Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/78196
Ownership One notable and slightly alarming trend is that dealership owners aren't getting any younger with few retiring and few following in their footsteps. Three out of every four dealership owners have already celebrated their 50th birthday. Business trends last 5 years? 2001/2006/2010/2012 Expanded 61.06%*/55.68%/44.1%/41.7% No change 27.73%*/30.75%/35.7%/42.7% Downsized 11.20%*/13.57%/20.3%/15.5% * = Business trends last 4 years when asked in 2001 Amount of consumer business? 2001/2006/2010/2012 0-10% 11-20% 21-30% 31-40% 41-50% 2.52%/2.66%/3.5%/1.0% 3.36%/2.66%/4.2%/1.0% 6.16%/6.51%/6.9%/3.9% 2.80%/5.92%/5.6%/3.9% 10.08%/7.69%/6.9%/6.8% 51-60% 8.12%/10.36%/12.5%/12.6% 61-70% 11.76%/14.20%/12.5%/15.5% 71-80% 18.77%/18.64%/16%/17.5% 81-90% 21.01%/18.34%/18.8%/25.2% 91% + 15.41%/13.02%/13.2%/12.6% Amount of commercial business? 2001/2006/2010/2012 0-10% 29.41%/25.74%/27.1%/26.2% 11-20% 21.01%/18.93%/24.3%/25.2% 21-30% 15.41%/17.16%/13.9%/17.5% 31-40% 10.08%/11.54%/13.2%/10.7% 41-50% 10.36%/10.36%/8.3%/9.7% 51-60% 61-70% 71-80% 81-90% 91% + 3.92%/5.03%/5.6%/4.9% 4.76%/5.92%/4.2%/2.9% 2.52%/2.37%/1.4%/2.9% 1.68%/2.37%/0.7%/0% 0.84%/0.59%/1.4%/0% Warranty payment satisfaction? 2001/2006/2010/2012 5.88%/8.88%/9.8%/8.8% 37.54%/38.76%/49%/46.1% 43.70%/38.17%/33.6%/36.3% 10.08%/12.13%/4.9%/7.8% 2.80%/2.07%/2.8%/1.0% Very Good Good Fair Poor Very Poor Do your employees receive medical cover- age as part of their benefits package? 2001/2006/2010/2012 Yes No 53.39%/42.01%/54.9%/45.6% 46.61%/57.99%/45.1%/54.4% Do you offer your employees a 401(k) or other retirement plan as part of their benefits package? 2001/2006/2010/2012 Yes No 27.45%/24.26%/37.3%/32.4% 72.55%/75.44%/62.7%/67.6% Do you think there is a shortage of qualified service technicians for the outdoor power equipment industry? 2001/2006/2010/2012 Yes No 93%/95.27%/88.9%/95.0% 7%/4.73%/11.1%/5.0% Does your dealership have a website? 2001/2006/2010/2012 Yes No 48.74%/55.62%/66.9%/70.9% 51.26%/44.38%/33.1%/29.1% Hourly pay rate for best service technicians Hourly Rate $5 - $6.99 $7.25 - $8.99 $9 - $10.99 $11 - $12.99 $13 - $14.99 $15 - $16.99 $17 - $18.99 $19 - $20.99 $21 - $22.99 $23 - $24.99 $25 or more * = $7 - $8.99 ** = $21 or more NA = Not Applicable OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT AUGUST 2012 11 Northeast South Midwest Northwest Southwest 2012 NA 0% 2012 NA 0% 3.4% 0% 13.8% 17.2% 20.7% 13.8% 10.3% 10.3% 10.3% 3.3% 3.3% 13.3% 40.0% 13.3% 6.7% 6.7% 6.7% 6.7% 2012 NA 0% 0% 9.4% 9.4% 21.9% 21.9% 12.5% 12.5% 6.3% 6.3% 2012 NA 0% 0% 0% 0% 42.9% 28.6% 0% 0% 14.3% 14.3% 2012 NA 0% 0% 0% 33.3% 0% 33.3% 0% 0% 0% 33.3% United States 2001/2006/2010/2012 1.40%/0%/NA/NA 2.24%*/1.48%*/2.2%/0% 13.17%/6.80%/5.1%/2.0% 20.45%/9.47%/7.2%/4.0% 19.89%/14.20%/9.4%/11.9% 21.29%/24.56%/22.5%/26.7% 9.52%/12.43%/21%/19.8% 5.04%/12.13%/10.1%/9.9% 7%**/7.10%/7.2%/8.9% NA/5.03%/8.7%/7.9% NA/6.80%/6.5%/8.9% While the percentage of dealership owners in their 50s steadily rose in each of our three previous surveys from nearly 32 percent in 2001 to 43 percent in 2010 before dropping slightly to about 39 percent this year, those in their 60s have yet to experience a drop-off. In fact, they have nearly doubled from about 19 percent in 2001 to 37 percent this year. Mean- while, less than 4 percent of dealership owners are younger than age 40. Employees The composition of a dealership workforce continues to show little change since 2001 with about half of all dealerships containing no more than 5 employees, including 1-2 service technicians. A whopping 95 percent of dealers employ six or less technicians, yet that same percentage of dealers also believes there is a shortage of qualified service technicians for the OPE industry. A contributing factor to that shortage may be that dealers have started to scale back on employee benefits packages. Since 2010, those dealers offering medical coverage to their employees has dropped from about 55 percent to 46 percent and 401(k) or other retirement plans from 37 percent to 32 percent. Annual gross income Annual gross income appears to be on the rise with nearly 20 percent of dealers belonging to the $1-million to $2-million club and about 25 percent of all dealers grossing $2 million or more. Slightly more than half of those respondents said that their satisfaction level with profit margins was "fair," but 25 percent said it was "poor" and 6 percent "very poor." Sales trends Little has changed since 2001 when it comes to consumer versus commercial business. More than half of all dealers said they receive at least 70 percent of their business from consumers. Mean- while, more than half of all dealers said they receive 20 percent or less of their business from commercial users.