market data

Our quarterly survey of OPE Dealers always paints a picture of the state of the power equipment industry . Let ’ s look at some of the trends shaping the business for dealers at the end of 2022 .

What provided the most growth ?

In the Q4 survey , dealers credited a wide mix of products for growth . More than 25 percent cited zero-turn mowers as their growth vehicle , with an additional 15 percent citing “ mowers ” in general . Another 15 percent called out handheld products for growth , with chain saws and blowers leading the mix . The rest mentioned a wide range of products , and a couple dealers credited “ service ” for their growth .

30 %

25 %

20 %

15 %

10 %

5 %

0 %

3

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

22.6 %

15.5 %

16.7 %

19.1 %

26.2 %

$ 500,000 or less $ 501,000- $ 999,999 $ 1- $ 2 million $ 2- $ 3 million $ 4 million or more

2.5

Overall Business Conditions

HOW MUCH REVENUE DOES YOUR DEALERSHIP GENERATE PER YEAR ?

2.7

New Unit Sales

HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE FOLLOWING ?

2.8

Used Unit Sales

2.6

P & A Sales

2.1

Service Department

2.8

F & I

Source : OPE Business

In the Q2 and Q3 surveys , more than half of respondents called out zero-turn mowers for growth – it ’ s a long-running trend . Many dealers also referred to handheld products . And several dealers still just wanted inventory .

Considering adding product lines ?

In the Q4 survey , more than half of the dealers who responded said they were considering adding “ no additional product lines .” More than a quarter of the dealers who completed this Q4 survey chose not to answer this question , perhaps a sign of uncertainty about adding product lines .

In the Q3 survey , about half of dealers said , “ no or not at this time .” Many dealers are interested in adding battery or cordless products . ATVs / UTVs also made the list . And a few want to add excavators , construction equipment , tractors and commercial lines .

Dealer Satisfaction is up . In the Q4 survey , 74 percent of OPE dealers indicated they were satisfied to extremely satisfied with being an OPE dealer . Satisfaction is up from Q2 and Q3 2022 , when 65 and 53 percent of respondents , respectively , said they were satisfied to extremely satisfied .

Revenue expectations are down . When they completed the Q4 survey , 59 % of Q4 respondents expected their 2022 year-end revenue to be up compared to 2021 . That ’ s down from 65 % of respondents when asked earlier in the year .

Q4 survey results would indicate that profit margins continue to worsen , as only 33 % of Q1 respondents indicated that their profit margin was somewhat or significantly worse than a year prior ( compared to 37 % of Q4 respondents ).

Overall business outlooks have improved , despite challenges for our survey respondents , as 18.51 % of Q4 respondents indicated somewhat or significantly better outlook , compared to only 11 % with a somewhat or significantly better outlook in Q1 2022 .

Concern over consumer financing costs / availability was up significantly in Q4 2022 , with more than 60 % indicating that as a concern ( compared with only 16 % of Q1 2022 respondents identifying financing as a risk factor of concern .

In addition , concern over the housing market was up 12 % from Q1 and concern over the U . S . political environment was up 11 % from Q1 . On the other end of the spectrum , concern over economic and / or political issues outside the U . S . was down by 20 % in Q4 when compared with Q1 results .

Inventory levels have improved since Q1 2022 , when almost 74 % of respondents indicated that their equipment inventory levels were too low .

22 OPE Business April 2023 www . OPEBusiness . com