Land ‘N’ Sea Hosts Aftermarket Trade Show in Connecticut
A scene from the Xantrex display during the Land ‘N’ Sea Distributing trade show, which was Nov. 17-18 at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. (Photos by Chris Dougherty)
Ahead of a Q1 2023 warehouse opening, Land ‘N’ Sea Distributing hosted an RV and marine parts and accessories trade show on Nov. 17-18 at the Mohegan Sun Casino and Convention Center in Uncasville, Conn.
Once completed sometime around February, the new warehouse will immediately be a local shipping and direct delivery option for RV dealers and campgrounds in the New England region, said Mike Conners, president of Land ‘N’ Sea Distributing.
Mike Conners
“We’ve just expanded our distribution footprint in this location, and we’ve brought some new space tools, vertical lift modules and things of that nature. We’ve invested significant dollars in getting that building up to the point where we can now start to ship RV products out of that location,” Conners told RVBusiness.
“We’re really big on relationships and, having our driver in the dealership every single day, helps build that relationship. Certainly, based on certain territories, we will use UPS and FedEx and other LTL shipping carriers where needed, but we prefer to use our own trucks,” he continued.
Dealers were also impressed with the show, which mostly filled the 125,000-square-foot convention space, as well as the opportunity to test drive a new distribution offering in New England.
Bill Dunphy
“I think that they’ve got a nice display of a lot of manufacturers here and it’s very interesting, where this is a Marine and an RV show that marine is part of it, which is a crossover. We, we’ve seen a lot of stuff that we have been interested in,” said Bill Dunphy, a manager at Bradford Trailer Sales in Brockton, Mass.
Tim Christenson
Agreeing with that sentiment wasTim Christenson, owner of Tim’s RV, Inc., of Erving, Mass., who is both an RV dealer and RV parts surplus warehouse.
“I think it’s pretty well laid out. There’s quite a lot of product – more marine product than I need as an RV dealer, but we understand the show is accommodating two industries., he said. For reference, Land ‘N’ Sea’s RV catalog features 16,000 SKUs, while the marine catalog adds another 32,000 SKUs.
The concept of RV/marine crossover was on many people’s minds, as many RV and marine retailers in New England are in close proximity to both segments of customers.
Tony Paigo
“Normally, marine and RV crossover is about anywhere between 25 and 27%,” said Tony Paigo, national director of RV sales at Land ‘N’ Sea.
“Maintenance is a big part of that percentage,” added Alan Bellantoni, director and category manager of RV for Land ‘N’ Sea. Maintenance in RV and marine includes “residential” systems and components, fiberglass maintenance, sealants, and more, he explained.
The company boasts a portfolio of around 15,000 active customers, according to Conners, and some 9,000 people have attended their three RV-related shows, added Paigo.
Campgrounds are also among the distributor’s clients, pointed out Paigo. “What we do is try and give them the top hundred items – sewer hoses, adapters and electrical,” he said. “By having those products in his marine store – and he’s 10 blocks from the RV park on the lake, while the closest RV dealer is 20 miles away – he’s the one who is going to get the RV customer to pull in there and buy.”
Of course, the opposite applies as well, he pointed out.
The coming year looks promising, according to to Conners.
“For us, it’s a little bit different on the marine versus the RV side of things,” he said. “What I see, at least right now, is I think there’s a lot of the supply on the RV side of things. From an OEM standpoint, we’re seeing some slowdown. We would expect that to continue. But we’re optimistic because during the whole COVID thing, you know, they were pumping these things out, people were getting them, you couldn’t get ’em. So, people that are going to use the RVs are still going to use them. If they break or whatever, we handle that.”
Source: https://rvbusiness.com/land-n-sea-hosts-aftermarket-trade-show-in-connecticut/
