A bit of market research

[eddoakley]

This may be a bit long winded but What makes you use your chosen gun shop?

As many of you know I have a shop in South Wales. Shoppers are spoiled in my town with 3 shops within easy drive. Mine, a much larger independent who specializes in Guerinis and higher end stuff and Sportsmans guncentre.

My shop is small. We open every evening an weekends (just about to head in soon).

Our times are based in the fact that I have to work and figure that others do too so opening until 8 every evening makes it easy to buy shooting supply without rushing out from work.

We stock a wide range, or at least I think we do.

Usually 20+ types of pcp  (new and used)

A similar number of springers. A lot of air pistols and a few airsoft guns.

Probably 100 shotguns from tatty single barrels to Berettas  and  H&h.

New and used.

The same with rifles- £20 .22lrs to Tikka, sako etc and a good range of calibres.

We keep the small stuff like mounts, pellets, a range of cheap scopes and some more expensive- again new and used- a small amount of clothing. Gun slips and a few hard cases. Cartridges (although not huge quantities). Riffle ammo. A range of knives. A few bows and xbows. A small amount of reloading gear but order regularly.

 

Basically I think we have everything covered. I know you can never please everyone and there will always be something that we don't have but the question is what have I missed? Why do you choose you shop?

 

We try to make everything very friendly, the kettle is always on. Lots of people just come for a chat and a look around.

How can we make improvements?

Thanks

Edd 

 

Mods- this is not advertising. I have been careful not to give details. It' genuine research. Please contact me if it's not acceptable.

Thanks

Edd

[martyn2233]

Hi edd 

      I think you have a lot covered there the only thing that stops me from gun shops are the owners themselves.

ie

owners. what you looking for mate 

me . 308

owner . Right let me sell you one 

me. No thanks 

owners why not.

me . Right answer should be let me help you find what your looking for not just let’s sell you one so you see you later sir 

[eddoakley]

1 minute ago, martyn2233 said:

Hi edd 

      I think you have a lot covered there the only thing that stops me from gun shops are the owners themselves.

ie

owners. what you looking for mate 

me . 308

owner . Right let me sell you one 

me. No thanks 

owners why not.

me . Right answer should be let me help you find what your looking for not just let’s sell you one so you see you later sir 

Good point. I never try to "sell" anything.

If a customer knows what they want I either have it or offer to order it in. I will also offer alternatives if they are open to suggestions. 

We always say that we would rather not sell something than sell the wrong thing.

It's a very social thing here. I'm currently sat with my feet up in the conservatory that's attached to the front of the shop.

The kettle is on as some of the regulars will be in soon. So we are possibly missing out on some of the more formal things but that's not really a big factor in this area. Mostly rough shooting, a few clay shoots and air rifles.

Forgot to say that we also have lamps, NV, thermal, targets, sling shots, dive cylinders.....as many things as I can think to fit into a small space.

 

Edd

[ph5172]

I think you have most of the bases covered, especially the late opening, I have always wondered how shops that open only during working hours cope. 

I personally like to walk in, have a browse and not feel under pressure. 

 

[clakk]

Martyn has it bang on Edd, sounds like u stock all the gear and open at sensible times for some apart from us shift workers .The biggest turn off and i,l take my money elsewhere is a overbearing or uninterested owner .If i say im just browsing then " dont be afraid to ask " is what we like to hear not instant indifference which i can get in at least 3 shops around here .

Dont know how it would run in your neck of the woods but to be able to pop in on the way home after a night shift would be great as although 6am is early ,for a nightshift worker it,s the evening as we are wide awake.

Maybe just 6 till 8am to get ammo or "i need it mrs" items as otherwise its a get up early and try and get there before 5pm shutting which is common closing hereabouts.Obviously your 8pm close is far better but as rare as a hen,s tooth atb 

[kennett]

The evening opening thing is good, I base my choice of gun shops on which one I can get to before it shuts, one is 2mins from home/work and the others are 20. But, using the close one means dumping the truck on the side of the road on double yellows, although parking isn't really something you can change if you done have it

[eddoakley]

2 hours ago, ph5172 said:

 

I personally like to walk in, have a browse and not feel under pressure. 

 

There is a line that gets said quite often...

It's free to have a look, take as long as you like. It's £10 to get out.

Always taken in the manner in which it's intended.

8 minutes ago, kennett said:

 But, using the close one means dumping the truck on the side of the road on double yellows, although parking isn't really something you can change if you done have it

Park8ng is outside the door, plenty of spaces. But if anyone happens to turn up when the carpark is full there are 100 spaces about 50 yards away.

 

Edd

[bluesj]

Ammo consistency is one of my problems, you can never be sure that my local shop will have the same ammo, powder or bullets in stock that they had the last time. That's why I started reloading. Plus they are not great at getting stuff in if they don't stock it, didn't even bother getting a price on what turned out to be a £700. The other I use stocks all the normal stuff and will pull out all the stops to get stuff for you but its about a 2 hour round trip.

Travel time you can't do much about, but its customer service that will put you above the rest. If I have the time (or getting stuff for work) I take the 2 hour trip.

[eddoakley]

Bullets and powder is easy as we only keep a very small selection and order anything else. We don't do much so people who order know that it will take a while to put an order together. As such they order early and wait a couple of weeks.

Ammo can be an issue for everyone.

If I sell out of one brand it' usually not feasible to just order that particular round, I need to wait until I need quite a bit. But to get around that I try to keep a bit more of the more popular stuff and buy small amounts of other stuff with/from other dealer just so I have a choice.

When selling a rifle I try to get the customer to take at least 3 types of ammo to see what they like. Having a few boxes of differet stuff all the time helps with this.

 

Edd

 

Looking around this morning I have noticed more stuff that we have:

Camo  nets

Cabinets

Decoys (corvids and crows) in a couple of makes and types.

Cleaning products

Traps

Bags (game, cartridge, insulated and holdalls)

I'm struggling to thing of things that we don't have but I just feel like we need to make some changes as it seems a bit stale.

 

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

Edd

I know that we need to advertise more and make use of a good website that is currently poorly run.

 

Edd

[bluesj]

5 minutes ago, eddoakley said:

I know that we need to advertise more and make use of a good website that is currently poorly run.

 

Edd

We updated our web page at work a few months back (it hadn't changed in years) it cost a few quid to do but pay for its self in about a month. 

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, having been a shooter and fisher for over 50 years with much experience of quite a few angling and gun shops, even though i do not do much of both now but for the shooting stuff i sometimes buy, I WISH YOUR SHOP WAS IN ABINGDON  Eddy,   i would even make my own tea,!!!!!!!? 

Edited May 27, 2018 by oldypigeonpopper

[JDog]

You are not going to be able to stock everything so you ought to find out if you can get something you are asked for and how long it will take.

Do you have a large diary on your counter to record all enquiries with names and phone numbers?

 

[old'un]

I would say the only thing missing is a bacon butty to go with the cup of tea…..and maybe a cake.

[panoma1]

For what its worth, my take on it......

Your business and customer care ethic seems good, dunno about your prices? You are presumably aiming at local trade? Which is a finite resource! passing/visiting trade will be too unpredictable for you to worry much about.......

Why should locals come into your shop as opposed to the others? is the question. Stocking what they want, opening at the times they want, customer care, customer convenience, quality goods and "why should I go to x when I can get the same item cheaper at y?" Seem to me to be key.

Ask them what they want! And don't give customers a reason to go elsewhere!....and remember everyone wants a bargain!

[Vince Green]

Smart use of the internet is good for all businesses these days. I am not just meaning a flashy website either. Answering (or not answering!) emails is so important. My favourite gun shop used to chat back and forwards on email. You could send him a message saying have you got and N140? and he would send you a message back by return saying due in 2 weeks. You then sent one back saying save me a tub. Two weeks later you got a message back saying there is one under the counter for you.

Since most things are potentially out of stock or in short supply most of the time,  the ability to check stock and pre-order becomes vital. People cant always phone, I can send an email at any time and read them at any time (so can he). The important thing is people knew it worked, and it did, seamlessly

His customer database was his greatest asset, he would send everyone a message saying. "ordering PPU next week, get your requests in by Monday"  and back came the orders. When it came in, most of it was already sold

The shop closed a while back not for lack of business.

I know another dealer close to you who is very pro active on the internet

Edited May 27, 2018 by Vince Green

[Tollerman]

Quality of service pure and simple.if you treat customers well they come back.One or two in my neck of the woods treat customers as if they are doing you a favour.In my early days I visited a Hertfordshire gun dealers .I explained I had just started shooting and was looking for a cheap first gun to be told " we don't do cheap guns".They closed down shortly afterwards.Eddoakley you seem to be doing a fine job.

[bruno22rf]

I have 3 well stocked Gun shops within 1/2 an hour of me but I will only use one - not that his prices are any better than the others and has actually carries less stock but purely down to the personality of the owner and his treatment of customers as if everybody is a personal friend. 

[hambone]

I would rather travel to a reliable Gun shop with friendly staff than use a local one that treats you like **** on shoe. One of my local ones is ok though.

[Farmboy91]

57 minutes ago, bruno22rf said:

I have 3 well stocked Gun shops within 1/2 an hour of me but I will only use one - not that his prices are any better than the others and has actually carries less stock but purely down to the personality of the owner and his treatment of customers as if everybody is a personal friend. 

This. 

My local is spot on, It does help he's cart prices in general are cheaper than the other locals but he's whole attitude is what does it. 

Doesn't matter what I'm after he's always happy to show the product prices above and the one below. 

Brought a brand new franchi off him a week or so back which will be my missus first gun and he threw in 100 or so eley 1st selects to get her started, whereas when I brought my ATA and garden gun from another rfd a bit further away looked at me like I was asking for the crown jewels when I asked if considering id spent £700 could he chuck in a box a pigeon carts lol. 

[Scully]

There are RFD's closer to me but I'm more than willing to travel to the better ones. These include those which don't try to give you the hard sell and are honest about the goods they sell, reward you for spending your money with them, let you leave your tackle there while you go for a full English ?, free coffee, and are willing to open late if they know you're coming. We even have one which comes to us! ?

[eddoakley]

Just back from delivering a gun.

The guy called in this morning without his cert so I said I would deliver once I had done what I needed.

A pleasant hour chatting and walking around his small holding with my son and dogs.

Never going to get rich from this RFD  lark but sometimes it's fun.

 

Edd

[Zetter]

For me its customer service and the ability to want to deal with all people no matter how big a spender or how small. Got three local shops to me and to be fair one is losing customers left and right as they have gone into high end shotguns and country clothing and seem to be abandoning their core market of local aigunners ,pest shooters and hobby clay bashers.

Used to be able to do a deal on px but now get the feeling its too much hassle/ they are not interested unless you are planning to drop >£2K and have got this feedback from others. Now I have moved my business elsewhere despite being a loyal customer for many years. From my point of view a customer is a customer if they are spending a tenner or ten grand.

Also you don't know when the person who is buying a box of ammo may be back in to make a bigger purchase.

 

[Lloyd90]

Where are you located? 

The two I used when in Wales were Keens (terrible) and the new one that opened in Kenfig Hill (even worse). 

No one in Keens shot, and would go out of their way giving you wrong info, one of them repeatedly told me I can’t use 87gr 243 bullets to shoot any deer. 

I was under the impression it’s over 100gr up Scotland on Reds, after all you can use a 223 on muntjac. He went on and on telling me I was wrong and I didn’t know what I was talking about ... then he wondered why I left. 

The one in Kenfig Hill, you’d phone up to enquire only to be repeatedly promised they had something, then you’d turn up and they didn’t have it. I only lived nearby by I know a few people who had this who had driven for around 45 mins to get to them. 

I also bought a gun cabinet off them and was promised it would be 2 weeks for it to take over 6, looking back I should of asked for my money back after 2. Repeatedly told me “we’ve spoken with the supplier and they promise it’ll be here next week”. 

Glad I moved across the bridge!! 

[Rst1990]

I have 2 shops close to where I work  but prefer to travel 15miles to another shop, all are pretty friendly but price for me is key.

 

[Ultrastu]

Ok .my very strong reccomendations for a successful shop .

Have a great website that you update at least every other day. With what you stock .especially second hand guns and scopes. But also pellets,  carts and  ammo .

I use a local shop and they do this with their all  guns .I mush check the web site 2 or 3 times a day .just browsing.

When i see something that takes my interest .i drive over and make a purchase . (This has happened more often that id like to admit .) Try to have a good second hand stock . (Every one loves a bargin ) .If you can provide a simple try before you buy. Especially on airguns. Thats worth a million dollars. 

Ive bought airguns on a total whim .just cos the owner said yeah take a few shots out the back here are some pellets fill your boots. 

A chrono available to will help .

Shows your serious and care .

Know your products (totally bugs me when people sell stuff they have zero idea about ).

Often just a look on the manufacturers web site is enough knowledge .

Bets of luck mate .i would like to visit your  shop .