The latest market research from the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) indicates the record growth of the past two years is beginning to cool.
“Businesses experienced record-high growth the past two years,” says Gavin Knapp, SEMA's director of market research. “We saw growth that was above the industry’s norm, so it makes sense that we’re returning to more normal levels. It’s great to see that most companies are up from 2019 levels."
But SEMA says companies remain optimistic as sales remain higher than those before the pandemic.
The SEMA State of the Industry surveys have been conducted every six months since 2021. The goal is to help members understand market conditions and also aid in forecasting.
The latest survey from Fall 2022 finds that 47% of manufacturers, 48% of distributors and 44% of retailers expect sales to increase in the coming year.
Additional findings include:
- Supply-chain issues continue to be disruptive for the industry. More than 90% of companies say the supply chain problems continue to have a "moderate or significant" affect on operations.
- Inflation and the supply-chain issues are resulting in higher costs for businesses. More than 90% of companies reported an increase in supplier or production costs; and most (around 80%) are compensating for the high costs by increasing their prices.
- Despite those price increases, the survey shows consumer demand and revenue remain strong.
- New vehicle sales are still struggling, and aren't expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024 or 2025. Sales in 2022 will be about one million vehicles short of last year's totals, at 13.9 million total units. At the same time, the average cost of a new car has risen to an all-time high of $48,301 as of August 2022.
Find the full report here: www.sema.org/research. (It will also be discussed during a SEMA Show seminar “State of the Specialty-Equipment Industry: Trends and Directions,” on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 11 a.m. in Room N254.
