SEMA News—June 2020
BUSINESS
SEMA Survey
The Specialty-Equipment Industry Is Open for Business
Between April 1 and April 7, 2020, SEMA conducted a survey of more than 2,000 people employed in the specialty-equipment industry. The results show that even in these difficult times, our industry is resilient and working diligently to move past this disruption.
Most businesses in the industry are maintaining a positive outlook, as 87% responded that they are “impacted short-term, but will get through it” or are “business as usual.”
SEMA has also created a Coronavirus Updates and Resources page (www.sema.org/coronavirus) and collected links to key information from federal and state government agencies that may impact businesses in the specialty-equipment market.
Visit SEMA eNews (www.sema.org/sema-enews) for daily updates.
Even with “shelter in place” rules in effect in many states, most industry facilities remained open under the “essential” business designations. Two-thirds of industry businesses had not closed any of their sites during this time.
While most businesses remain open, overall sales in April were affected by the situation. Compared to the same month last year, companies were reporting current sales ranging from somewhat higher to down 20%, (34% of responses), down 30% to 40% (21% of responses), to down more than 40% (33% of
responses).
More than half of the industry’s employees continued to work from the company site, as the large number of production, technical, logistical and retail positions can only be done at the jobsite. The strength of the industry is shown in the finding that 82% of employees were still on the job at their worksite or from home.
