Current State of the Economy

We sat down with Bob Dieli to discuss the state of the economy in Q4 and into 2018.

Q: What is the current state of the truck economy?

A: Firm. There has been a rebound in manufacturing; a seasonal rise in shipments is taking place as expected and business confidence remains high.

Q: What should we expect in the last quarter of 2017?

A: We should expect:

     1.  Economic factors should remain as strong as they have been.

     2.  Regulatory issues coming into play as ELD will continue to overhang issues of supply and demand

for truck use.

Q: What do you see on the horizon for 2018?

A: We will see a similar pattern to that seen in Q4. Purely economic factors should remain in an upward trend but major changes in fiscal and monetary policies are pending and until the specifics of these changes become known, we rate them as the major sources of uncertainty for 2018.

Q: Do you see any red flags or areas of concern?

A: Our Industry, all businesses (whether it be fleets, manufacturers or distributors) should be planning for structural change and if they are not, they are wasting their time. Disruptions to all aspects of trucking activity are quite likely over the next 5 years. There will be structural change…plan and keep looking forward, not much to see in the rear view mirror.

 SAVE THE DATE

HDAD is an outlook conference, specifically directed toward the heavy duty aftermarket supplier industry. It is intended to provide an in-depth view of the prospects for the global, heavy duty industry’s aftermarket component, for the next 5 years.

HDAD features individual presenters and separate distribution executive panel discussions. The primary topics will include:

• Globalization of the Truck/Transportation Industry — the Impact on and Disruption of OEM/Aftermarket Supplier
• Global Truck OEM Keynote
• Aftermarket Overview and Outlook
• Meeting the Parts and Service Needs of Today’s Fleets
• Aftermarket Disruptor – How changes in the OE markets and distributive environments are/will impact heavy duty distributors

Panelists and speakers for each topic will be announced soon. 

2017 E-Commerce Parts Purchasing Study

Our 2017 E-Commerce Parts Purchasing Study is Complete!

With nearly 1,000 fleet respondents, our in-depth E-Commerce Study reveals insightful conclusions concerning E-Commerce as a whole and its impact on today’s fleets and their online parts purchasing patterns. 

The lion's share of fleets' parts orders are not currently going through an online source. The opportunity here is LARGE. How do you best reach this customer? How do you set up your website to meet the needs of the fleets? What is the best process to get the part to the end-user?

Want to learn more details? Contact us and we will present our findings to you and your team.