Current Report Details Slow But Steady Industry Improvement

Things are looking up. That’s the overall impression cast by the just-released 2013 SEMA Annual Market Report. The new study provides a composite view of the automotive specialty-equipment industry and new-vehicle sales, and is packed with information and background that businesspeople from all market segments will want to access. The study is available now and can be downloaded here.

The report’s major findings include a return of growth for the industry overall. The street-performance niche continues to drive the rebound with a 15.3% year-over-year increase, but the light-truck niche also experienced the first growth in four years with a 1% increase in sales. The appearance and accessories segments are growing based largely...

Know Your Customers to Build Your Business

From manufacturers and distributors to jobbers and retailers, the automotive specialty-equipment industry is built around meeting consumers’ demands. Understanding which goods and services those consumers are actually interested in requires study of the marketplace, interaction with customers and attention to detail—and that is a pretty fair synopsis of what was done to create the latest offering from the SEMA research team and the Modellers Inc.,a market research and analytics company.

Who are “typical” automotive specialty-equipment consumers? What is their relationship with their vehicles? How does that relationship influence their purchasing habits? And how can automotive specialty-equipment businesses reach them with their marketing? These are some of the perennial questions that drive the industry. SEMA is now offering the 2012 SEMA Market Segmentation Report, an in-depth summary of a recent, comprehensive look into these and other questions affecting every company in the specialty-equipment marketplace.

One of SEMA’s primary tools in achieving its mission statement—to help its member businesses succeed and prosper—is providing market research that draws on historical comparisons and illuminates current trends. As a major part of that effort, the association produces an overview of where the industry stands each year. The 2012 SEMA Annual Market Report has just been released and is now available. The report is free to SEMA members and is available for a $250 fee to non-members.

The three-year-old SEMA enthusiast opinion leader research program was created in advance of the 2009 SEMA Show to provide SEMA researchers with consumer insights into industry trends, products, vehicles and the SEMA Show itself. It was built around automotive enthusiasts and opinion leaders who were active in car clubs, automotive websites or forums as well as active social media bloggers who follow performance automotive businesses.