Archery Business: Jul/Aug 2010
58 archeryBUSINESS July/August 2010 What changes have you made to improve shop performance during 2010?PROVEN ADVICE FROM VETERAN RETAILERSTo boost business, archery dealers are looking for more ways to "tailor-\037 t" their shops and stores to their neighborhoods and nearby communities as well as increase their Web presence.COMPILED BY PATRICK DURKIN Behind The Counter "I'll probably do more local adver- tising this year around Wabash and the small towns nearby," Clendenon said. "In the past we've mainly bought ads in the Yellow Pages and local newspapers, but this year I want to maybe sponsor more of the 'big- buck' contests and help with other local events. Most of our custom- ers are bowhunters, so we hope a contest sponsorship deal will build interest in our shop around the community. "We're looking into working with more local charities to sup- port them, too. This is a small community, and the area has been very depressed because of the economy. We've lost a lot of industry, so we're hoping for the best. "We also plan to expand our In-ternet presence. I've been getting more things from our suppliers' websites, and we've been get- ting a lot more hits on our link on their sites. My website last year was just a single page with basic information about us, like who we are and what we have available, so I'll probably expand it. "The other thing we plan is to just keep upgrading our equip- ment. We need a new bow press and a couple of other things to stay updated. We'll get a press that does limb-tip compression; something that gives us more variety in our service. The press we've had isn't keeping up with some newer bow models. Even though we're small, we keep up- grading to stay competitive. "We're satis\037 ed with the depth and variety of our inventory. We'd love to expand our building and put in a range, but I don't see that happening soon. It's one of our long-term plans." "The biggest change we're implementing is a 50-yard indoor, state-of-the-art archery range that will simulate out-door lighting," Trussel said. "We're merging two companies. One place is an of\037 ce building with a hallway that lets us shoot 30 yards, and the other is a large facility that covers 5,000 square feet. "We're basically going to ap-ply a 'How can I serve you today?' mentality. That will be our mantra. We'll be driven to learn how we can help each customer get what they came here to get. We've found they might say they want to shoot bet- ter, but what they really might be telling us is that they're looking for a better arrow rest. Or maybe their bow is out of tune. You can't serve them until you really know what they need. "That means we'll try to do even more homework for our customers. We'll have more high-end choices than anybody around, but we'll have often narrowed their choices to three different companies. "We're taking this approach because we're within two miles of one box store, seven miles of an- other, and nine miles of a third one. We have to learn to sell around the box stores because they aren't go- ing away, and we can't sell things the same way they do. Price alone drives nearly every sale in a box store. "When guys walk into our store, they'll see a handmade canoe on display, made for us by a guy in Mississippi. We'll sell some Missis- sippi-Americana-type stuff, quality handmade goods, and displays by outdoor artists and photographers. Our location is in a high-end retail area, so we need to get doctors, lawyers and big-money profession- als, as well as the regular hunter." "Our biggest quest this year is to get more into the Internet sales because we have a web- site, but we don't have anybody who stays on it and keeps it up to date," Reg Perry said. "You must have somebody in there every day or two to update inventory, sales and specials. Even responding to e-mails takes time, so we'll divert one of our current staff members to it full-time or we'll hire somebody to be our In-ternet specialist. "We doubled the store's size this past year, we bought more inventory to stock it, and we hired two extra staff because of our ex- tra size. The major goal was to in- crease sales and cash \036 ow, which it did, but the more we study it, the more we think the real growth will be Internet sales." Jane Perry agreed, saying: "The Internet route is probably much cheaper because it broadens your market. Maybe we should have built our Internet presence before adding on, but we really needed both. We needed the addition for our warehouse, storage, and a larger archery area. We've doubled our archery space and seen real growth there. "This year we'll look into a new bow press, and the Hooter Shooter and Bow Force Mapper. We want to expand our bow-tuning servic- es. Good equipment helps a store look more professional." Reg Perry added: "We keep learning. We were strictly a gun shop for a long time. We didn't get into archery until Canada took away our handgun market, which had been 40 percent of our busi- ness. Attending PSE's shooting and dealer schools gave us the con\037 dence to start the archery business." "I plan to add an- other moderate- price bow line this year," Dot- son said. "With the economy the way it's been, the high-end bow market hasn't been strong. We could always push high-end stuff until recently. "We have a 15-lane indoor heated range, and that's been working great in winter. It gives people somewhere to go and a warm place to shoot, but we don't have as many participants be-cause of the economy. "That's why we're putting more focus on youths, women and fami- lies because our county is start- ing some archery-in-the-schools programs. We have a Wednesday night league for families, which generates more business from kids, parents and grandparents. They can shoot on the same teams, so it's a fun family night for everyone. The league runs eight to 10 weeks, and we have a banquet at the end of it. "For school programs, kids can only shoot lower-poundage bows like the Genesis, so we try to get them to come in to try more ad- vanced stuff. We can offer mod- erate-priced, high-quality equip- ment. If you want to keep them shooting, you can't lower the qual- ity. When I sell them a bow in the 30- to 60-pound range, it's gener- ally the Diamond Razor Edge. That lets moms, grandmoms and kids participate. When they buy a bow, we offer free lessons to help them get started. The sooner they shoot well, the more they tend to shoot. "One thing I do now that I never used to do is repair targets for our leagues. I buy repair kits and go around to a lot of the IBO shoots looking for targets that will work for us. I buy their used targets and \037 x them up for our leagues. BOB CLENDENON K&E Archery Wabash, Indiana HUGH TRUSSEL Blue Sky Archery Jackson, Mississippi REG & JANE PERRYPerry's Great Northern Gun & BowSault Ste Marie, Ontario GEORGE DOTSON Trail-N-Arrow Archery West Union, Ohio "In the past we've mainly bought door lighting," Trussel said. "We're have anybody who stays on it and high-end bow market hasn't been 058_AB10JUL_counter.indd 58 6/8/10 10:26:58 AM
You must have JavaScript enabled to view digital editions.
