Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
Camping World Holdings, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries) is America’s largest retailer of recreational vehicles (“RVs”) and related products and services. Our vision is to build a long-term legacy business that makes RVing fun and easy, and our Camping World and Good Sam brands have been serving RV consumers since 1966. We strive to build long-term value for our customers, employees, and shareholders by combining a unique and comprehensive assortment of RV products and services with a national network of RV dealerships, service centers and customer support centers along with the industry’s most extensive online presence and a highly-trained and knowledgeable team of associates serving our customers, the RV lifestyle, and the communities in which we operate. We also believe that our Good Sam organization and family of programs and services uniquely enables us to connect with our customers as stewards of the RV lifestyle. On December 31, 2020, we operated a total of 171 retail locations, with 170 of these selling and/or servicing RVs.
Business Strategy
Key elements of our business strategy are:
Offer a Unique and Comprehensive Assortment of RV Products and Services. We believe our product and service offerings represent the best and most comprehensive assortment of services, protection plans, products and resources in the RV industry. Many of our offerings, including our Good Sam services and plans, our private label RVs, and our private label accessories, are unique to us and have been developed in collaboration with leading industry suppliers and RV enthusiasts. With more than 50 years of RV industry experience, 170 retail locations selling and/or servicing RVs, and 5.3 million Active Customers, we believe our size and scale allows us to deliver exceptional value to our customers.
Operate a National Network of RV Dealerships and Service Centers. As of December 31, 2020, we operated a national network of 170 RV dealerships and/or service centers. The majority of these RV dealerships and service centers are conveniently located off major highways and interstates in key RV markets, staffed with knowledgeable local team members offering expert advice and a comprehensive assortment of RV-related products and services. Our RV dealerships and service centers are a one-stop-shop for everything RV and give RV consumers peace of mind that they can find what they need when they need it in their local market or while traveling throughout the country.
Focus on Customer Service. We believe customer service is a critical component of our business. Our dealerships and service centers are staffed with knowledgeable local team members offering expert advice and a wide assortment of products and services. We currently operate call centers in Denver, CO, Bowling Green, KY, Greenville, NC, and Island Lake, IL. All associates at our call centers have been cross trained, and the call centers have redundant services and systems in place in the event of a power or connectivity disruption at one of our call center locations. Our goal is that every call – whether to one of our call centers or to a store – will be answered promptly by a live person. Our call center specialists are extensively trained to assist customers with complex orders and provide a level of service that leads to exceptional customer service and long-term customer relationships. In 2020, our call centers handled more than 2.6 million calls and responded to over 495,000 emails and social media communications.
Leverage Our Resources and Synergies. Our unique and comprehensive assortment of RV products and services, our national network of RV dealerships and service centers, our network of customer service and contact centers, and our online and e-commerce platforms all work together to service our customers and make RVing fun and easy. When a new customer transacts with us across any of our business areas, the new customer enters our database and we leverage customized customer relationship management (“CRM”) tools
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and analytics to actively and intelligently engage, service and promote other offerings and the RV lifestyle. We believe our size and scale allows us to deliver exceptional value to our customers.
Stewards of the RV Lifestyle. We believe that our Good Sam organization and family of programs and services uniquely enables us to connect with our customers as stewards of the RV lifestyle. Good Sam programs such as extended vehicle warranty programs, roadside assistance plans, vehicle and home insurance programs, and Good Sam TravelAssist travel protection plans help to ensure our customers’ health and safety while traveling, and our Good Sam Club, co-branded credit card, extended vehicle warranty programs and vehicle protection plans provide great value to keep our customers’ RVs in top shape while providing a host of discounts and services all designed to enhance the overall customer RV experience. By providing unique programs that promote the health, safety and protection of the RV community, the Company drives an unparalleled opportunity to build a large, loyal, and growing community of RV enthusiasts to whom we can provide our basket of products and services for years to come.
Background, Restructuring and Recent Developments
Founded in 1966, our Good Sam and Camping World brands have been serving RV owners and outdoor enthusiasts for more than 50 years. Good Sam combined with Camping World in 1997, when the Good Sam Club had approximately 911,000 members and Camping World had 26 retail locations. In 2011, Camping World Good Sam combined with FreedomRoads, a successful RV dealership business founded in 2003, to form the largest provider of products and services for RVs in North America. From 2011 to 2020, we continued to expand our footprint of RV dealerships through new store openings and acquisitions.
In May 2017, we acquired certain assets of Gander Mountain Company (“Gander Mountain”) and its Overton’s, Inc. (“Overton’s”) marine and watersports business through a bankruptcy auction. Prior to the bankruptcy, Gander Mountain operated 160 retail locations and an e-commerce business that serviced the hunting, camping, fishing, shooting sports, and outdoor markets. Following the acquisition, we rebranded the Gander Mountain business as Gander Outdoors and began opening the rebranded Gander Outdoors stores in December 2017. In 2017 and 2018, we also acquired several other specialty retail businesses.
In 2019, we made a strategic decision to refocus our business around our core RV competencies. In August of 2019, we divested 13 specialty store locations under the Uncle Dan’s and Rock Creek nameplates. On September 3, 2019, our Board of Directors approved a plan to strategically shift our business away from locations where we did not have the ability or where it was not feasible to sell and/or service RVs (the “2019 Strategic Shift”). As of December 31, 2020, the Company has completed the store closures and divestitures relating to the 2019 Strategic Shift. For more information on the impact to our 2020 and 2019 financial results, please see Note 5 – Restructuring and Long-lived Asset Impairment to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
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Segments and Offerings
We operate two reportable segments: (i) Good Sam Services and Plans and (ii) RV and Outdoor Retail. See Note 22 — Segment Information to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K for further information regarding our reportable segments.
(1) Components of revenue are presented after intersegment eliminations.
(2) Gross profit is presented exclusive of depreciation and amortization which is presented separately in operating expenses.
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Our broad product offerings allow us to target our customers’ needs with products and services focused towards recurring revenue, our installed base, and first-time buyers. Our recurring revenues are also marketed to customers outside of purchasers of our new and used RVs and are often annual or multi-year plans, so these recurring revenues do not necessarily correlate to sales of new and used RVs.
Good Sam Services and Plans
Our Good Sam Services and Plans segment consists of programs, plans and services that are geared towards protecting, insuring and promoting the RV lifestyle, and include services such as extended vehicle service contracts, vehicle roadside assistance, property and casualty insurance, travel protection, travel planning and directories, and consumer shows and publications. Because our Good Sam protection plans and programs are often purchased to cover a multiple-year period and are renewable in nature, this area of our business tends to generate high-margin, recurring revenue that is driven both by vehicle purchases and the installed base of RV owners in the United States. Founded in 1966 to help fellow RV travelers on the road, the Good Sam brand has been supporting and assisting RVers for more than 50 years.
Our Good Sam Services and Plans segment offerings include:
● Good Sam extended vehicle service contracts. We offer mechanical breakdown insurance underwritten and insured by a third party to members of the Good Sam Club. The contracts cover the cost of parts, labor and repairs to motorized and towable RVs as well as autos, pick-up trucks and sport utility vehicles. The contracts ensure the members will have continuous protection during the life of the contracts. The third party assumes full underwriting risk associated with the contracts and we are compensated on a commission basis. As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately 75,000 contracts in force underwritten by the third party.
● Good Sam roadside assistance plans . We offer roadside assistance plans for services such as towing, jump starting, tire changing, mobile mechanics and others. We contract with a third party
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to handle dispatch calls through its network of tow providers and we pay a fee per incident or call. As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately 679,000 contracts in force under our emergency roadside assistance plan.
● Good Sam property and casualty insurance programs . We offer property and casualty insurance for RVs and other types of vehicles as well as home insurance underwritten by various insurance providers. We do not share the underwriting risk of the insurance programs and we receive a marketing fee based on the amount of premium paid to the insurance providers. For the year ended December 31, 2020, we sold, through third-party insurance providers, insurance policies with an aggregate net written premium of $283 million for which we earn a marketing fee.
● Good Sam TravelAssist travel protection . We offer travel protection plans designed to assist travelers with medical emergency situations. The plans provide 24/7 coverage for emergency medical evacuation, return-home services, emergency medical monitoring, as well as other travel assistance services. We contract with a third party to offer travel protection plans through Good Sam TravelAssist, where the third party primarily assumes the underwriting risk through third-party underwriters. As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately 245,000 contracts in force primarily underwritten by the third party’s underwriter.
● Good Sam consumer shows . We offer RV and outdoor related consumer shows designed to promote and sell RV and outdoor lifestyle and related products and services. During 2020, as a consequence of COVID-19, we reduced the number of in-person consumer shows that we promoted and operated to 24 consumer shows in 20 cities across 15 states that attracted more than 210,000 visitors. In comparison, during 2019, we promoted and operated 37 consumer shows in 29 cities across 18 states that attracted more than 285,000 visitors. These shows provide a strategic opportunity to expose first-time buyers and existing RV and outdoor sports enthusiasts to our products and services.
● Other activities. We produce certain monthly and annual RV focused consumer magazines, and travel and planning directories, and operate the Coast to Coast Club which provides access to and savings at private membership campgrounds.
RV and Outdoor Retail
Our RV and Outdoor Retail segment consists of all aspects of our RV dealership operations, which includes selling new and used RVs, assisting with the financing of new and used RVs, selling protection and insurance related services and plans for RVs, servicing and repairing new and used RVs, installing RV parts and accessories, and selling RV and outdoor related products, parts and accessories. Within our RV and Outdoor Retail business, we also operate the Good Sam Club, which we believe is the largest membership-based RV organization in the world, with approximately 2.1 million members as of December 31, 2020. Membership benefits include a variety of discounts, exclusive benefits, specialty publications and other membership benefits, all of which we believe enhance the RV experience, drive customer engagement and
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loyalty, and provide cross-selling opportunities for our other products and services. A map depicting our national network of 170 RV dealerships and service centers as of December 31, 2020 is provided below:
Source: Statistical Surveys, Inc. (15 largest RV markets)
RV and Outdoor Retail segment offerings include:
● New and Used Vehicles . A wide selection of new and used RVs across a range of price points, classes and floor plans. The table below contains a breakdown of our new RV unit sales and average selling price by RV class for 2020. Sales of new vehicles represented 51.8%, 48.5% and
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52.4% of total revenue for 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Sales of used vehicles represented 18.1%, 17.5% and 15.3% of total revenue for 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively.
• Vehicle financing. Through arrangements with third-party lenders we are able to provide financing for most of the new and used RVs we sell through our retail locations. Generally, our financing transactions are structured through long-term retail installment sales contracts with terms of up to 20 years, which we enter into with our customers on behalf of our third-party lenders. The retail installment sales contracts are then assigned on a non-recourse basis, with the third-party lender assuming underwriting and credit risk. In 2020, we arranged financing transactions for approximately 72.9% of our total number of new and used units sold for which we earn a commission from the third-party lender.
• Protection Plans. We offer and sell a variety of protection plans and services to the purchasers of our RVs as part of the delivery process, as well as gap, wheel, tire and fabric protection plans. These products are primarily underwritten and administered by independent third parties, and we are primarily compensated on a commission basis.
• Repair and Maintenance. We offer RV repair and maintenance services at the majority of our retail locations. With approximately 2,200 RV service bays across our national footprint, we are equipped to offer comprehensive repair and maintenance services for most RV components.
• RV parts, accessories and installation services. We offer a wide range of RV parts, equipment, supplies and accessories, including towing and hitching products, satellite and GPS systems, electrical and lighting products, appliances and furniture, and other products. Our full-service repair facilities enable us to install all parts and accessories that we sell in our retail locations. We believe our ability to both sell and install parts and accessories affords us a competitive advantage over online and big box retailers, that do not have service centers designed to accommodate RVs, and over RV dealerships that do not offer a comprehensive selection of parts and accessories.
• Collision repair and restoration. We offer collision repair services, including fiberglass front and rear cap replacement, windshield replacement, interior remodel solutions, and paint and body work, at many of our retail locations, and 35% of our retail locations are equipped with full body paint booths. We perform collision repair services for a number of insurance carriers.
• Outdoor products and accessories. We offer a variety of outdoor products and accessories that are specifically curated for the RV community, including equipment, gear and supplies for
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camping, hunting, fishing, skiing, snowboarding, bicycling, skateboarding, marine and watersports and other outdoor activities.
• Good Sam Club. The Good Sam Club is a membership organization that offers savings on a variety of products and services, including products purchased at any of our retail and online stores, discounts on nightly rates at affiliated Good Sam RV parks and other benefits related to the RV lifestyle. We believe the Good Sam Club is the largest membership-based RV enthusiast organization in the world. As of December 31, 2020, there were approximately 2.1 million members in our Good Sam Club.
• Co-branded credit cards. We contract with Visa and Comenity Capital Bank to offer a Good Sam Rewards Visa® branded credit card, as well as Good Sam private label credit card. Cardholders receive enhanced rewards points, which are referred to as Good Sam Rewards, for money spent at our retail locations, on our e-commerce platforms, at gas stations and at private campgrounds across the U.S. and Canada. As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately 199,000 issued and open Good Sam co-branded credit card accounts.
Vehicle Sourcing and Dealer Agreements
We acquire new RVs for retail sale directly from the original equipment manufacturer. Our strategy is to partner with financially sound manufacturers that make high quality products, have adequate manufacturing capacity and distribution, and maintain an appropriate product mix. We have strategic relationships with leading RV manufacturers, including Thor Industries, Inc. and Forest River, Inc. As of December 31, 2020, Thor Industries and Forest River accounted for approximately 69.3% and 27.9%, respectively, of our new RV inventory. In certain instances, our manufacturing partners produce private label products exclusively available at our RV dealerships and through our e-commerce platforms.
Our supply arrangements with manufacturers are typically governed by dealer agreements, which are customary in the RV industry, made on a location-by-location basis, and each retail location typically enters into multiple dealer agreements with multiple manufacturers. Dealer agreements generally give us the right to sell certain RV makes and models within an exclusive designated area. The terms of these dealer agreements typically require us to, among other things, meet all the requirements and conditions of the manufacturer’s applicable programs, maintain certain minimum inventory requirements and meet certain retail sales objectives, perform services and repairs for all owners of the manufacturer’s RVs (regardless from whom the RV was purchased) that are still under warranty, and stock certain of the manufacturer’s parts and accessories needed to service and repair the manufacturer’s RVs, actively advertise and promote the manufacturer’s RVs, and indemnify the manufacturer under certain circumstances.
We generally acquire used RVs from customers, primarily through trade-ins, as well as through auctions and other sources, and we generally recondition used RVs acquired for retail sale in our parts and service departments. Used RVs that we do not sell at our RV-centric retail locations generally are sold at wholesale prices through auctions.
We finance the purchase of substantially all of our new RV inventory from manufacturers through our Floor Plan Facility. Used vehicles may also be financed from time to time through our Floor Plan Facility. For more information on our Floor Plan Facility, see “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Description of Senior Secured Credit Facilities and Floor Plan Facility” included in Part II, Item 7 of this Form 10-K and Note 4 — Inventories, net and Notes Payable — Floor Plan, net to our audited consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Marketing and Advertising
The lifestyle element of the RV industry and the multi-year nature of many of our products and services provides the opportunity to build long-term relationships with our customers. Our marketing strategies are focused on developing awareness around our brands, products and services, and driving traffic to our stores and websites, and we utilize a combination of direct mail, email, printed catalogs and flyers, digital, social and
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traditional media, as well as online inventory listings to accomplish this. As part of our marketing efforts, we maintain a proprietary database of individuals and customer purchasing data that we utilize for direct mail, email and telemarketing campaigns. As of December 31, 2020, this database contained over 30 million unique contacts. In addition, we are involved in various sponsored sporting event activities. We are the sponsor of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Major League Baseball Spring Training, and National Hot Rod Association (“NHRA”) Camping World Drag Racing Series plus the naming rights sponsor of Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. We also have official partner status for our brands for both Major League Baseball and NASCAR. In September 2020, Camping World and Gander RV introduced our first-ever virtual show, the Ultimate RV Show, which was a virtual omni-channel event that showcased informative videos, promotions, and concerts by popular artists. There were 1.3 million viewers that attended the five-day online event. The Ultimate RV Show will continue to be utilized in the future as an additional means of connecting with consumers and digitizing the purchase experience.
Trademarks and Other Intellectual Property
We own a variety of registered trademarks and service marks related to our brands and our services, protection plans, products and resources, including Good Sam, Camping World, Gander Outdoors, Gander RV, and Overton’s. We also own the copyrights to certain articles in our publications and numerous domain names, including www.goodsamclub.com, www.campingworld.com, www.ganderoutdoors.com, www.ganderrv.com, www.overtons.com, www.the-house.com, www.rv.com, among others. We believe that our trademarks and other intellectual property have significant value and are important to our marketing efforts. We do not know of any material pending claims of infringement or other challenges to our right to use our intellectual property in the United States or elsewhere. For additional information regarding our intellectual property, see Note 7 – Goodwill and Intangible Assets to our audited consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Human Capital Resources
Our Talent
As of December 31, 2020, we had 10,907 full-time and 1,040 part-time or seasonal employees. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or are party to a collective bargaining agreement, and we have had no labor-related work stoppages. We believe that our employee relations are generally good.
Development
In November 2020, we launched an entity-wide online training platform with a curriculum that is tailored to each associate’s job function. This program includes interactive courses such as COVID-19 safety, communication, management, critical thinking, software skills, and workplace harassment and discrimination. Our learning and development team continues to create proprietary content for this training library.
Our service technicians are critical to providing the high-quality installation and repair services that our customers expect. In 2019, we provided training to 159 technicians and, despite the challenges faced with social distancing limitations as a result of COVID-19 safety precautions, we were able to train 101 new technicians on our level 1 course in 2020.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We strive to make diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DE&I”) a top priority in all areas of our Company. These areas include but are not limited to our board of directors, senior management, field operations, and the creation of campaigns, products and services. We believe that our Company and our brand should reflect the
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increasingly diverse audience of outdoor enthusiasts and our culture should promote respect and dignity of all humans.
Community Engagement
Since 2013, we have operated the Project Good Samaritan initiative, which encourages our associates to perform eight hours of volunteer work per quarter for a cause that is meaningful to that associate, such as local soup kitchens, food pantries, home building, meal distribution, recycling programs, homeless shelters, veteran programs, and nursing homes. Associates receive paid time off for these volunteer hours. In 2019, 3,364 associates volunteered 51,680 hours in their communities under the program. In 2020, 840 associates volunteered 6,268 hours during January and February before the program was suspended as a safety precaution as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We plan to reactivate the program when it is safe to do so.
Health and Safety
We maintain a safety program to provide a safe and healthful workplace for our associates. We strive to comply with all health and safety standards that pertain to our operations. We have created and implemented processes to identify, reduce or eliminate physical hazards from the work environment, improve safety communication and train employees on safe work practices.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have implemented new health and safety measures at all of our locations. We also issued COVID-19 awareness training to our associates to educate associates on how the virus is transmitted, how to monitor for symptoms of the virus, and how to protect themselves and others from increased spread of the virus. For further discussion, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — COVID-19” in Item 7 of Part II of this Form 10-K.
Competition
We face competition in all areas of our business. We believe that the principal competitive factors in the RV industry are breadth and depth of products and services, quality, pricing, availability, convenience, and customer service. Our competitors vary in size and breadth of their product offerings.
We compete directly or indirectly with the following types of companies:
● other RV dealers selling new and used RVs;
● major national insurance and warranty companies, providers of roadside assistance and providers of extended vehicle service contracts;
● multi-channel retailers and mass merchandisers, warehouse clubs, discount stores, department stores and other retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon;
● other specialty retailers that compete with us across a significant portion of our merchandising categories through retail, catalog or e-commerce businesses, such as Bass Pro Shops (including Cabela’s), Sportsman’s Warehouse and REI;
● distributors of assembled RV furniture;
● online retailers; and
● independent, local specialty stores.
Additional competitors may enter the businesses in which we currently operate. Moreover, some of our mass merchandising competitors do not currently compete in many of the product categories we offer but may choose to offer a broader array of competing products in the future.
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COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted our business from mid-March through much of April 2020, but shifted to a favorable impact beginning primarily in May 2020. For further discussion, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — COVID-19” in Item 7 of Part II of this Form 10-K.
Seasonality
Historically, our business has been seasonal. Since recreational vehicles are primarily used by vacationers and campers during times of warmer weather, demand for our products and services tends to be highest in the spring and summer months and lowest in the winter months. As a result, our revenue and profitability has historically been higher in the second and third quarters than in the first and fourth quarters. On average over the last three years ended December 31, 2020, we generated 29.9% and 28.9% of our annual revenue in the second and third quarters, respectively, and 20.8% and 20.4% in the first and fourth quarters, respectively. For further discussion, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Seasonality” in Item 7 of Part II of this Form 10-K.
Laws and Regulations
See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Business — Our business is subject to numerous federal, state and local regulations,” “— Changes in government policies and firearms legislation could adversely affect our results,” “— Our failure to comply with certain environmental regulations could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations,” and “—Climate change legislation or regulations restricting emission of “greenhouse gases” could result in increased operating costs and reduced demand for RVs we sell” in Item 1A of Part I of this Form 10-K. Although we incur costs to comply with applicable laws and regulations in the ordinary course of our business, we do not presently anticipate that such costs will have a material effect on our capital expenditures, earnings and competitive position.
Environmental, Health and Safety Regulations
Our operations involve the use, handling, storage and contracting for recycling and/or disposal of materials such as motor oil and filters, transmission fluids, antifreeze, refrigerants, paints, thinners, batteries, cleaning products, lubricants, degreasing agents, tires and propane. Consequently, our business is subject to a complex variety of federal, state and local requirements that regulate the environment and public health and safety. For a discussion of the impact of COVID-19 on our business, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — COVID-19” in Item 7 of Part II of this Form 10-K. We do not have any material known environmental commitments or contingencies.
Additional Information
We were incorporated in the State of Delaware in 2016. Our principal executive offices are located at 250 Parkway Drive, Suite 270, Lincolnshire, IL 60069 and our telephone number is (847) 808-3000. We make available our public filings, including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports with the SEC free of charge through our website at www.campingworld.com in the “Investor Relations” section under “Financial Info” as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish such material to, the SEC. The information contained in, or accessible through, our website does not constitute a part of this Form 10-K.
We intend to use our official Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, each at the handle @CampingWorld, as a distribution channel of material information about the Company and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. The information we post through these social media channels may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should subscribe to these accounts, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. These social media channels may be updated from time to time. The information we post through these channels is not a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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