Wildwood Lake Canoe Company

In January 2010, Allan Monroe was preparing for the April opening of the Wildwood Lake Canoe Company (WLC), a canoe manufacturing shop in St. Mary’s, Ontario. Monroe planned to build 30 canoes per year and he wondered what strategy and tactics would maximize his profits.

The initiative for WLC evolved from Monroe’s canoeing and woodworking hobbies. Monroe had canoed recreationally for more than 20 years and had built three canoes, which he sold after using them each for a season. Last spring, when Monroe decided to purchase a canoe for the first time, he suffered what he described as “sticker shock.” He could not believe the price and poor quality of retail canoes. Monroe saw an opportunity to build …show more content…

Selling on the web gave WLC access to thousands of prospective clients at virtually no cost. The company was also going to place advertisements in the “buyer’s market” sections of the two most popular canoeing magazines, Canoe & Kayak and Kanawa, which were published in the U.S and Canada, respectively. Canoe & Kayak had a monthly circulation of about 100,000. A one-inch advertisement cost US$140 per month. Kanawa, on the other hand, had a quarterly circulation of about 120,000. An equivalent one-inch advertisement cost CDN$340 per year. Monroe calculated that he would only have to sell one canoe per 67,000 advertisement exposures if he produced 30 canoes per year. Finally, Monroe was going to issue press releases to Industry and Recreational Associations with the introduction of every new type of canoe at a cost of $300 per year.

Based on the promotion strategy, most sales would be direct from the shop to the customers. Professionals with above-average incomes, who canoed as a hobby, would be targeted. Canoeing for these professionals might be the hobby itself or part of another hobby such as fishing, hunting, and camping. Although Monroe did not include an estimate of this market segment, he cited statistics from Statistics Canada that Canadians own over two million boats, including approximately 640,000 canoes.