So now that summer is in full swing, I thought this would be an appropriate time to talk about what’s not hot in equipment financing (you know, summer is hot, so it’s incredibly clever if I talk about what’s not hot… right? No? Ok, so there’s no career for me in standup comedy.)
Seriously, I do this every other year or so, because I find the trends interesting – typically, equipment financing is one of the first things an industry will start (or curtail) when business starts going well (or poor.) So here are a few industries that I see as not going through growth right now:
Retail – No big surprise here, but as a whole, retailers are really shying away from investing in their businesses right now. The entire industry has been in a downward trend as online sales have exploded. In short, these industries don’t really know where they fit in. I do think some of the stronger, more innovative ones will survive if they adapt, but the days of being profitable selling DVD’s and toasters are probably over.
Trucking – Without question, this is related to retail. But long-haul, over the road trucking remains slow. We’re getting less equipment financing applications from these companies as they try and survive without huge shipments going to the mall (have you even been in your local mall lately? It’s kind of sad.)
However, these are bright spots here – in terms of trucking, your smaller “package carriers” have not fallen behind like their over-the-road brethren.
This is likely all related – for every “point-click-buy” you do, retailer and large trucking companies feel it, whilst a smaller carrier brings you your item. It’s interesting how this all plays out, isn’t it?
Ok, we’ll do one more post on what’s “not hot” in equipment financing, and it’s the biggest surprise of all.