Why The Doom and Gloom?
BY DANA NELSEN
If you believe what you read each morning about the overall economy, it seems that the nation has reentered the Great Depression. The business section of many national news media Web sites have been a buzz with lots of depressing news of late. Inflation is rising. Consumer confidence indexes are down. Energy costs are through the roof. Basically, the sky is falling.
While I can’t argue the truthfulness of those macro-level economic stories, I can tell you that dealers say that much of the doom and gloom really doesn’t apply to the RV industry. Sure, some areas of the country are down more than others, but an astounding number of dealers I spoke with recently at the distributor shows told me that so far they are actually doing more business in 2008. Many dealer shows in January and February did pretty well, according to many I’ve talked with.
It seems the dealers who struggle the most are smaller dealers who may not have invested in their facilities, employees, service operations or aftermarket inventory. Dealers with a history of offering a top-notch buying experience with excellent customer service are weathering the storm just fine. In fact, they are taking market share.
At the recent Stag-Parkway show, during the opening comments, they showed a slide of how business “opportunity” is greatest during an up-turn or a down-turn of business. If what Stag says is true, present market conditions are perfect to seize market share.
While I’ve talked with a good number of dealers, I think it would be really interesting if we could get as many dealers as possible to post what part of the country they are in and give a small snapshot of how RV sales are doing in their local market. I suspect that things aren’t nearly as bad as what national news organizations would lead us to believe.
March 11th, 2008 at 4:46 am
I agree this is an industry that is both seasonal and cyclic. This year will improve in sales as it progresses; however, at this time with the fluctuating weather in our area and our finance companies tightening their belts, we are having to press hard for every sale and they are not coming easy by any means.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Mark Feb. 29
Vote republican?
Who do you think got us into our present fix?
Our country needs change, not more problems.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:19 am
To follow up on what Mark said and he may not even realize what he said. We have found that the dealers who take one brand and not a candy store to the shows all seem to do much better. It appears the customers are far less confused and easier to control.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
We, too (like Tim Wegge) came out of the Milwaukee RV Show with big results!! The weather actually forced the show to close on Sunday, but that doom and gloom forecast seemed to bring people in on Saturday evening in droves.
We bought more space (dealers were scaling back this year and we took advantage of the extra available space), took only one manufacturer (13 pieces) and just had an exceptional show!!
A very unique feature this year is a zero turn down on financed deals!! I have never experienced a 100% show closing rate in our 40 years of selling RV’s.
We followed up that show with an invitation only free food and casino night in our shop and had just under 1000 people come through on Saturday night!!
Our public Open House is coming up in two weeks and we are really optimistic that the momentum will carry through and into the Spring.
After this terribly slow winter, I’m almost giddy with optimism. Hope it’s not a false prelude.
Vote Republican, everyone, our industry needs it!!
February 29th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
We operate 3 locations in Florida. Ormond Beach, Melbourne and Winter Garden. Traffic has been pretty decent of late, but many one-leggers and many with uncertain attitudes. Service departments are very busy along with Accessories stores. Rental department has also been very good. Just came out of a small show for region 4 of the Florida RV Trade Association held in Deland. Lots of people, not enough sales people. Sold 12 at the show with a pretty good mix of sales. Expect good residual sales for the near term. Keep the faith.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Why Doom?
Winnebago lay’s off 225, Coachmen called December a “Train Wreck”, Fleetwood has closed how many plants?
Fleetwood lays off 20 white collar from it’s Rv operation,
Newmar lays off 118, Monaco lays off 200, Travel supreme ? Open ? Closed ? Most of Elkhart is on 3-4 day weeks. How many vendors are making profits? If you are
any of these associate’s that felt the sting of unemployment you would know why the gloom. So who get’s fat ? Yes there is an upside, give it away for cost and keep the lights on. Pray you survive.
February 28th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I’ve seen worse conditions than we have right now even though it’s not as good as we all would like. I have seen times in the 70’s and 80’s that we may not have a customer walk thru the door for a week at a time and we would nearly kiss the feet of the first customer that walked in. It’s times like this that makes us be real sales people and actually have to work every customer to make a living.
You are in control of your own destiny- keep focused and stay positive!
February 28th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Having been in the business since the 70’s I’ve seen the boom years, an the slow years,this business is cyclic,the current market is not nearly as bad as the media portrays it, customer confidence will rebound, and the good times will roll again. we just came off a slow Jan, but Feb is back to normal, and with low interest rates and exceptance of higher fuel cost, I beleive we will have an excellent year,just keep that right mental attitude,and don”t watch the news.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:34 am
we just completed back to back shows. one in Milwaukee and this past weekend at our lot. show attendance in mlwaukee was good until a sunday storm rolled through but traffic at our lot show, with the weather cooperating, was well attended and between the two shows and a couple days after we’ve sold 80 pieces. keep in mind this is Wisconsin and we’re coming off one of the coldest snowiest winters in the past 2 decades. we are optimistic and the attitude in our store is enthusiastic and upbeat. the more good sales news we spread around the better our industry will fair so let’s hear more from you dealers that have had good shows like we just had.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Atlanta area high line store
This past November and December we saw a 20% increase in sales over previous Nov./Dec.
This Feb. looks like we will end with about a 50% increase over Feb ‘07 but it is still not what I would call “robust”
Customers trust in media truthfulness about anything seems to decrease exponentially the neared we get to election day. I believe a surge is coming - probably by the end of this year. Till then ,it’s survival mode.
If some big energy company would make a substantial commitment to a Hydrogen supply system, an auto manufacturer would surely follow with an announcement that they would begin work on a hydrogen powered vehicle and just the news of this would cause the price of oil to plummet.
Bada Bing!
February 28th, 2008 at 11:23 am
We are or were a RV dealership in upstate NY. We are, sadly, in the process of going out of business. This dealership has been around since the very early 1960’s and we just can’t do it anymore. I wish all the dealers who say the economy is not afffecting them luck, but I can sure tell you, the economy most definitely played a
major role in our demise.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:21 am
In my opinion, here is a case of where it may be appropriate to “shoot the messenger”…..I cannot recall a time where I’ve heard this much negative information and commentary from most of the media, for such a period of time…. Most news is negative, and, in my opinion, agenda driven. I’d like to see everyone in America “unplug the news”…..I think we’d see immediate improvements in the attitudes of the people, which would transfer to other areas.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:04 am
January business was our best recorded in 16 years. February started slow and continued until the last week in February, and now has picked up considerably. The weather has a tremendous effect on business, and it looks as if March weather is decent, it will reflect an increase in business as compared to the weather. If the news media would quit pitching “Gloom & Doom”, I think our economy would bounce back much faster. Gasoline prices have risen, but the effect just makes us adjust to lighter weight trailer sales to compensate.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:01 am
It appears that the RV industry is feeling the squeeze more than suggested. Although most of the dealers I know say the market is going along as normal, I can’t help but think that the closings of several major manufacturers, shows a different trend. I hope not, but the whole economy does seem to be floundering.
Gary Waggoner
February 28th, 2008 at 11:00 am
I would agree with Jim M. We conduct four shows in Michigan during February and March. Sold out space at all shows and booth sales have been stronger than any of the past three years. Dealers report a variety of results regarding sales, but the Detroit show dealers reported good sales considering a less than mediocre economy in Michigan.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:48 am
We produce RV Shows in NE.Space sales were up slightlty. Over all retail was very sucessful. Show traffic was up slightly. Retail info came form from informal survey of dealers at show. Two more shows to go.Traffic at dealerships up and down.
JJMcL