RVBusiness, July/August 2020

the walk in traffic in the store is up significantly added Wegge a former chair of the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association RVDA who closed his store for two weeks during the peak of the pandemic And our online traffic is way up altogether more of a spike in sales over a two week period than Ive ever seen before Many of the RV dealers Ive talked to have also become very good at selling RVs online doing virtual tours with the customers in real time and then sharpening up their processes to actually close sales as well So if they werent familiar with that before many dealers are getting familiar with it now as Im sure they are in other industries Added RVDA President Phil Ingrassia whos seeing positive sales trends among his membership but is reticent to predict outcomes We have to wait and see the real numbers come in We have to see the Stat Surveys Statistical Surveys Inc numbers the shipment numbers and the Spader Spader Business Management sales volume numbers before we can address specifics But I do believe that we are well positioned and I do know that some dealers are doing very very well But there are still some forms of restraints on us especially in stayat home states And we just have to see how that comes in because we dont have instantaneous sales reporting that is at least public in our industry right now he said Industry Suppliers Distributors Muster Forces for Spring Offensive Scores of industry suppliers obviously have played essential roles in the industrys reopening apparently none more so than 7000 employee Patrick Industries an Elkhart based firm that in June was running at about 70 of full production with tremendous capacity to flex back up to meet future demand Yes were starting to feel the momentum and tailwinds build without question in both our leisure lifestyle markets in RV and marine reported Patrick President and CEO Andy Nemeth We think that in general the leisure lifestyle markets are ideally positioned for a COVID 19 and post COVID 19 environment he added With consumers social distancing requirements as well as their desire to spend quality time with family and friends its just ideal from our perspective Additionally we think the government incentives coupled with the incredible discipline in the space that our team had to I believe what we are seeing today is part of a longer term growth trend for the RV industry said Kirby In talking with dealers over the past couple of weeks we have heard that a large percentage of the sales have been to first time buyers That is not surprising because a recently released omnibus travel study from Ipsos shows RV camping leads in consumer confidence and interest across all age groups with the highest rate of interest among those 18 34 years old Even our research prior to the pandemic showed us that younger age groups are the fastest growing segments Why Consumers are looking for ways to take more control over their travel experience and there is such a variety of RV products available there truly is an RV for every consumer at every price point Dealers on the Front Lines Are Seeing a Paradigm Shift How do RV dealers see the industrys recovery playing out While the general consensus is that things have indeed been going well in many cases and sensationally well in cases like Mount Comfort RV in Greenfield Ind which told Fox59 that its spring business was triple that of 2019 theres an understandable reticence among some RV retailers to spike the football at this point in the game Yes theres definitely a bounce said Jason Kimbrell president of LaMesa RV a San Diego based dealership with 10 stores in California Arizona Florida and New Mexico I think its well documented Its been on the cover of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg as well And our industry typically doesnt attract that kind of high profile media attention on a national level And while you get all kinds of opinions on coronavirus and this pandemic you can certainly say its created a paradigm shift for a lot of people added Kimbrell whose dealership was up moderately in year todate sales Its had people rethink not only their daily activities and their practices but their whole lives including their travel and recreation And our basic buyer who still tends to be older in many cases and more vulnerable health wise in this whole pandemic is asking himself Do I really want to travel on a plane Probably not Do I want to stay at a hotel Probably not Do I want to go on a cruise ship No way Right Kimbrell whose dealership was launched 50 years ago by his father Jim Kimbrell who is still active in the company said the bulk of the industrys dealers are benefitting from the anticipated recovery especially in locales where government imposed restrictions are no longer in place And while theres been a significant swing toward online business Kimbrell pointed out not all product categories are benefitting from this whole upsurge to the same extent Well some of the traditional categories are up and some of them are way up said Kimbrell Interestingly everybody initially saw a rise in the small stuff and the Class Bs and thats definitely happening Whats really shocked us lately is that theres unprecedented interest and demand for the big stuff for big diesel pushers and Class As and fifth wheels the heavier more expensive stuff Thats been a little bit of a surprise to us But those are the categories where weve really seen the biggest rise in sales of late Nearly 20 years after the drama of 9 11 Jeff Hirsch president of Campers Inn RV a 27 store dealership based in Jacksonville Fla sees the viral pandemic as yet another crisis after which the RV realm will again reaffirm its role as a bona fide lifestyle option It seems like we go through some type of a crisis every 10 years or so in this case the pandemic said Hirsch As I try to analyze it that may be the reason why were doing as well as we are The evidence is pretty plain to see that theyre favored by people who want to protect themselves and their families Americans are not going to stop traveling or enjoying their free time They value their free time and I think that the recreational vehicle essentially checks off all the boxes Optimistic in general Hirsch too is seeing plenty of new retail customers Were seeing new buyers he added But theyre not all younger buyers who sometimes also have some credit challenges The big positive is that customers are looking at the lifestyle for the first time That bodes very well for this industry So I think youre going to see a lot of Baby Boomers we didnt consider who are going to come into the lifestyle Now that people are getting out of their houses a rather surprising number of the RV prospects are first timers who have determined that RVs are a good alternative form of travel explained Tim Wegge president and CEO of Burlington RV Superstore in Sturtevant Wis a suburb of Racine I can confirm that 46 RVBusiness J U L Y A U G U S T 2 0 2 0 Tim Wegge Phil Ingrassia Jeff Hirsch