Where have all the vendors gone?

[jerseyjim]

Attended the Philadelphia RV show yesterday....lots of dealers and RVs...(some interesting) but outside of campgrounds with their brochures, etc., the only vendors I took notice of were Beef Jerkey, bathroom re modeler, some kind of phoney jewelery and a couple of insurance booths. What happened to the folks selling gadgets and accessories?
I even noticed a downturn of vendors at the last Hershey RV show I attended...is floor space too expensive?

[msturtz]

Godsey97 wrote:
I don't know specifically about accessories, but I assume that the internet has destroyed that market like Walmart has destroyed the Mom-n-Pop stores. I don't shop at Walmart, but that is a tirade for another forum.

January is when they have the RV shows in our area. We were looking a Class A and drove by a dealership that has considerable freeway frontage. They had banners out proclaiming an "RV Show" but it was at the dealerhship and not the convention center that was the official show.

We saw the one we wanted and chatted up the salesman. He was retired from the dealership and only came back during the "show" time to help with the influx of customers. I asked why they were not at THE show and he told me that they charged a tremendous amount of $$$ for floorspace and they could only get 10 units in the show. He said their better play was to piggyback on the official show and put banners up on the routes to the show and try and convince people to come to the dealership where they had their entire inventory on display and didn't pay the high rates. We didn't buy from them as we could not agree on price.

We went to the dealer we have used for the last 3 rigs we bought and worked out a deal. As we were talking with the finance man, whom we know from buying 3 previous units, he advised the fees are high for the show and this was going to be the last time they went if things were as they have been in previous years. He said it was the best year they had on record. His brother is a salesperson and his brother personally sold 10 Georgetowns at the show, not counting sales from all the other staff.

So maybe the dealers can absorb the high floor space in the units markup and throw some of their parts on display as well but if parts/accessories is your only business probably a tough nut to crack.

The dig about Walmart killing off other stores is a myth propagated by unions with an agenda. The fact and statics say something else. there are actually more small and medium businesses after a Walmart comes to an area not fewer. Do some businesses close? Yes Does the mix of what businesses exist in an area change: yes. However statistically the businesses in an area do better after Walmart arrives. A good example of this happened recently here in my area however didn't have to do with Walmart it was Costco. Costco has sold gasoline for years however not diesel. The week before they opened their diesel pumps there were local stations selling diesel for $1 more than regular unleaded. Costco came in and started selling diesel for essentially the same price as regular. Now all the local fuel stations have changed their pricing models to account for the new competition. They still charge more for diesel but only about $0.10 per gallon more! That is a massive change. Initially it will hurt the bottom line of the local fuel stations and local fuel wholesalers but everyone will adjust. The internet retailers have done the same thing to Fry's electronics and other retailers. If I go to an RV show and see someone selling something the first thing I am going to do is see if I can find the same thing online for less. If it is close I may ask if I can get a discount to near the same price. Sometimes they will and sometimes they won't. Interestingly enough many of the same vendors actually do sales over the internet as well as RV shows. I like to see the new gadgets and other items that may make RVing better. Incidentally, I will pay for quality when I believe it matters. It depends on what I am trying to do. I purchased some really expensive AGM batteries because I wanted good quality. Sometimes I get stuff from Harbor Freight Tools that is lower quality import stuff that is "good enough" for the project I'm working on. I don't need the 10X more expensive name brand item.

[DSDP_Don]

We've been going to Quartzsite for 10 years for the RV show and flea markets. The first few years were booming. When the market crashed, the show was dead the following year. It has come back some, but many of the flea market areas are grave yards. Quartzsite also charges a 10% sales tax.

As stated by many, the internet has changed how we buy. I was looking to buy an induction cooktop and fire extinguisher at Quartzsite. I always check their prices and if they're close, I try to support the vendor to keep them coming back. The cooktop was $50.00 more and I would have to carry it around and drag it home, vs having it delivered to my house. Mac the Fire Guy was selling the extinguishers and his prices were also high, vs buying it when I got home. His products are just rebranded Fire Fight products. Again, I try and do business with the vendors, but when they tell me their the same price as the internet, and I know they're not, that turns me off to the purchase.

[Godsey97]

I don't know specifically about accessories, but I assume that the internet has destroyed that market like Walmart has destroyed the Mom-n-Pop stores. I don't shop at Walmart, but that is a tirade for another forum.

January is when they have the RV shows in our area. We were looking a Class A and drove by a dealership that has considerable freeway frontage. They had banners out proclaiming an "RV Show" but it was at the dealerhship and not the convention center that was the official show.

We saw the one we wanted and chatted up the salesman. He was retired from the dealership and only came back during the "show" time to help with the influx of customers. I asked why they were not at THE show and he told me that they charged a tremendous amount of $$$ for floorspace and they could only get 10 units in the show. He said their better play was to piggyback on the official show and put banners up on the routes to the show and try and convince people to come to the dealership where they had their entire inventory on display and didn't pay the high rates. We didn't buy from them as we could not agree on price.

We went to the dealer we have used for the last 3 rigs we bought and worked out a deal. As we were talking with the finance man, whom we know from buying 3 previous units, he advised the fees are high for the show and this was going to be the last time they went if things were as they have been in previous years. He said it was the best year they had on record. His brother is a salesperson and his brother personally sold 10 Georgetowns at the show, not counting sales from all the other staff.

So maybe the dealers can absorb the high floor space in the units markup and throw some of their parts on display as well but if parts/accessories is your only business probably a tough nut to crack.

[fivejackie]

Just like the automotive batteries. Korea was selling batteries for $11.50 and our cost was 12.26 to manufacture them. Our company made about 7000 batteries a day and we lost a lot of customers. They all came back after a few months the Korea batteries were junk. Everyone is just looking at the price.

[Dog_Folks]

With many industries, the "return on investment" from shows is just not there anymore.

No sense in paying for a booth, and staffing it, only to not make any money.

And for those that have not experienced running a booth,, I am here to tell you it is darn hard work also.

[GlennLever]

Same thing with me, I used to restore to concourse level suspension parts for GM A-Body 1966- 1972 cars. Original parts.

China comes along and makes cheap repos and I cannot buy the original cores for what china sells new parts for.

People say they want quality, but the first thing they look at is price, than after purchase complain about quality.

[OH48Lt]

Almost anything you can buy from a vendor at a show is available cheaper online, and its delivered to your house. Vendors can't compete with that.

It's sort of like a side business I had for over 20 years. I had a business where I wrote, published, and marketed certain radio-related technical books. Then some guy comes along and puts up a webpage with essentially the same information, and gives it away for free. Can't compete with that, even if the quality of his material is nowhere as good as what I was selling. After writing 19 books, I no longer do that.

One has to adapt to current market conditions to survive as a business. Those vendors that used to sell at the shows would have to convert to a web-based business to survive, and even then its often a tough way to go.

[Big_Katuna]

We used to sell at shows. It's a combination of things, not just the economy. RV sales are pretty good right now.

Many vendors were barely scraping by when the economy was booming. Remember in 04 diesel was below $2 a gallon. Then the feces hit the fan. Then the Internet really kicked in. Between expenses going up and more and more people buying off the net for lower prices there you go.

And yes, some were doing it at break even business models so they could write off expenses.

[GlennLever]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
The economy is not doing as well as some believe. Online suppliers are trying to sell their existing stocks at a discount just to survive. A lot of items are not in stock like they used to be. Going to a show is expensive with little return in the way of new sales.
Insurance is a necessity for all RV owners so they will show up. The other venders are probably private enterprises that use the shows as a way to travel the country and write off their expenses.

This makes total sense.

[rgatijnet1]

The economy is not doing as well as some believe. Online suppliers are trying to sell their existing stocks at a discount just to survive. A lot of items are not in stock like they used to be. Going to a show is expensive with little return in the way of new sales.
Insurance is a necessity for all RV owners so they will show up. The other venders are probably private enterprises that use the shows as a way to travel the country and write off their expenses.