineup and use the high-performance element to lift the perception of the company as a performance brand. Stuffing a rebranded moderate to low performance board into the SIC lineup is scorched earth, get what we can strategy.

Or maybe they're just a bureaucratic hot mess right now and that's the best they can do. It was an odd acquisition to begin with--acquiring the worldwide marketing rights of a dinky company instead of outright purchase. Who does that? 

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

Bill, it hadn't occurred to me why BIC stays with the same shapes until you mentioned their construction process. Of course — it makes sense now. I had wondered why they stayed with the same shapes for so long when other companies were pumping out new ones every year.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

This page has a video of some of the new BIC/SIC boards. I'm drooling over the Okeanos. I think that's a SIC branded Wing to the right of it, and that Sage board in the video is a BIC Cross with much nicer graphics.

https://www.rapidmedia.com/adventurekayak/categories/boats/9169-sic-maui-s-new-okeanos-and-sage-paddleboards-at-outdoor-retailer-2018.html

[Area 10]

This page has a video of some of the new BIC/SIC boards. I'm drooling over the Okeanos. I think that's a SIC branded Wing to the right of it, and that Sage board in the video is a BIC Cross with much nicer graphics.

https://www.rapidmedia.com/adventurekayak/categories/boats/9169-sic-maui-s-new-okeanos-and-sage-paddleboards-at-outdoor-retailer-2018.html

What a terrible video. It doesn’t actually show the shape of the boards he is talking about or give any useful info like weight etc. He is eloquent enough a presenter so this is a waste of effort. Why would you bother?

[Sea Daze]

You can’t tell much about a board from its volume. So don’t worry. Just get out there and enjoy it. Next time, demo the board before purchase, if at all possible. It really is the only way to know what is right for you and your conditions.

That is the challenge where I live.  Not a lot of shops and those that are close are very limited and carry mostly rental quality.   Hopefully, as the industry grows there will be a better selection of stores.

[Sea Daze]

I can't speak about the west coast, but Bic is seriously dominant on the east. They basically have a huge chunk of the beginner board market. I spoke to a major retailer in the Adirondack region who explained it. Bic builds tough boards at a good price point, but they also have multiple size boards for pretty much any beginner. These are pretty low-end for StandupZone, but they sell really well. They also take a beating, so their tough-tec boards are good rentals.

Their lower-end surf models are based on good shapes. Nothing exciting, but competent and durable. I know they're basically rebranding the same shapes with OxBow and now SIC. Both brands have a version of the Bic Wing and the surf models.

I don't think and hope that the BIC board REI got shipped in is indicative of the product.   Based on the condition, including dirty foot marks on the pad, I think it came from another REI store vs being dropped shipped in from the manufacture.  It had a lot of issues all but one could have come from being on a display where shoppers could have damaged it.  That said, I had to look at online dealers and just wanted some background on SIC.  I saw they are popular with the racing groups, so I feel comfortable.   But based on my experience with the board I saw at REI, I would have chose another brand had the forum not made me feel better about SIC.