The three biggest networks are Accastillage Diffusion (AD), Big Ship and Uship (listed in alphabetical order by sizeâeuros¦). These 3 brands are fighting to offer sailboat and motorboat enthusiasts ever more complete catalogs. You will find products for outfitting your boat, but also comfort and clothing accessories. Boaters love to browse through these pages to dream or to find the answers to their expectations.
We have taken the three catalogs in hand to compare them in detail.
Great general trend, the increase and the emphasis on the share of motorboating and leisure: fishing, water skiingâeuros¦ As anecdote, Uship puts on the cover for the first time in 30 years, only a motorboat!
| Accastillage Diffusion | Uship | Big Ship | |
| Number of pages | 440 | 410 | 384 |
| Dimensions | 19 x 28.7 cm | 19 x 29 cm | 18.9 x 22.8 cm |
| Weight | 800 g | 640 g | 540 g |
| Number of references | 10 000 | 8 000 | 6 500 |
| Number of copies printed | 150 000Fr + 50 000Es | 160 000 | 100 000 |
| Number of stores in France | 68 | 123 | 42 |
The biggest catalog
AD is the undisputed winner. With more than 10,000 products listed, some 440 pages and 800g in hand, it is without question the catalog that gives the most. Uship is just behind with a little less products and a little less pages.
The largest format
If Big Ship plays the compactness by proposing a catalog less high âeuros the 3 catalogs are almost the same width âeuros AD and Uship have chosen a larger format. You can feel it when browsing the pages which are wider with larger product highlights.
The most diffused
AD is the most distributed since it is printed in 200 000 copies, except that only 150 000 are in French, the rest is printed in Spanish. Uship, which prints only one catalog in French, has chosen this year to increase its distribution by 10,000 copies to 160,000 copies. A choice that shows the importance of these supports in the digital ageâeuros¦
The positioning
With advice on many pages, AD and Big Ship position themselves as nautical equipment technicians: comparative tables of characteristics, diagrams, information. Uship also has all this information, but with a more playful, more colorful, more magazine-like layout.
Links to the Internet
At AD, the link to the website is clear with many Flash Codes that redirect to the much more complete and precise advice on the site. Uship also proposes Flash Codes, but which redirect to explanatory videos. Flash Code also for Big Ship with links to the website.
What's new in 2016
At AD, the implementation of Click & Collect is announced for 2016. This is an inventory management system for each store accessible from the AD website. Thus, a customer can reserve a product online and go to the store to pick it up and pay for it. Currently, 35 stores in France (out of the 68 in the network) have already adopted this solution. A figure that is constantly increasing.
For Uship, the novelty of the 2016 catalog is the implementation of a multilingual index (French, Spanish, Italian, English). Even if the catalog is not translated into these languages, foreigners can already find their way around more easily.
Big Ship completely revamped its website in 2015 to make it mobile-friendly and is announcing new features for this year that will be available in the coming monthsâeuros¦
