market data

Two things about our quarterly reporting . First , we were a bit late with the 4th Quarter survey data we reported in our April issue , but we are back on time with this 1st Quarter reporting schedule . Second , thank you for responding to these surveys , for adding comments , and for being available for follow-up calls . Many of you agree to be available for further conversations , and that helps a lot ( sorry that we don ’ t call all of you ).

As expressed by our editor in his Editor ’ s Letter on p . 4 , information is key to our business , and we think it ’ s important for your business , too . That ’ s why we do these surveys , and why we share the results and analysis . 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 OPE dealers at the end of Q1 2023 .

Satisfied ?

We asked : Rate your satisfaction with being an OPE dealer at the current time , on a scale of 1 to 10 , with 1 being “ not at all satisfied ” and 10 being “ extremely satisfied .”

Compared to your level of satisfaction from the Q4 survey , changes are evident at the low end of the scoring . Nearly 17 percent of you selected boxes 1 through 4 , increasing the inclination toward “ not at all satisfied ” from only 10 percent in the Q4 2022 survey . Scores at the high end – from 7 through 10 , leaning toward “ extremely satisfied ” – remained nearly identical at 61 percent .

Conditions by Department ?

We asked : Please rate the following , from Very Strong to Very Weak . FYI , a low score on the chart is good here !

We see two interesting highlights here , compared to Q4 data . First , dealers rate “ overall business conditions ” less favorably in Q1 , where 7 percent of you rated conditions as Very Good compared to 11 percent in Q4 . Second , the positive change for Q1 is in the service department , where 30 percent rated conditions as Very Good in Q1 , compared to just 22 percent in Q4 2022 . One other notable change is that nearly 12 percent of you indicated the “ used unit sales ” were Very Weak in Q1 , and this may be a situation unique to the first quarter of the year .

What Provided Growth ?

We asked : What line of business provided you with the largest growth in Q1 ?

As the grass began to grow ( and the snow began to melt ), more than one-half of those surveyed said mowers provided the

30.0 %

25.0 %

20.0 %

15.0 %

10.0 %

3.5

5.0 %

0.0 %

3

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

ON A SCALE OF 1-10 , RATE YOUR SATISFACTION WITH BEING AN OPE DEALER AT THE CURRENT TIME :

1.4 % 2 . 8 %

5.6 % 7 . 0 %

14.1 %

8.5 %

25.4 %

16.9 %

7.0 %

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not at all satisfied

2.6

Overall Business Conditions

PLEASE RATE THE FOLLOWING :

2.8

2.9

New Unit Sales Used Unit Sales P & A Sales Service Department F & I

2.5

1.9

11.3 %

Extremely satisfied

2.8

Source for all charts : OPE Business

most growth for OPE dealers in Q1 2023 . The majority of that is zero-turn mowers , but it also includes walk-behind mowers . About 10 percent indicated that “ hand-held equipment ” provided the most growth , and a few pointed to “ battery ” tools . Another 12 percent , however , indicated they achieved no growth in Q1 2023 . That was up from less than 10 percent in Q4 who said , “ no growth .”

16 OPE Business May 2023 www . OPEBusiness . com