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Gander Outdoors new CEO criticizes company’s existing gun inventory

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    #16
    Originally posted by rtp View Post
    I get what he is saying.....I remember walking into the GM here in Sugar Land when it first opened. They had a slew of awesome fishing lures......if I was going fishing for Muskie, Pike, or Lake Trout. I just shook my head and moved on. Not only was the pricing too high but the selection of gear didnt remotely match this market.
    One of my good friends and fishing buddies managed the fishing department at that store and tried to get them to change their selection. Hard heads never would, this new CEO hit the nail on the head.

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      #17
      Originally posted by Ruark View Post
      Uh..... he said they "wasted money on a bad assortment of guns." What exactly were these "bad guns" they stocked? I mean, was it a bad caliber selection, or what?
      The new gun market is REALLY soft right now...if they are heavily invested in the same crap every big box gun store has on the shelves, why would you buy it from Gander, pay sales tax when it's cheaper on the net??

      They need to take a page from Cabelas & have a solid inventory of excellent condition used firearms, especially in the desirable collectable area that takes paying someone to know how to trade & buy right...there is better margin & currently more interest in the used market at this time. Cabelas has this figured out.

      New guns have become boring for the most part & to carry and compete with what Academy & Buds have is foolish.

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        #18
        We shall see, he isn't exactly hunting friendly and has slammed hunters before.

        Gander expanded a bunch to compete against academy and dicks. But didn't changed their price points to do so... Doesn't take a MBA to figure that you won't compete against budget branded stores with non- budget price point by items

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          #19
          Originally posted by Ruark View Post
          Uh..... he said they "wasted money on a bad assortment of guns." What exactly were these "bad guns" they stocked? I mean, was it a bad caliber selection, or what?
          bad guns

          best example would be the beretta pico. Gander in Lubbock has a whole shelf of them. about the worst gun ive ever held. They were marked like 150.00 and the guy said that they couldnt give them away.

          I've always laughed at their ammo selection. they never had any 22 centerfire ammo. i have a .222, .22-250, .220 swift, .22 hornet. so i always looked at that shelf. they think .223 is all that anyone needs. and right now they have a whole endcap of .17 wsm and another of .32 H&R mag.

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            #20
            They will still crater. Prices were stupid and they never made any attempt at competing. It's too late imo. Fold up.

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              #21
              300 guns and 8 bows at the SA location, more clothes, shoes and camping gear than anything else.

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                #22
                Originally posted by CrookedArrow View Post
                They will still crater. Prices were stupid and they never made any attempt at competing. It's too late imo. Fold up.
                They did close. New owner, etc. and he's talking a good strategy right now with local stores catering to local markets with different inventories and better pricing. I wish the one in Round Rock wasn't on the close list so I could give them at least one chance to earn my business.

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                  #23
                  Originally posted by Artos View Post
                  The new gun market is REALLY soft right now...if they are heavily invested in the same crap every big box gun store has on the shelves, why would you buy it from Gander, pay sales tax when it's cheaper on the net??

                  They need to take a page from Cabelas & have a solid inventory of excellent condition used firearms, especially in the desirable collectable area that takes paying someone to know how to trade & buy right...there is better margin & currently more interest in the used market at this time. Cabelas has this figured out.

                  New guns have become boring for the most part & to carry and compete with what Academy & Buds have is foolish.
                  The net does not have overhead, and has to add shipping costs as well as FFL fees. You're average box store firearms customer needs input on firearms, and all the guys at my local Gander know their stuff (albeit in specific areas... one guy knows pistols well, one guy knows ARs, etc.) so people go there to get information about how to use said weapon as well as how to maintain and clean it. Yes, you can get that info online but some people like the face to face. The extra pricing adds up in areas where online markets lack. The prices also vary per item but some of the stuff isn't even near as overpriced as everyone makes it out to be. Everyone blows things way out of purportion... like $5 really means something these days.

                  Also, the current pricing is based on the liquidator and varies per location, and Gander has jack to do with it, hence why price matching is out the window at the moment.

                  I don't understand all the hate for Gander when Cabelas and Bass Pro have the same exact items on the shelves for the same prices.

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Originally posted by bowtecmike View Post
                    bad guns

                    best example would be the beretta pico. Gander in Lubbock has a whole shelf of them. about the worst gun ive ever held. They were marked like 150.00 and the guy said that they couldnt give them away.
                    Great example here... the Pico is horrid and the trigger is, well, yuck. As well as the stacks and stacks of Hi-Points. At least the Hi-Points do sell.

                    Gander in Beaumont got in about 50 M&P Shield 9s for Black Friday last year and ran a special and maybe sold 5. There's some serious issues with projected sales analysis.

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                      #25
                      Originally posted by Artos View Post
                      New guns have become boring for the most part & to carry and compete with what Academy & Buds have is foolish.
                      Why does everyone expect to find Buds prices in a retail establishment? They have employees to pay, and FFL fees are included in the pricing. Maybe all retail stores should just close, people should lose jobs and go be on welfare and everyone buy their guns online?

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                        #26
                        No hate...all I see are results of Gander failing where the others are succeeding. I have no dog in the fight, just pointing out the obvious of what the competition does better.

                        If you have inventory to sell on the net, you have overhead in the product & the commission to pay gun broker...Cabelas sells all their high end collectables on Gunsinternational.com. It's not a free sight and the guns they sell are sitting in the various locations. SAME type of overhead (actually more using the site) as Gander & BP / Academy. They just understand their customer base and business model better.

                        You have to get people inside the store to sell goods & turn your inventory...BP & Cabelas are not having the same failure rate as Gander. All I did was note their stupidity & agreed with the article of trying to sell the same crap where most buyers do not need at expert to explain a new basic to you. Most of those employees give bad 411 anyway.

                        It would be like me opening up a new shoe / basic gun / nike / UA / New Balance Asics / Yeti & tackle store right next to Academy & competing against their buying power...you gonna pay $0.50 more a box for the same 12ga dove ammo cuz I know more about the ballistics??

                        I'm an FFL & can can get new guns from disty's all the time...my cost is more than what you guys can get on the net, Academy, etc because these mfg work on buy ins...say I want to sell you a Glock 19 & I go to buy one from a disty, where Academy, BP & Cabelas has made deals to buy over $200k worth of Glock goods for 2017? Their pricing for the same gun is way less & you can likely beat that on gun broker getting it out of state & free shipping if you work it.

                        Only reason someone is going to use me is because they like my service and do not mind spending another $50-$75 doing any of the work, but I'm not gonna carry inventory.

                        Gander needs to step up their game across the board or they will go the way of the dodo...that is all there is to it. It's basic marketing & they simply are not currently able to figure out an angle to stay profitable against the competition. Business 101.

                        McDonalds makes the crappiest burgers on the planet...they also sell the most burgers on the planet. How messed up is that??

                        Originally posted by JPR79 View Post
                        The net does not have overhead, and has to add shipping costs as well as FFL fees. You're average box store firearms customer needs input on firearms, and all the guys at my local Gander know their stuff (albeit in specific areas... one guy knows pistols well, one guy knows ARs, etc.) so people go there to get information about how to use said weapon as well as how to maintain and clean it. Yes, you can get that info online but some people like the face to face. The extra pricing adds up in areas where online markets lack. The prices also vary per item but some of the stuff isn't even near as overpriced as everyone makes it out to be. Everyone blows things way out of purportion... like $5 really means something these days.

                        Also, the current pricing is based on the liquidator and varies per location, and Gander has jack to do with it, hence why price matching is out the window at the moment.

                        I don't understand all the hate for Gander when Cabelas and Bass Pro have the same exact items on the shelves for the same prices.

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Originally posted by JPR79 View Post
                          Why does everyone expect to find Buds prices in a retail establishment? They have employees to pay, and FFL fees are included in the pricing. Maybe all retail stores should just close, people should lose jobs and go be on welfare and everyone buy their guns online?
                          How can they stay open if they cannot figure out a way to be profitable, meet payroll, pay rent, goods, etc?? Remember, The Goal is to make money. Why are some shops like Buds / Cabelas succeeding and Gander is failing?? It's not the tax payers job to make a company successful...that is up to Gander alone. I owe them nothing.

                          I'm not sure what your angle is...my Granddad opened a mens retail clothing shop in 1957 down here in the Rio Grande Valley & was the typical shoe string success story. He had 3 stores and over 75 employees at one time.


                          I worked in the biz starting at the bottom as janitor and moved up to buyer over a period of 10 years...this was back in the late 80's / early 90's and went through major changes. I talked Dad into closing the old downtown store as the growth was going north, the Mexican Peso wasn't reliable & people were changing their buying habits. We opened up a small place & focused on higher end stuff and were doing well after a slow start, but it was just too much for me. It was like another marriage...work 6 days a week, 7 during the holidays. Customers only wanted to deal with you the owner. It was fun, but there was no life for the profit being made. I then saw the writing on the wall where the same 'special' high dollar garments could be bought on this whole new WWW game. Told Dad I was done & he was relieved too...that was back in 97. It was a good run.

                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~



                          Here's another one for you...this gun belonged to one of the oldest and largest brick & mortar stores down here. The owner calls me to move his personal & special items that 'sit' on the shelf as he does not want to mess with the internet.

                          It was sitting in his shop for $1200...I got him over $2k. You adapt like he does & understand that you do not make $$$$ unless you are turning inventory.



                          We both won...he got over his $1200 & I got a commission with no capital / $$$$$ tied into the inventory other than my time. You gotta adjust with the times or you end up like Sears or K-Mart.

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