The SEMA Financial Benchmarking Report is used by companies to benchmark key sales performance indicators against industry averages. There are actually three reports, representing manufacturers, WDs and retailers. The most recent editions available to the industry are the January and February 2010 reports.
In these you will find data on sales projections, quick ratio, inventory turns, sales per employee, research and development, factory overhead, selling and administrative expense and more. Participants of the Financial Benchmarking Program receive the reports immediately. After a month or so they are made available to the industry for a fee of $99.99 for non-members, $50 for SEMA members.
Manufacturers, distributors and retailers are asked about the current month’s sales compared to the same month in the previous year. In February 2010, a higher percentage of respondents from each group indicated that their sales were up from February 2009 than the number of respondents who saw the same in January 2010.
The top markets that manufacturers reported selling to in February were trucks/SUVs at 55% followed by off-road at 37.9%. The truck/SUV market was also ranked number one by distributors at 56%, followed by general automotive repair at 47%. And retailers reported the truck/SUV segment to also be the most popular, indicating that 51% of products are sold for these vehicles.
Download copies of the January and February Financial Benchmarking reports here.