Service Bodies Top Commercial Dealer Buying Interest

Work Truck Solutions released its 2018 search data on commercial body types. This data represents more than 1 million searches that were completed last year on its platform, which serves more than 900 dealerships covering 49 states. This is Work Truck Solutions’ sixth consecutive year tracking commercial buyer interest through active searches on their platform.

"Heading into 2019, we are seeing many new vocations spring up and as a result there are new vehicle upfit configurations being launched. Many of them are related to 'final or last mile' delivery; some are due to new mobile services such as gasoline delivery and pet care. The FDA's new requirement to track temperature by GPS for farm to table and food delivery is creating a new opportunity for refrigerated upfits. We are even seeing new upfits for the burgeoning cannibas industry," Kathryn Schifferle, CEO and Founder of Work Truck Solutions told Work Truck magazine.

Work Truck Solutions’ commercial vehicle platform features its trademarked "Vocational Carousel," which lets online shoppers scroll through images of specialized work bodies offered by that dealer. When a shopper clicks on the image of a work body, it registers as a search for that body type, plus shows the shopper all of the dealership’s relevant, work-ready inventory.

A sidebar with detailed search criteria can also be used to narrow the search for more granular specifications, such as wheelbase, cab-to-axle, and roof height. The commercial shopper can then click on a specific vehicle for a deep view of the Vehicle Detail Page. This VDP shows comprehensive details of that specific configuration including rich product information for both the chassis or van and the customized body or shelving.

The total search volume for body types across Work Truck Solutions’ platform increased over 50% since 2017. The 2018 search data reinforces many of the findings of their 2017 body search data published last year. For example, in 2017, service bodies were also the most searched-for body type and accounted for a similar 17.27% of the total searches, mirroring their popularity in the commercial market.

Van searches also remained reliably high. In both 2018 and 2017, van searches (including cut-aways, empty cargo vans, and a variety of upfitted vans) accounted for about 35% of all searches. Work Truck Solutions expects 2019 to be another big year for vans, and in January introduced VanBuilder—a new solution that helps dealerships capitalize on vans’ popularity and vocational customizability.

Work Truck Solutions launched a VanBuilder solution in early 2019 tailored specifically to sell more vans through a dealership's website. 

“The top ten body types tracked in 2017 were similar to 2018 and grew proportionately to the overall increase in searches,” Schifferle added. “This confirms that overall market demand is stable and reliable. In 2018 however, we saw significant increases in rollbacks (300%) and chippers (200%) as well as passenger vans for commercial use (270%). We also added heavy duty body tracking, including hooklifts, water, sewer and mixer bodies among others. This increases the specific data and analytics we provide dealerships, body manufacturers, distributors, and OEMs that can be used to predict what stock will move faster in which markets, solving one of the major challenges the commercial industry faces.”

The ten most searched-for body types for 2018 are: