Category: Retailers

SHOT Show Product Spotlight – Schmidt & Bender

SHOT Show Product Spotlight visits the Schmidt & Bender booth, #15151, on Level 2 of the Sands Expo. Schmidt & Bender brought several precision quality scopes to the 2015 SHOT Show, including the new 2.5-10×50 Polar T96 high transmission hunting scope. For more, be sure to visit the Schmidt & Bender website at www.schmidtundbender.de.

SHOT Show Product Spotlight – Streamlight

SHOT Show Product Spotlight visits the Streamlight booth for the latest flashlights including the brand-new Ultra Stinger, Stinger HPL, Strion HPL, TLR HPL Rail Mounted Light, a few additions to the ProTac family and more. For more on these products visit Streamlight at booth #12563 on Level 2 of the Sands Expo or go to the Streamlight website at streamlight.com.

SHOT Show Day 2—Word from the Floor

16150066919_046450c5b9_zThe staff at NSSF was receiving such positive feedback from the media in the press room, we thought Day No. 2 of the show would be a good time to take the temperature of the show floor and see how our exhibitors were getting along. Here’s what they had to say.

Cindy Daniel, Executive Vice President of Daniel Defense, one of this year’s top sponsors of the SHOT Show, said, “It’s been a very busy show. We’re optimistic that with the good vibe we’re seeing on the floor sales will pick up again and we’ll have a solid year.”

Daniel could very well be right. The show floor was humming with activity and we heard positive things from companies around the show.

“We’ve been pretty busy and there hasn’t been much down time,” said Kort Nielson, who works in marketing for Silencer Co. “Increasing our booth size and design and its new position in this hall has been good for traffic, but we’re also focusing on education.” Silencer Co. is holding two seminars this week for retailers on how to sell silencers.

Alexander Crown, working with military sales and suppressor tools in the Gemtech booth, told us, “Customers this year are more enthusiastic about the firearms industry as a whole. They seem to really be enjoying the technologies being offered.”

Jeff Patterson, PR guru with the Swanson Russell firm, said, “All our clients are happy with the traffic—SIG, Bad Boy Buggies, Otis Technologies, Weatherby, Leupold. The Leupold booth has been so crowded I can barely make it through, and most of our clients are looking forward to a steady year.”

Mike Capps, Senior Account Executive with PR firm Howard Communications echoed Patterson. “The ATK booth has been swamped . . . I think it’s due to the fact that it’s become one-stop shopping for the buyers. Under one roof you now have firearms, ammunition, optics and accessories, and we’re very pleased with the traffic that mix is generating.”

One company recognizing the leveling off of sales our industry experienced in 2014 isn’t resting on its laurels. Redding Reloading is experiencing high growth through expansion in international markets. “While we’re better servicing our domestic clients better right now, because we’ve been able to reduce our order backlog time from the four months we were experiencing last year (due to high volume) to two to three weeks this year, we’re really seeing tremendous growth in international markets,” explained Robin Sharpless, Executive Vice President. “Canada and South Africa in particular are proving very lucrative, as well as Australia and New Zealand.”

SHOT Show Product Spotlight – Zenith Quest Corporation

SHOT Show Product Spotlight is inside the Zenith Quest Firearms booth to talk about the latest selections of ammunition they’re bringing to the U.S. market and to check out their latest firearms being shown at the 2015 SHOT Show. You can find Zenith Quest Corporation at booth #620 and visit their website at zenithfirearms.com.

New ‘Women Gun Owners’ NSSF Report Announced at SHOT Show

More than half of women (55.6 percent) participating in a new study commissioned by the National Shooting Sports Foundation said they intend to purchase at least one firearm in the next 12 months. That finding and many others reflect the growing popularity of firearms ownership by women, who represent the fastest growing segment of the shooting sports.

Today during the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show), NSSF President and CEO Steve Sanetti discussed the findings in the new report, “Women Gun Owners: Purchasing, Perceptions and Participation.” NSSF, which owns the SHOT Show, is the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry.

“In the past decade, the number of women owning firearms and participating in target shooting and hunting has soared. This study helps us understand why women are choosing to purchase firearms and accessories and what shooting activities appeal to them most,” said Sanetti.

The study, conducted in 2014, focused on women ages 18 to 65 who owned at least one firearm. Over a third of women in the study were new gun owners, having purchased their first firearm within the last three years. This group of new gun owners, who are primarily between the ages of 18 and 34, reflects the changing demographics among women choosing to own firearms—a change captured visually in NSSF’s new infographic, “Girl Power,” which complements the new report.

“The women’s market is a force in our industry, and manufacturers, retailers and shooting ranges are making changes to their products and services to satisfy women’s tastes and needs. This report will assist anyone interested in knowing more about women’s enthusiasm for and attitudes toward firearms,” said Jim Curcuruto, NSSF Director of Industry Research and Analysis.

Among the report’s findings:

  • The most commonly owned firearm by women in the study is a semiautomatic pistol, with 56 percent of women reporting they owned at least one. Shotguns ranked second, with 50 percent of women owning at least one.
  • Women say their purchases are mainly influenced by Fit, Quality and Practicality.
  • Women purchasing a gun in the last 12 months spent on average $870 on firearms and more than $400 on accessories.
  • The majority of women report they are not driven to buy a gun on impulse but rather considered their purchase for months before deciding.
  • Nearly all women (95 percent) have tried target shooting, and more than half (58 percent) have hunted.
  • More than 42 percent of women have a concealed carry permit for their state of residence.
  • Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of women reported having taken at least one training class.

Placing a premium on safety, women say the single most important reason why they decided to purchase or own a firearm is protection—both personal and home protection. Learning to hunt and going shooting with friends and family were also cited.

The report shows women are attracted to shooting activities such as practical pistol, clay target shooting, long-range shooting and plinking; they were not as active, however, in gun collecting or 3-gun and cowboy action shooting.

Growth of the women’s market is quite visible among firearms retailers. In NSSF’s Annual Retailer Survey, more than 74 percent of retailers reported an increase in women customers in their stores in 2013 over 2012.

According to the NSSF report, female engagement in target shooting grew 60 percent to 5.4 million participants between 2001 and 2013, and was up 85 percent for hunting to 3.3 million participants during that same period.

NSSF’s “Women Gun Owners” report is available to NSSF members and to media by request.