GEN-Y Hitch has found success marketing its original hitch and tow products during the coronavirus pandemic, and company leaders attribute a recent spike in sales to their team’s passion for customer experience.
The small business in Elkhart, Indiana announced yesterday that it has seen surprisingly strong sales numbers during the past two months of nationwide economic slowdown. Based on the company’s recent growth, Marketing Manager Donna Drepin said GEN-Y Hitch plans to release new products this coming year.
“I would say one of the things we did right is put customers first,” Drepin said. “We really focus on our customer service, and we go the extra mile to help our customers.”
GEN-Y Hitch entered the RV supplier market in 2011, when owner Carl Borkholder formed the company with only a handful of employees. The hitch supplier still only employs around 20 people at its main Elkhart facility, and the small group has found success focusing on customer satisfaction.
Borkholder said he has not seen this strong a period of sales since the company was founded less than a decade ago.
“We never expected something like this to happen,” Borkholder said. “Our sales have almost doubled and continue to increase.”
GEN-Y Hitch is the creator of its own “TORISON-FLEX” technology, which it uses to innovate its truck and trailer hitches, bumper pulls, goosenecks and other towing products. Drepin said the patented TORISON-FLEX can remove up to 90% of inertia between a truck and whatever it may be towing.
“With the recent COVID-19 outbreak, GEN-Y stayed committed to fulfilling orders and serving our customer base loyally, while taking appropriate measures to ensure employee health and safety. As a result, we experienced record-breaking sales and heightened interested in our product,” the company announced this week.
Drepin could not share specific sales data, but said the company was “surprised with the sales” and that the numbers were far above average.
“Just across the board, we’ve noticed a really big uptick on our website sales and ecommerce,” she said.
GEN-Y sells the majority of its products directly to a network of around 400 dealers and through its online sales system. Drepin said the small business recently partnered with Meyer Distributing as its first U.S.-based distributor.
Drepin said people can connect with GEN-Y Hitch on Instagram or Facebook @genyhitch or on the company’s website at www.genyhitch.com.
