Thor, the largest RV maker in the world, is shifting its focus from Baby Boomers to Millennials. That’s what company CEO Bob Martin told Jim Cramer last Thursday on Cramer’s CNBC TV show “Mad Money.” Here’s what Martin said.
“You look at the RV industry, the Go RVing campaign, our own internal advertising campaign. We’re getting younger people, we’re getting younger families, and I think, for us, it’s because we appeal not just to Dad, or Mom and Dad, but we appeal to the entire family.
“Millennials are bigger than Boomers, so for us as a company, we’re starting to talk to them.”Â
Martin told Cramer that this burgeoning trend has resonated in Thor’s products: the company is now building smaller, more affordable travel trailers and motorhomes to appeal to younger buyers.
To add to Thor’s appeal, Martin said that some private campgrounds are upgrading their areas with WiFi, amphitheaters and other amenities to satisfy millennial campers.
“The younger buyer, they want things just a little bit differently. They want it to be easy,” Martin told Cramer. “It’s still a very affordable way to go camp and to have a vacation, and it can be different every weekend. And, you know, you’ve said it: It’s all about Instagrammable experience.”
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I can see what Thor is doing—put out a SMALL CHEAP trailer for weekenders (millennials mostly) put plenty of bling into the product with attractive interiors, to attract these buyers and I do believe they will have a win. Most boomers want a solid, well built unit that will take them on long weekend camping adventures and of course some of the bling. Thor has seen the statistics and is riding the new wave. No longer are the baby boomers the largest segment of the us population, it is the Millennials. So why not start attracting them. Good strategy!
In this shift THOR will have to up their game. Millennials are clueless about a lot, but when the quality doesn’t meet expectations they are brutal with online reviews
Its easier to sell junk to younger buyers=Thor.
Totally agree.
Thor is just going after a new group of innocent suckers since I think many Boomers have learned what junk their products are. From several years of working on many different brands of RVs at a local dealer I not only have seen how they cut corners – especially in areas the customers do not normally see – but their owner documentation is awful and their online support is non-existent. No service manuals, no parts drawings, no electrical diagrams seem to be available for their products. Maybe an official Thor dealer has access to some of these but after many tries we have found that Thor is not interested in offering any product support to other service centers or customers.