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The Untapped RV Outdoor Market

November 11, 2016

tepuitents
As younger adventurers flock to trailers and RVs to make their lives mobile, outdoor brands eye a slice of the market.

When SylvanSport suggested that Chad Carlson’s Woodland Travel Center in Grand Rapids, MI consider selling its line of adventure trailers, he was resistant. As an Airstream dealer, Woodland Travel Center is perched at the premium end of the RV business and Carlson did not want to tarnish his showroom with a pop-up camper.

“At first I did not want to carry it,” Carlson said of the SylvanSport GO. “And then I saw it at a show and said, ‘holy crap! This is best product I’ve ever seen.’ The tooling is better than Airstream. I’ve sold 50 of them this year, and I just started carrying them.” The dealership has also signed on as a Thule dealer so it can sell and install the Swedish brand’s bicycle, kayak and other gear carriers on the trailers.

“It’s the same customer looking at the Airstream or Sprinter vans. They probably have a household income of $140,000 to $170,000, and the SylvanSport is a relatively inexpensive vehicle to carry their expensive toys.”

The trailers, which Woodland displays carrying kayaks, are drawing a new type of customer to the store, Carlson said, perhaps representing a foot in the door for outdoor brands to explore the RV market. “It’s opening up a lot of other activities along lines we did not anticipate,” he said.

Outdoor Outlier
Carlson is clearly an outlier within the RV industry. Visit campingworld.com, the online store for the country’s largest chain of RV supply stores, and you will be hard pressed to find any kayaks, bikes or tents priced above $450, nor any brands you would find in an outdoor specialty shop.

While campingworld.com lists 125 items under “Bikes/Bike Racks & Carriers,” that includes scooters, golf carts, wheelchairs and hitch mounts from Husky and other mass-market brands. Of 1,250 RV & Camping products listed, just 56, including folding bikes from Dahon and tents from Coleman, Sportz Camo, Gazelle, Gunnison and PahHaQue, sell for more than $250. The Camping & Tailgating section includes propane appliances, an electric leaf blower and fist-shaped foam beverage coolers emblazoned with NFL team logos.

“The RV Channel has had a nice bit of growth in recent years which, from what we can gather, is due in part to their recovery from the 2008/09 market collapse,” noted Thule spokesman Chris Ritchie. “Other than the economy recovering and folks spending more of their disposable income on travel by way of RV’s, it’s hard to say what the major driver is since we are somewhat of a small player in this channel here in the U.S.” Read More

 
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PR Contact Jarrett Miller Ideas Ranch (918) 743-8822 jmiller@idearanch.com

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