RVBusiness, September/October 2019
Is someone from your dealership planning on attending this years Open House Yes 72 No 28 What are your dealerships plans for placing orders Do you plan on visiting several OEM displays at the Open House Yes several because Im shopping around 60 compared to last year No only our main suppliers 40 What products are you most focused on stocking Travel Trailer 72 Class C 15 Class A 7 Class B 3 Fifth wheel 3 at this time S E P T E M B E R O C T O B E R 2 0 1 9 RVBusiness 29 fewer units on their lots We had overstocked which led to an abundance of older aged units one dealer stated We responded by not ordering many new units and weve been selling off our older stuff while maintaining a smaller inventory than last year On the topic of the Open House one survey question asked dealers whether they might order more fewer or the same amount of units as they did last year And their responses offer a bit of insight as to how theyll position their inventories in light of their retail forecast among other factors While a majority 424 of dealers said they were looking to place about the same amount of orders as last year a combined 363 said they plan on making fewer orders while just 213 expect to order more units than they did in 2018 Dealer responses by the same token were somewhat of a mixed bag when asked their forecast for the foreseeable future Although most 37 said they were guardedly upbeat one in four 25 said they expected a flat market in the future Close behind that was the 22 who said they were very optimistic while underperforming 14 and unacceptably low 2 rounded out the responses The retail marketplace is slowing down and buyers in my area are becoming more cautious in their spending habits one dealer stated With an election year looming the uncertainty of the next four years with the national leadership and less than solid trade relations that result in tariffs the consumers are very cautious and our business has slowed down as a result Dealers were mixed in their responses as far as the years retail sales with 27 saying their sales were off somewhat and 26 saying its been somewhat better than last year Meanwhile 8 said their sales have been much better than they anticipated When asked for their take on the state of the retail marketplace right now responses often fell along the lines of soft slow down a little and flat That said there were plenty of dealers who have been experiencing positive sales generally speaking but even then their comments tended to include qualifiers Its still pretty good as far as overall demand but theres a lot more hot and cold than it has been over the past few 40 30 20 10 0 At least 25 less At least 25 more 15 25 less 5 15 less 5 15 more 15 25 more About the same Are you satisfied with your new unit inventory at this time Actually I dont have enough 17 No I have too much 30 Yes Im generally satisfied 53
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