The ever-growing Mobile Electronics Specialists of America (MESA) buying/marketing group is now as large as the 12 volt sales of Crutchfield, Car Toys and Audio Express combined.
At its annual MESA Summit, the group announced it now has 154 retail members with $319 million in sales. Its members continue to grow in spite of a flat to down overall marketplace.
The first half of the year was challenged with a disappointing tax season followed by rains and flooding around much of the country, said MESA Executive Director Ryan Gunter.
But when summer finally hit and “people took out their toys—UTVs, ATVs, boats and motorcycles– the floodgates opened,” Gunter told members.
MESA claims its members were able to grab business once consumers were ready to spend again, because of the group’s heavy focus on marketing including email marketing.
A quarter of MESA members had a record setting month this year, said Gunter during an opening session at the Summit.
Average ticket prices are up at over 70 percent of MESA members compared to last year (September 2018 to August 2019) and average labor tickets are up for 77 percent of members.
The average annual sales per MESA storefront is $1.1 million.
Eighty one percent of MESA members are up in in-dash navigation/video, 65 percent up in amplifiers, and 73 percent up in speakers. Similarly, between 64 and 69 percent of members are up in motorcycle, powersports and marine audio and 65 percent are up over last year in collision avoidance products such as blind spot detection.
Last year, MESA switched email partners to Dirk Marketing and saw a 120 percent spike in total emails sent.
With advertising planned for the fourth quarter, MESA members should see 166 million “consumer touches” or impressions for the holiday quarter.
MESA announced 12 new retail members since last September including Hotrides Auto & Truck Accessories, NJ; Sound Pro, SD; Duke’s Car Stereo, MI; King Kong Custom Audio & Accessories, NM; JCS, CA; Car Tunes, FL; Car Toys, OK, Mobileworks Autosound & Security, CA; Boomer Mobile Electronics, NJ; West Coast Car Audio, CA; Audiogarage, ND; and Extreme Audio, GA.
