Trader Interactive announced Jan. 5 its acquisition of Statistical Surveys (SSI), which it said will provide the RV industry future tools to better understand market share, purchase trends and more.
Grand Rapids, Michigan-based SSI offers retail market share data in the RV, marine, manufactured homes and powersports industries. Mark Coster, Trader Interactive’s VP of Corporate Strategy, said a cultural fit between the two companies was evident early.
“The integration that we are looking at over time is really about investing in and accelerating the work that brings products [SSI] is developing or that [Trader Interactive] is developing with multiple data sets to market, so SSI customers can benefit from them,” Coster said. “That is the long-term plan.”
Trader Interactive is an industry marketplace and dealer services provider in the RV, powersports and commercial vehicle/equipment industries. The company’s business intelligence services suite will pair with SSI data to offer insights and new products to RV dealers and OEMs.
“With the two teams, every time we open up the data table or look at our product offerings, we’ve got ideas flowing back and forth because we’re looking at a lot of the same data sets in the industry,” Coster said. “It’s been really exciting to percolate those ideas, but there is no set time frame for when those products will be available.”
The two companies are operating independently, Coster said, with no service interruptions on either side.
“We could not be more excited to partner with the Trader Interactive team as we look to expand the availability and use of data insights for our industries,” SSI CEO Scott Stropkai stated.
Current SSI subscribers will continue to work with their representatives through existing SSI portals.
“SSI has been doing a great job; we do not want to change anything on that front,” Coster said. “We hope that they continue to provide products at the same level of accuracy and customer service.”
In the foreseeable future, Trader Interactive noted that although the businesses will act independently, they will be actively working to drive additional value to the RV industry through combined offerings.
“We are just really excited to continue to serve the RV industry that we have both been a part of for decades, and we hope to continue the same partnerships that we have today,” Coster said. “We are always looking to improve our marketplaces.”
