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Despite widespread lockdowns restricting movement across Australia, peer-to-peer recreational vehicle (RV) marketplace Camplify (ASX: CHL) has reported $11.7 million in gross transaction volume (GTV) in the December quarter, reflecting a 48 per cent jump year-on-year.
The Newcastle-based company recorded total net revenue of $4.02 million and grew by an additional 20,113 customers even though COVID-19 restrictions produced what Camplify CEO Justin Hales describes as “flat numbers” in New South Wales and Victoria.
The average customer was spending less per booking at $1,143 versus $1,235 in the September quarter, but Hales notes an increase in demand had led to more competitive pricing on the platform.
“In the last 18 months [we’ve] dealt with about 15 localised lockdowns, particularly [in] Australia. We haven't seen an Australia-wide lockdown, but every single location that we have had lockdowns in, it's been a very similar pattern,” he explained.
“Customers move and replan their travel that was due to happen during that period. As the lockdown ends, we see a surge in bookings. From our perspective, we're in a very good position with our customers with the way that we operate our system.
“We see very little customers actually cancel their bookings - most people just take the credit and move a booking to a different time.”
The company’s presence in the Northern Hemisphere continues to strengthen, with the UK recording a GTV of $300,000 (98 per cent increase) and Spain seeing a jump to $85,000 (1648.36 per cent increase).
The company recorded an overall take rate of 34.19 percent (including van sales), with global net revenue increasing by 139.92 per cent compared with Q2 FY21.
When asked about whether international travel could impede performance, Hales noted that the rapid spread of Omicron has made customers consider what type of travel is best suited to their needs.
“They want a safe, self-contained environment and they want to be able to make sure that they can control the way that they go into places and [if] state borders do close or change that they're able to change their plan peacefully and manage that situation. An RV is perfect for that,” he said.
For Hales, the focus will remain on increasing Camplify's existing RV fleet of 7,338.
“We have more demand than they have supply on the platform. And we certainly see that regularly and we saw that during the last period particularly around Christmas and holiday periods,” he said.
“We're looking at ramping up more fleet, providing more options, making it easier for the customer so that as we get to a position where we're really open from an international borders perspective, we can provide a great solution to those customers.”
The company has also filed an application with the New Zealand Commerce Commission to approve the acquisition of Mighway and SHAREaCAMPER, which is due to finalise in Q3 FY22 if approved.
Shares in CHL are up by 2.8 per cent to $3.63 per share at 12:47 AEDT today.
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