Dive Retail Survey – 2026
by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

In conjunction with the Dive Industry Retail Association, the Dive Industry Foundation is conducting its annual Industry-Wide Dive Retail Survey.  We are asking all Dive Retailers to download a copy of our survey, fill it out to the best of their ability, keep a copy on file, and email or direct mail a copy to the Foundation’s office in West Melbourne, Florida.  We ask that each retailer keep a copy on file so they can update and resubmit it next year.

The Survey’s History: We first published the Dive Retail Survey in 2002.  We have conducted the survey at key points in the past 24 years.  Over 80 dive stores have completed the survey since we first began.   The data we have received, compiled, and analyzed has helped industry planners better serve the needs of the Global Diving Business Network. A full, written report of the 2002 retail survey was published and is available to any retailer who participates in the survey.  A full 2026 survey report will also be published for the participants.  A general article about our findings and its significance to the Global Diving Community will be published in our marketing materials and in our monthly trade magazine, The Dive Industry Professional.

Confidentiality of the Survey: The survey questions we ask in the survey are compiled by our research team and all individual answers and sources are not shared within the industry.  We collect data to compile, analyze, and group together information into ranges, averages, modes, and trends.  As a life-long businessman, I can understand an entrepreneur’s reluctance to disclose sensitive information like business financials, especially if you don’t personally know the researcher.  But as a Dive Industry Planner and Marketing Consultant in the Diving Industry for over 40 years, I can assure you that this very important data we are collecting is simply “numbers on a page” for the research we are conducting.  Individual numbers only have meaning to us as we compile, analyze, and organize collective data that helps us understand industry averages and trends on the whole.  Your business information is safe with us as in any Consultant/Client relationship.

The Purpose of the Survey: The purpose of the survey is to establish a baseline of retail dive store activity and measure outcomes of past retail business activity.  The data collected helps our Foundation to better understand the retail stakeholder group, sets a baseline for trends and average norms in business operations, sales, service, training, and travel.  We were able to establish ranges, averages, norms, and trends for sales, certifications, and travel activities in the retail sector of the diving industry.  We collect data that supports the retail community’s industry engagement, and professional development activities.  By asking the retail sector about their five greatest needs in the diving industry, we are able to create strategic plans that contain actionable items we can implement to achieve industry goals and objectives.  Collecting data from active dive store retailers allows industry planners to measure key results and objectives to see if we are achieving our planned goals and objectives for industry growth and success.

Survey Component – Contact Information: The first part of the survey is contact information.  We verify that each dive store is currently in business, as a dive retailer.  We publish a list of active dive stores, by territory in the United States on our DIVE LOCAL website.

Survey Component – Survey Questions:  Our survey questions pertain to the size and scope of your physical location and operation.  We look at your profit centers of equipment sales & services, training courses, club, charter, and travel activities.  We ask about the size of your staff and the extent of your business preparedness and your continuing business professional development.

Survey Component – Top 5 Business Needs:  The most important part of the survey is asking Retailers about what their 5 greatest business needs in the diving industry are.  With what we know today about modern marketing tools and technologies, we have sophisticated technology at our disposal to evaluate current industry needs, but we first have to know what our customers’ needs are.  Books like Measure What Matters, by John Doerr teach us that we can’t analyze what we don’t measure.  John’s mantra is, “It takes a team to win.”  It should be our industry’s mantra also.

Our Strategic Plan: Our strategic objective for the Global Diving Industry is to get Dive Store Retailers to become more engaged in the industry.  We are asking all Retailers to complete the 2026 Industry-Wide Dive Retail Survey.  Our research team will compile the results, and organize the data into groups, modes, ranges, and averages.  Once we have compiled the results, our volunteer Retail Committee will work on a strategic plan to identify and address the most significant industry strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the retail sector.  The Retail Committee will conduct roundtable discussions to recommend possible actionable items that could achieve our goals and planned objectives.  The Team will be responsible for creating OKR’s (objectives and key results) that can be measured to ensure we are achieving our planned industry objectives.  We will continue to measure our results and course-correct as necessary.

The Bigger Picture: Conducting a Retail Survey is not the end-goal.  It is only the beginning.  The Retail Sector in the Global Diving Community is the center of the industry’s economic activity and development.  It is where the supply chain meets consumer demand.  Retail activity affects the success of the supply chain and the future of the demand chain.  For our industry to be successful and sustainable, our industry needs to have and support a dynamic retail hub.  Our Dive Retail Survey will be used to build a strong foundation for our industry to grow upon.

For more information on the 2026 Industry-Wide Dive Retail Survey contact Gene Muchanski at Dive Industry Foundation.  Phone 321-914-3778.  eMail: gene@diveindustry.org

Become a Member of our Global Diving Business Network: Annual Membership in the Dive Industry Association is $125 and includes placement in a number of Trade Directories and websites.  Our organization uses websites and directories in advertising and marketing campaigns to refer business to our members.  By joining our network, you are becoming part of a network that works on your behalf to bring buyers and sellers together for the benefit and growth of the Global Diving Community.  Download a Membership Application today.

# # #