Top stories of 2006
After much reflection, here are what I consider to be the top news stories of 2006. What did I miss?
Camping World sales continue to decline – Once the feared giant of the RV industry, dealers are much less anxious to hear a Camping World store is opening near them following news reports published only by RV Trade Digest that the company’s same-store sales figures are declining. Have dealers become savvier in branding quality over price when it comes to accessory items? Or have consumers realized that the Wal-mart of the RV industry isn’t the place to go for knowledgeable advice on which products work best for a particular situation?
Sunline RV shuts its doors – After 40 years of service, Sunline RV abruptly shut its doors leaving many people to scratch their heads wondering what happened? Dealers say they want quality products, manufacturers tell me dealers can’t sell quality at prices that justify the expense. Sunline RV, well-known for its quality products, shuts its doors after 40 years of service claiming it can’t make money. Maybe the manufacturers are right after all because dealers vote with their checkbooks to support OEMs who don’t provide quality but hit the ever-subjective price-point dealers are looking for.
Gas prices – Who could have predicted gas prices would soar to record levels this summer only to fall back almost as quickly as they rose. The fluctuating prices posed headaches for motorhome dealers, but travel trailer buyers seemed more interested in paying for quality time off.
Richard Coon takes command of RVIA – The former CEO of Onan hit the ground running when he formally took control of the RV industry’s largest trade association. Working side-by-side with outgoing RV Industry Association president David Humphreys for more than a year did much to prepare Coon for his new job. The first order of business was to start a fire to barbecue a few sacred cows, especially those related to the industry’s lackluster record regarding RV service issues.
Fleetwood’s turnaround – Perhaps the most underreported story of the year, the folks at Fleetwood have done a phenomenal job in turning around the RV division. The products are innovative, the marketing is exceptional. At both the National RV Show and Fleetwood’s own dealer event a few months earlier one thing was apparent – the company has a vision and the entire team appears to be on fire and focused to a mission to reclaim lost ground and capture market share from its competitors.
Coachmen struggles – Coachmen had a tough year in 2005 when sales fell 25 percent. Sales continued to slide in 2006, but the company well managed its finances to show a profit. The sudden departure of Claire Skinner as chairman and CEO in August signaled the company was still struggling to redefine itself in face of tough competition, especially from Thor which passed the $3 billion mark with sales increases of 20 percent.
RV Trade Digest enters the 21st century – Our staff started posting breaking news on its website in January of 2006. Since then, weekly page views have risen nearly 1,800 percent as people discovered the benefit of news being reported from an independent source. Then, in March, we introduced flip books, which proved to be a convenient way for people to receive RV Trade Digest and Aftermarket Success electronically.
RV movie is a big hit – Nobody knew for sure what to expect when plans for the RV movie starring Robin Williams were announced during Committee Week in 2005. But the final product was a big hit with families as it made $87 million at the box office worldwide and ranked as the 32nd highest grossing movie of 2006.
The maniacal control of RV owners by local governments – Perhaps the second most underreported story of the year is the disturbing trend about city governments reaching out the long arm of the law to prevent RV owners from storing or parking units on their own property or on city streets. Convenience may soon become a hindrance to ownership.
January 17th, 2007 at 12:30 am
If Camping World is so hot, why did the company close it’s store in Elkhart, the RV capital of America?
It’s nice that one store did $6,000,000 in sales in a year, but the SEC’s website shows the entire Camping World company only made $1,600,000 profit in the 3rd quarter. And they got that because they had a $2,300,000 tax write off from some Chapter S legal trick.
If the company wasn’t using smoke and mirrors, they would have lost $700,000.
Is this one of them cases where the company loses a little on every sale, but makes it up in volume?
January 17th, 2007 at 12:12 am
As Bill O’Reilly would say, stop drinking the Kool-Aid over at Camping World. They didn’t open new stores that close to existing stores becuase it would not be a good business decision. The year-over-year results posted by most businesses deal only with stores that were open for an entire year. If the sales are down there is a simple conclusion … you had less customers coming to the stores. I hope you are still around two years from now because there will not be 40 new Camping World stores opened given the way your numbers are going. More than likely you will see a closing of several stores as the juggernaut stalls a little and Marcu Lemonis gets a good look at the bottom line he is now responsible for.
How much of your $6 million dollars came from domestic manufacturers? How much shelf space did you give to your branded products coming out of China? How many loyal suppliers did you displace with knoci-off products? How many people do you employ that actually go RVing … in anything?
While you are at it, I hope you will spend some of the money you claim to be making on employee training, customer service, and experienced RVing employees that actually understand our business.
As for criticizing the revenue of a dealer in North Carolina, please keep one thing in mind … it is not the top line you should be concerned about, it is the bottom line. That very simple business fact has already brought Marcus Lemonis down once in this industry and it could very well happen again. So keep the Kool-Aid handy, you may be selling it from an old crate in front of your store someday.
January 15th, 2007 at 12:25 am
All of you are kidding yourselves. The reason for a 2 percent decrease in our same store sales is due to the fact we opened 22 stores this year. Some of those stores were opened in markets near other stores. For 2006 we are going to be around 350 million in total sales. My store is going to do around 6 million. Get your facts right. Good luck to all of you as we are opening another 20 this year and 20 the year after. Beleive me, we are focused. My store sees about 50000 people a year. as for the man in north carolina, that cw store does over 6 million as well. Thats probably all your doing including the sale of rvs. my partner next store did 30 million next year. thats 36 million out of statesvilee. oh by the way, they both opened in the last 2 years. thanks
January 11th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
I own a dealership in Arkansas. The single largest problem that I am seeing, is the dumbing of the population through the constant “brain washing” of Wal-Mart. We are now in our third generation of people told every day “the only thing to consider is price”. Ten years ago I was the leader in my market, with towable sales. My competition all started selling cheap products, just like Wally World. Today I can talk features & quality all day long and all the customer is waiting for is the “low dollar price”. Also, don’t forget the internet whores.
Good luck to all of the good guys in 2007
Rex
January 10th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Good job Greg on the 10 best story selection. Obviously, some are more important to the RV industry than others, but that is to be expected. What ever, my favorite is the decline of Camping World.
I am almost certain that like me, other RVers have had their share of bad or sorry experiences at a CW store. To me, the CW stores have lost their focus, i.e - they are losing their touch with the RVer who stops in to restock, by an new gadget, or find that special part that will allow him/her to get back on the road.
From my view point, CW should never have allowed themselves to become a dealer of RVs. That is so true of our local CW store. There are almost no sales folks in the CW store, but many in the RV showroom. Unless you walk in and flash your fat checkbook, the CW folks just do not want to waste their time selling you a new widget.
How sad.
I feel that there will always be a place that meets the need of the RV public without pressure from a sales guy.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Your thoughts are right on the head with Camping World.
We have one in (Statesville NC) just 3 miles away. Our parts department has them as a very good customer no kidding. One of our tects. went to work for them and came back to us due to the fact the service manager told him he had to get the work out fast and not to worry about come backs since so many of the people were transient, and they would not see them again.
We had in our service department a Excel 5th for two days. Had a good time to talk the customer. He told us that he had bought three different parts from Camping World to fix problems he had and they were not able to fix any of the three problems. He is a full timer and said we should check the chat rooms on Escape.com and find out what other people are saying about the bad service from CW. Yes we are trying very hard to take care of all customers no matter what the brand or where they bought the unit. As a R66 dealer we look forward to any and all transient business, and we are getting a lot of them away from CW., and not having to give up any dollars.
Thank you
Chuck
January 10th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Yes it is good news to hear that Camping World is struggling to maintain same store sales but do not let your guard down. Continue to leverage the good lead they have provided and build better stores and merchandise your stores so people want to come to see what you have done and what new products you have. The battle has just begun and we have won a skirmish but the war is not over!
January 9th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Greg, you are doing a Great job! I look forward to every issue. Keep up the good work in 2007.
Steve
January 9th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Gret job Greg, I really enjoyed your top 10 list and feel they are right on target.
At first glance it is good to hear that the giant is loosing some of it’s strong hold… but lets not forget what Camping World has done for the industry; they have taught us the value of advertising with direct mail. Camping world has given us more new products to sell in our stores, with out them bringing new products to the industry, many a new company with a new idea would still be trying to push their items through a frumpy board in our distribution warehouses who will tell them “go create the market then come back.”
I also believe they have been the single most important presence to help us realize the importance of “branding” our own business.
January 6th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Happy New Year everyone, it should be another exciting year for the RV industry. I’d like to add one item to the list but wouldn’t discount any of the stories that Greg highlighted for 2006.
I think we saw a story starting to unfold with the closing of the Hart City dealership and the departure of Dick Akers from the Freedom Roads/Camping World/AGI empire. There have been other resignations and terminations and I think we’ll see a lot more in 2007 as entrepreneurs realize that the grass wasn’t really greener on the other side of the fence, some promises went unfulfilled, and the strong arm of Marcus Lemonis wasn’t to their liking. There are many examples in other indsustries that we can look to and see the long term impact of roll-ups and acquisitions. I am predicting that we will see a lot more of the original owners departing this year as they long for the “good old days” when they could really take care of their customers and provide that personal level of service that is talked about, but not often delivered, in many empires. I don’t think they will topple the king (Lemonis) from the throne, but he may have a few less generals in the Army when we look back at 2007 a year from now.
January 6th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Ron,
That is one of our main goals for 07. We’d really like to develop the forums and create a community that will utilize the forums as a resource. I know some of you already subscribe to or moderate other forums, I’d be curious as to what helped you grow them.
When I look at Greg’s blogs and the many responses they generate, maybe we should shift that to the Forums???Thoughts?? Maybe we should have this discussion on the forums??
Regards,
Wolfgang Neuwirth
Publisher, RV Trade Digest
January 5th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Yes. I learn much from the magazine and this blog. I sure wish we’d get more activity on the forum, though. We’re stronger when we share ideas and the industry can only benefit from sites like this.
January 4th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Great job Greg, and gang! I think the magazine is tops, it is the one absolute read each month for me. Keep up the good work, and ease up on the electonic mail magazine. I think a little less can be more. I always liked looking for my magazine each month, with much anticipation.
Overal I’ll say it again, your the best!
Steve