Thinking about starting to carry optics in our shop

[FjallJager]

I spoke to a couple of European Optics companies and I don't fully understand the profit model, but their minimums aren't very big 5-10 pieces.

Probably get to the point where we have the products that interest us from 2-3 optics companies.

 

[sheepdog697]

I voted for the three I felt would sell the best to the general public.

 

[Schütze]

ZCO

 

[Milf Dots]

NF all the way.

Eff Vtx and Lpld for giving money to that left wing progressive group Backcountry H&A.

 

[FjallJager]

ZCO

The problem is unless you are a PRS competitor you will have zero idea of TT and ZCO are.

Or you are a member of this forum.

Other than the single guy eating Ramen to make his TT and ZCO work, it takes a lot of hunting Doctors or Construction company owners to buy them.

I didn't know about the BCA Leupold and Vortex connection. That is reason enough.

 

[Jefe's Dope]

NF for high end American made.

Kahles for the Austrian glass.

Vortex for your 'budget' brand.

I'd try to get ZCO in as well.

JMO.

 

[FjallJager]

Do you reckon two companies namely Swarovski/Kahles and Nightforce would be enough?

Maybe Kowa as a third option, then we would have optics from $200-4000. Kind of get everyone.

 

[FjallJager]

NF for high end American made.

Kahles for the Austrian glass.

Vortex for your 'budget' brand.

I'd try to get ZCO in as well.

JMO.

The Vortex problem on chinese made stuff and having to deal with returns regularly isn't my idea of fun.

 

[FjallJager]

We started out on ebay selling stuff when we were in Australia. Then we started importing things from Australia to the USA until that lost its profit. Americans don't care about Australian crap made in China anymore.

My wife has a side jewlery business and she is doing gangbusters, and she wants to open a shop. I have contacts to a couple of European companies that we could partner with for hunting clothing, nothing too (yodeler and and I don't want to sell guns. At least not initially.

We are still working on a location. But we live in a tourist trap with big money ski wierdos, and we get a lot of tourist through town. There are several locations that we could kill at. Eventually online sales will be a major part of what we do.

I have seen a lot of shops, that are just scraping and I have a good idea of what not to do.

$200,000 in scope mounts or Butler creek random stuff.

 

[pineoak]

It's great on the customer end, we can help you.

But you should contact other sellers and see what the companies are like to deal with on the dealer end.

That would matter a lot I'd think.

 

[FjallJager]

It's great on the customer end, we can help you.

But you should contact other sellers and see what the companies are like to deal with on the dealer end.

That would matter a lot I'd think.

We delt with that from Australia, with barrel makers and fiberglass stockmakers when we used to import gunparts. We'd order a pallet of barrels from major barrel makers in America and half the order was wrong.

 

[Keeper22]

I manage an outdoor store, Zeiss and Leupold will sell well with your hunters. Vortex has an optic from low end up to high end. NightForce margins suck unless you make a large initial investment. Also keep in mind unless you are going to make some large initial orders or belong to a buy group you will have trouble buying direct and going thru distributors will get into your margins. Good luck.

 

[FjallJager]

I manage an outdoor store, Zeiss and Leupold will sell well with your hunters. Vortex has an optic from low end up to high end. NightForce margins suck unless you make a large initial investment. Also keep in mind unless you are going to make some large initial orders or belong to a buy group you will have trouble buying direct and going thru distributors will get into your margins. Good l

Thanks,

I know from my own personal purchase history, that unless an optic is massively on sale, I won't buy it from a retailer in a store. As I can get a military pro deal or find a close out.

As I get more sophisticated in what I like, I find that it is even rarer for me to buy something in a store. As optics are very model centric.

What would your thoughts be on this?

All of my higher end purchases have either been via directly with the company or a huge retailer/middleman that offers military a discount.

Is everyone else a super tight ass, or is it just me?

 

[FjallJager]

My wife is in love with the romance of having her own store, and I figure if I am going to babysit it I might as well sell some stuff I know about.

There are a lot of really small boutique gun shops in Germany that we kind of want to model it after. Probably without the guns, most of it is clothes and Christmas bullshit anyway.

 

[kthomas]

Big Khales fan here. They sit on top of all of my rifles.

Maybe not the single best in any one category (except maybe tracking reliability), but they are good at everything with no real glaring faults.

Hard to go wrong with a Khales, though they aren't as Gucci as some of the newer brands (TT/ZCO).

Minox may be another worth considering. No personal experience, but have heard good things.

 

[FjallJager]

This is our idea of what we want to build.

Not sure it would work in America, even in a ski town.

We used to shop all the little boutique gun shops where we lived in Germany.

 

[Keeper22]

Thanks,

I know from my own personal purchase history, that unless an optic is massively on sale, I won't buy it from a retailer in a store. As I can get a military pro deal or find a close out.

As I get more sophisticated in what I like, I find that it is even rarer for me to buy something in a store. As optics are very model centric.

What would your thoughts be on this?

All of my higher end purchases have either been via directly with the company or a huge retailer/middleman that offers military a discount.

Is everyone else a super tight ass, or is it just me?

Yep, it is hard to get that customer that buys that scope in the store when you can get it cheaper online. We looked at NightForce and passed on them due to the margins and the fact I asked how online sites got away with the open box thing and the answer was if it gets to much we will look at it. I am not bashing Nite Force or online sights, it's just the reality of retail today.

 

[pineoak]

So if the margins are slim with NF... are the scopes overpriced or a performance value?

 

[Keeper22]

Neither. The margins are tiered, if you invest quite a bit of money your margins are good, if you get in at the minimum you still make money just not as much margin as other scope manufacturers. The scopes are mapped you are told the minimum you can advertise to sell them, as are most other scopes, guns and archery stuff. Once again I am not beating up Night Force many other companies do the same thing. I own Night Force scopes and love them.

 

[Tortuga]

Swarovski/Kahles for sure due to brand recognition with the affluent tourist crowd, maybe even Steiner. I would think you would move more binos and spotting scopes than firearm optics due to the jewelry and again, the tourist traffic. Maybe hit up Athlon to round out the low and middle tier. Of course I'm also a DoD employee with zero small business experience, so what the hell do I know.