An education session at the 2026 RV Dealers Convention/Expo will examine consumer buying trends shaping the recreational vehicle market and provide dealers with insights to inform their 2027 business planning.
Titled “Fix the Funnel: What 2026 Buyers Are Telling You to Change,” the session will take place at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, in the Champagne 4 room at Paris Las Vegas. It is part of the Dealer/GM track and will bring together representatives from RV Trader, Statistical Surveys Inc., Element Three and Campers Inn RV.
The session will feature Juliana Baena, director of OEM and strategic initiatives at RV Trader; Shannon Pinto, vice president of Statistical Surveys Inc.; Steven Hileman, vice president of client solutions at Element Three; and Ricky Chynoweth, national sales director at Campers Inn RV.
The presentation will combine retail registration data from Statistical Surveys with consumer research and marketplace insights from RV Trader to examine trends affecting RV buyers in 2026 and their implications for dealership planning.
The program will cover three areas, beginning with an overview of the industry’s performance based on retail registration data. Speakers will then examine consumer shopping behavior and the findings behind those trends before discussing how dealerships can apply the information to their 2027 business strategies.
Chynoweth will contribute the dealership perspective, while Hileman will provide insights into marketing strategies, connecting consumer research and industry data with dealership operations.
The session’s learning objectives include identifying consumer trends from the first half of 2026 and assessing their effects on dealership performance. Participants also will examine friction points in the RV purchasing process and strategies for improving the buying experience.
Additional topics will include applying 2026 market data to business planning and using RV Trader and Statistical Surveys’ consumer trend report, along with proprietary research, to evaluate dealership performance.
Baena will continue the discussion the following morning with a separate session, “Dealership Marketing Attribution That Actually Generates Buyers,” scheduled for 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, as part of the Digital Marketing track.
