Retain Media shares insights into the Australian caravan market with its latest brand consideration report.

The Australian caravan market is overcrowded with, 200+ brands competing for attention and sales.

Today, Retain Media released the 2023 Caravan Market Consideration Report. This Report analysed Google search volume data across 92 caravan, camper and motorhome brands. The dataset comprises over 9,000 unique search terms for various brands and models, covering 2.6 million individual searches in Q4 2023. 

This data excluded searches that implied a used caravan (e.g. “2021 Jayco Swan”) and searches for parts & merchandise, service & manuals, clubs & forums, rentals, etc.

It is important to note that this Report only focuses on 92 brands out of 200+ in Australia. If your brand isn’t mentioned and you want to know how you feature in Australian searches, contact Retain Media.

This Report reveals fascinating insights into Australian consumer search behaviours, brand preferences, and the undeniable importance of reputation management in the caravan, camper, and motorhome sectors.

Jayco Leads the Way

No surprise here. Jayco dominates search share with an impressive 31% of brand searches. 

It is also probably no surprise that Imported brands comprise 5 of the top 10 brands searched.

Common Names, Competitive Market

The analysis also unearthed a curious trend of model name overlaps across brands. Some common model names that appeared under multiple brands include Trax, Scout, Retreat (as a model under a separate brand), Belmont, Razor, Savannah, Matrix, Simpson, Overlander and more.

Such overlaps underscore the importance of thorough research regarding model naming for brands to distinguish themselves in a crowded marketplace and make it easy for buyers to find your model when researching a purchase on Google. 

The Critical Role of Reputation Management

During their research, Retain Media discovered significant searches for brands that included the terms’ problems’ and ‘reviews’, revealing some interesting insights into the importance of reputation management and the consumer perception of the risks associated with a caravan purchase.

When researching a car purchase, vehicle review sites are 1 of the top 5 trusted sources of information leading to a purchase.  

Source: Think with Google

With most caravans often surpassing the average car’s price, prospective buyers in our industry significantly rely on online reviews. Searches for [‘brand name’ + Review] or [‘Brand name + model’ + reviews] range between 17,000 and 23,000 monthly searches.

Additionally, prospective buyers are aware of the potential for issues when buying a caravan. Almost all 93 brands in this research had searches for [‘brand name’ + problems]. 

Over 2023, there were between 13,000 to 18,0000 searches a month for these “problem” terms. 

Strategic Recommendations for Brands

These findings reinforce why it is crucial for brands to foster strong relationships with publications for independent reviews and also highlight the need to develop strategies for generating owner reviews and testimonials. Such efforts help improve search visibility and counteract negative searches, demonstrating the power of positive, authentic feedback in shaping a brand’s reputation.

If you need help with reputation management or review generation, contact Retain Media to arrange a free, no-obligation consultation and start developing a strategy to keep your brand in the spotlight for all the right reasons.