Some retail expeditors who install car audio equipment for local car dealers say sales have declined this year for the first time in many years.
Most blame slower car sales or poor weather, but others point to cars that now come with more inclusions such as backup cameras and mobile video.
Actually, car sales have vacillated this year. In April car sales fell almost 5 percent but in March they were up over 6 percent. In February sales fell about 2 percent but they rose in January about 1 percent. So the annual run rate is about the same. The main trend is that people are buying fewer passenger cars in favor of SUVs, trucks and crossovers.
ABC Automotive Electronics, IL; American Radio, GA; BoomDidIt, IL; California Sounds, CA; Columbus Car Audio, OH; and Roger’s Stereo, SC are among retailers citing slower sales. Several said the downturn started in January.
California Sounds’ Raymond Sarin works with about 14 car dealerships. “It has dropped the first quarter; definitely. “I don’t think it’s the products, I think it’s the economy. When the car sales tend to slow down, expediting tends to slow down. April was also a little slow but May is in an uptick,” Sarin said.
Todd Hays of Columbus Car Audio said, “We’ve seen a decline this whole year. There might have been one month we were up, but the other months, its been pretty consistently down. But our retail business has been phenomenal. They both never seem to click at the same time.”
Expeditor sales are down about 12 percent for California Sounds and down in the “10 percent range” for Columbus Car Audio.
American Radio said sales are down in the products that the company used to sell every day like cameras but it has kept sales flat by selling to used car dealers and to fleets.
“The market changed about a year ago,” said Scott Fricker VP of American Radio with 6 stores. “New car sales are closing down to the products we used to sell every day like cameras. Now cameras come in new cars,”
Some dealers said they continue to add products that car dealerships want including leather seats and sunroofs to make up for the downturn in mobile video, keyless entry and cameras.
Freeman’s, NC said the chain actually saw a 30 percent increase in expeditor sales this month on top of double digit increases in April. “Part of that may be we keep expanding our offerings to the dealer. Rear seat entertainment isn’t what it used to be. You can’t rely on overhead video so we looked to expand to other areas,” said David Wall. It now offers window film, floor mats, step bars and it’s getting into leather seats. And Wall said camera sales are still strong.
Fricker said, “We’re looking for a manufacturer to bring us a new category. We had a great run with mobile video and satellite radio and navigation. Now navigation is not a big deal because of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.”
He and others are looking for that next new product, the latest one being microwave blindspot detection, which hit the market over a year ago, they said.
