Black Friday parts sales down across the country

CDK data shows 40 percent of dealers up; 60 percent down

Black Friday weekend parts sales data from powersports retailers who use the Lightspeed DMS shows that it was a slow start to the holiday season in the parts department, according to exclusive data provided to Powersports Business by CDK Global Recreation analyst Hal Ethington.

Parts sales were down across the country compared to 2014 for both metric and V-twin dealers. Pick a region, from the North to the South, and there was little on the plus-side compared to the same time in 2014 for parts sales. In fact, 60 percent of dealerships saw Black Friday parts sales decrease compared to 2014, and 40 percent of dealers saw a parts sales increase over Black Friday weekend 2014. Data was taken from $29 million in parts counter sales from 1,294 powersports dealers in the U.S.

A total of 1,128 metric dealers were survey, with 484 dealers up (43 percent) and 644 dealers (57 percent) down.

The V-twin footprint was 166 dealers, with 66 dealers (40 percent) up, and 100 dealers (60 percent) down.

Total performance from the U.S. dealers who use Lightspeed as their DMS was metric down 9.7 percent and V-twin down 7.8 percent.

The retail trend of opening on stores on Thanksgiving appears to have hit the powersports industry, with 1 percent of dealerships on Thanksgiving. About 9 percent of V-twin and 10 percent of metric dealers were closed both Friday and Saturday. Also, 2 percent of V-twin and 3 percent of metric dealers were closed Friday and open Saturday. Finally, 6 percent of V-twin dealers and 2 percent of metric dealers were open Friday and open Saturday.