Last November, we launched a major competition game on social media. In exchange for answering a few questions, all participants took part in a big draw to win a Newave wetsuit.
Our goal ? Gather the opinions of many different surfers to help us understand their needs. To ensure that the profiles were as varied as possible, we posted our survey on numerous Facebook groups and asked several of our partners to republish it. In total, 430 surfers answered, the graphs below summarize the main results.
WHAT IS THE TYPICAL SURFER PROFILE ?
The sample of surfers who responded to the survey is very varied. Practice time and residence area show it :
On the other hand, a majority of surfers still use their car to go surfing. Indeed, it is difficult to transport such a bulky object by train, bus or bike. We sincerely hope that Newave boards will make it possible to change this statistic in a few years. We encourage all surfers to choose our solution to reduce their carbon footprint by taking public transport with their board when possible.
WHAT TYPE OF BOARD HAS THE SURFER ?
The majority of surfers who responded to our study have already purchased a board.
That said, we asked everyone who answered negatively to the question to give us their reasons. Even though, for the majority of negative responses, it is the lack of practice or the way too expensive price which prevents them from investing, for the remaining 20%, it was the size of the board which was the limiting criterion.
“not easy to transport from home to holidays”
“because it’s too big for my car”
“nowhere to store it”
Likewise, 54% own a board longer than 7 feet. Looking again at those who responded negatively, we realize that for many it is simply because they prefer short and maneuverable boards. However, for 30% of those who have never invested in a large board, the reason is they are too bulky.
“Too long to Travel”
“Because it’s big and I did not have enougth space to store it.”
“Because I have a small car”
Note that only 35% of surfers who answered to the quiz own a foam board. Foam ranges have been so successful recently, that we thought the statistics in their favor would be higher.
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON THE NEWAVE PROJECT ?
We asked surfers to judge our project upon two aspects :
On one hand, we asked you to judge our concept: What do you think of a removable surfboard stored in a backpack concept ?
The results are quite good ! This is obviously a good idea.
On the other hand, we then asked you about any reservations you might have regarding our fixing system. All those who were not confident could also give us their reasons.
If the results are encouraging, some surfers still need to be convinced. Generally, this new product inspires distrust because they haven’t tried it, they haven’t seen it in real life or they haven’t had feedback from experienced surfers. We are working on making everyone’s doubts disappear this year by seeking the opinions of very good surfers, by meeting all of you in France and by making our boards visible in stores from the beginning of next year. We are preparing lots of great things, stay tuned from beginning of April.
