Participants speak with each other during the RV Industry Power Breakfast at the RV Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart Thursday. Staff photo by Joseph Weiser
ELKHART — Is the RV industry where it hopes to be in 2023? Not exactly.
But do they expect that by next year sales will be skyrocketing? Probably not. Despite this, industry leaders met together at the RV Industry Power Breakfast Thursday morning to talk about the future of RVing as it relates to the most predominant industry in northern Indiana.
A record-breaking crowd took to the RV Hall of Fame for the breakfast. Gov. Eric Holcomb, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, and Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson were among those in attendance and spoke briefly to the more than 1,000 in attendance.
WSBT 22 News’ Bob Montgomery also hosted a fireside chat with Holcomb, while CEO of Kampgrounds of America Toby O’Rourke and economist and author Peter Morici presented on the possible future of the industry and how to continue to create growth in spite of an uncertain future.
A panel discussion ahead of the keynote speakers alluded to a recurring theme of the industry in 2023: things are not where they should be, but it’s the perfect time to revitalize the way the industry deals with its customer base.
Moderators Vice President of Global Accounts Wells Fargo Commercial Distribution Bob Parish and Senior Editor for RV Business Magazine Sherman Goldenberg spoke to a panel that included RVIA Executive Vice President James Ashurst, RVIA Chairman and Forest River General Manager Kevin McArt, RVDA Chairman and owner and manager Walnut Ridge Family RV Sales Nathan Hart, and RVDA President Phil Ingrassia.
Hart spoke from a dealer standpoint on the state of the economy and how it impacts business.
He said sales are continuing, but it’s been a difficult ride.
“Until the consumers feel better about the future, I think we’re going to continue to struggle,” he said. “You hear the news every day that we’re going to have a recession or banks are going to be cut off, and people don’t really want to spend money. They want to hold onto it.”
McArt said he’s talked with other dealers and he’s learned that even for those with great credit, interest rates may be over 8%, making RVs out-of-reach, or the decision to purchase one much more high stakes.
“From my perspective, we need economic stability,” he said. “Federal reserves raised, interest 10 times since March of last year, it’s affecting consumer confidence level and it’s also raising everyone’s monthly payments.”
It’s not all bad news, though. Hart says the time can and should be used to create stronger infrastructure and a better user experience while they wait for consumer confidence to return. At Walnut Ridge, they’ve been training technicians. He explained that lack of technicians is a continued problem in the industry and he’s found that if they’re trained on-site the retention rate is higher.
RVTI has about 1,000 technicians at some level of training, and 186 dealerships have at least one technician.
“There’s how many RV dealers?” he said adding it’s closer to 2,700. “Why isn’t that number 1,500? We need to be encouraging dealerships to have training programs to develop their own technicians so we can satisfy this need.”
It may not happen tomorrow, or even next year, but panel members agreed that confidence will by and large return. Inflation may level out, or people will simply adjust to a “new normal,” but whichever happens, they’ll be ready.
Continued research also indicates that the average age of RV’ers is decreasing. Ashurst said the median age of an average RV owner is 54 years of age, but in 2020, the average age of a first-time buyer dropped to 41. By 2022, the number was closer to 33.
“The data shows us that consumers are interested in RVs,” Ashurst said.
And they are, O’Rourke confirmed as she began her presentation. Since 2020, 25.7 million households have taken the plug, buying their first camper. Then again, 68% of those new campers are unlikely to return to the RV camping journey the next year, and only 32% of first-time campers called their experience good or great. For the RV industry, new RV sales aren’t the final destination.
Instead, O’Rourke views the stop at the dealership to make that initial purchase or financing as the first in a multi-step series and possible shortfalls a person may experience when they dive headfirst into the world of camping.
“We all share the customer, we can all lose this customer,” she said, speaking of campgrounds, service centers, sales, and others involved in the industry. “It’s important to think about how to make it easier across the board.”
She explained to those in attendance several ways that customers can be lost throughout the RV-ing process, and considered ways in which the industry as a whole can work to prevent it.
“We need to challenge ourselves and others to find and fix points of friction,” she said.
Less than 25% of people found the sales team to be helpful in learning how to use their RV, and another 25% struggled to find campsites, 27% has difficulty booking a campsite, and almost
40% said there weren’t enough campgrounds for their style of camping.
Packing, driving, and setting up were also concerns, as well as safety on the campsite. Later on, 35% of first-time owners said getting their RV services was stressful.
“If we don’t smooth over these friction points, then we are at risk of losing almost 70% of people that are on the border about continuing camping,” she said. “We have to demand exceptional service at every point in the process. We have to make it easy to do business with us.”
Echoing Ashurst, O’Rouke said 70% of new campers are Millennials or Gen Z, substantially younger than historic buyers. The age change of buyers also means a change in how the industry does business. Forty-six percent of new campers camp with children, and 25% of those camping families are doing so due to travel for sporting events, and parents are regularly working — with nearly 46% of RV’ers working remotely while camping and only 28% of campers say the Wi-Fi they used on campgrounds was excellent.
Meanwhile, almost 4 in 10 campers have accessibility issues walking or climbing into their campers.
“We need to improve our products and improve our processes through what we learn about our customers,” O’Rourke said. “All of these pain points are really ripe for innovation — they’re also really ripe for disruption.”
Morici told attendees that there may be a recession this year, and that he expects recovery this year, but recovery may not mean success.
“For the foreseeable future, I see as though the inflation will be around 4%,” he said, with sustained interest rates. “This year is not a good year; probably next year will be better. You should sell a few more RVs.”
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