RV Weekly

By Jeff Agans

National statistics say that one out of every “12″ auto owner in the United States owns an RV. Those are big numbers! That means that this industry isn’t going away anytime soon. We are still getting customers on our lot, however financing is getting tougher and our selection isn’t what it used to be. Most dealers that experienced the slowing down last year were forced to cut back on ordering new inventory. Flooring costs have sky rocketed! It is getting harder to make payroll and many RV dealers have gone out of business.

There have been an increasing number of RV manufacturers filing chapter 11. The manufacturers that filed chapter 11 are selling their inventory for pennies on the dollar at bank liquidation auctions. The dealers that have new inventory in their stock are unable to compete unless they are willing to lose tens of thousands of dollars. The used inventory is affected similarly. Most dealers are unable to survive under these circumstances. To add insult to injury, the lot traffic with potential buyers have slimmed way down. When they have a qualified buyer, they have to jump through a number of hoops, including financing.

Anytime there is a downturn in our economy it brings opportunity somewhere else. For every downside, there is an upside. Knowing there are opportunities available the deal seekers come out of the wood works. These deal seekers begin their search online, looking for the perfect RV. If the dealer doesn’t have his website designed with SEO (search engine optimization) the customer will never find his RV! The fact is that for every RV there is a buyer somewhere. The trick is getting the two of them together.

To read more of Jeff’s thoughts or learn about RVDLS click here

Recently the news wires have been flooded with articles about the upcoming camping season.

With Memorial Day around the corner travel experts, campground owners and dealers are all speculating about how well the 2009 camping season will turn out.

Several campgrounds this year are offering discounts, some RV dealers are offering passes to local national parks to entice customers to travel, and AAA announced today they believe the lower gas prices will cause more Americans to get out and travel for the upcoming holiday weekend.

Thankfully, I have been seeing more positive news about the RV industry and more specifically the 09 camping season; however, I am not sure all industry professionals would agree with me.

I wonder if the slight upturn in the industry is due strictly to trends from years past or if this camping season may spark a larger turnaround for the industry? What do you think?

Will this year’s camping season be better or worse than 2008? Do you think geographic location dictates how well the camping season will go? Do you use camping season as a sales tool at your dealership? Let’s hear your thoughts.

By Nikki Becker

In a recent trip to Elkhart visiting various industry suppliers, manufacturers, and dealers I learned many things and had a few observations. First, as we all know Elkhart has been featured in the mass media many times with in the last year with both good and bad coverage. Due to the bad coverage I learned that some dealers are having more trouble getting customers and sales due to the media stating “Elkhart is dead.” They feel customers who once traveled to the “RV capital of the world” are now going elsewhere to make their purchases.

This statement leads me to my next observation. I didn’t see Elkhart as “dead.” Manufacturers are bringing back laid off workers, manufacturing plants are getting back to full production, and I saw many vehicles moving by local transportation companies which I can only assume are going to a dealer’s lot.

Finally, I noticed there was a “Made in America” theme at many of the companies I visited. Suppliers’ products, both to the aftermarket and to the manufacturers, shared this common theme and one manufacturer in particular took it a step further by endorsing products as “Made in Elkhart.”

I am hearing “Made in America” more and more in the RV industry and now “Made in Elkhart.” As a dealer and/or manufacturer in this industry, is this important to you? Will this influence you to purchase one product which is “Made in America” versus another which is made overseas? Is this a sales tool for you to perceive value to your customers? Do you see this as doing your part to help stimulate the U.S. and even Elkhart’s economy? Let’s hear your thoughts.

I was searching through some of the “tweets” RV Trade Digest gets on Twitter and saw a posting that intrigued me.

A few fellow Twitter members had posted “tweets” about how the swine flu pandemic was one way to help promote the RV lifestyle because RVing allows consumers to travel without the being near crowds.

I think the national media exhausted the swine flu story. I am not saying swine flu isn’t a valid concern, but my question is should people be promoting the RV lifestyle based on fear of contamination?

What most people don’t realize is that 13,000 people in the U.S. die from the regular flu each year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite the swine flu being a more immediate health concern, why is it necessary to use it as a promotional tool for RVing? Aren’t there more creative ways to promote RVing such as the opportunity for consumers to build family relationships and the fact that RVing is the least expensive way to travel?

The swine flu news obsession seems to be the most recent flash-in-the-pan disease epidemic like SARS and the bird flu once were.

What are your thoughts?

Editor’s Note: If you are feeling the symptoms of swine flu stay home, wash your hands frequently and consult your physician.

The staff of RV Trade Digest would like to thank those who have explored our recently launched Sourcebook. We have had over 60 companies update listings and/or submit products in two days!

To help companies post products and have them appear quicker, below is an example of how to submit the information needed for the Sourcebook and potential publication in the magazine. RV Trade Digest uses a bullet-point product feature style.

Here is the template of how product releases should be submitted.

Company name, corporate office location, presents its product name.

*Bullet-point about product

*Bullet-point about product

*Bullet-point about product

*Bullet-point about product

Web site

Example:

RV Trade Digest, Fort Atkinson, Wis., presents its Online Sourcebook.

*Comprehensive online RV company and product listing Web site.

*Company listings used for the RVTD June/July directory.

*Features hundreds of companies and products serving the RV industry.

*Manage or update your listing all year long.

www.rvtradedigest.com

Companies may submit multiple products and use as many bullet-points as desired. Please include a high resolution photo with all product releases.

Please refrain from using “biased” language in the listing. All products submissions may be edited for style and grammar.

Products can be submitted through the Sourcebook or e-mailed to the editorial staff at rvproducts@rvtradedigest.com.