Long-gun marketing - Eckelman Gunshop & Shooting in Fort Ripley, Minnesota; Gary's Gun Shop Inc. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota - Company Profile

Shooting Industry, Oct, 1998 by Mark Thiffault

Two Retailers Reveal How To Dramatically Increase Your Profits Year-Round

Talk about a recipe for failure: A gun store located "in the middle of nowhere," 10 miles from the nearest town - population 100.

The owners "commute" on foot from their home to the 1,000-square-foot retail store that anchors a 400-yard rifle range and 50-yard pistol range with 22 stations.

The largest population center has 20,000 year-round residents. Competition includes heavyweights Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target and Fleet Farm.

And the winters are cooooolllllddddd.

Despite these seeming handicaps, Mark and Becky Eckelman have run a successful and profitable gun operation for over 18 years. Eckelman Gunshop & Shooting, located 10 miles from the northern Minnesota "metropolis" of Fort Ripley, is a testament to the promotional savvy, business insight and damn hard work of a very smart couple.

One key cited by most successful retail business owners is selecting a good location. The Eckelmans certainly violated that rule when they moved their shop nine years ago. Why open a gun shop, as his customers say, "in the middle of nowhere"?

"That's where you have to be if you're going to have a shooting range on the property," replies Mark Eckelman. "Why do we have a full rifle range? Because I'm a gunsmith. When I fix something, I've got to test-fire it - make sure it works. You can't really tell by using a bullet trap at an indoor range."

Eckelman Gunshop & Shooting draws enough customers to require a full-time retail staff. Mark does gunsmithing, handles reloading questions and helps with retail sales, while Becky does the marketing, promotions, special events and bookkeeping.

Advertising & Promotion

How do customers find the shop?

"We spend a lot - perhaps 14-15 percent of gross sales - on advertising," said Eckelman. "We advertise heavily in phone books and, during the fall, run display ads in the local daily newspaper. We also advertise in the classifieds every day. These are generic ads promoting the shop, seen by the tourists."

Does his store capture a chunk of these visitors? "A few, maybe, but not too many," said Eckelman. "The real gun buffs will search the classifieds for bargains, and will come out to see if we have any used classics at a good price."

So how do the Eckelmans generate enough store traffic to feed themselves?

"We do direct mail advertising three to four times per year. Our mailing list has 3,000 names on it, with about 800 of them our 'core customers,'" said Eckelman. "I know our core customers by name and they definitely get special treatment like free range time or free targets - something to make them feel special."

Promotions are a big part of the Eckelmans' sales success, even during the peak sales periods. But they start early in the year.

Mark and Becky don't rely on reloaders to come to their store for their annual Reloading Expo in early March. Like Mohammed, they "go to the mountain" in this case, the Holiday Inn in Brainerd.

"We hold this one-day event, now in its eighth year, on Sunday because we've found attendance higher," says Eckelman. "The 400-600 people who attend spend Saturdays on 'honey-do' projects."

Eckelman says it's their single biggest sale day of the year.

"We promote it through direct mail, by display ads in the newspaper, and through in-store promotion. We have seminars and expect factory reps to attend. In fact, if a company doesn't assist us with promotions, we won't stock their products," Eckelman said.

In 1998, the Eckelmans held their third annual Handgun Show & Fun Shoot.

"We have it under a circus tent at the store, so it has a carnival atmosphere," Eckelman said. "We have five to six factory reps who bring in guns that people can shoot with amino we sell cheaply. We have lots of fun events. Kids must be 16 and accompanied by their parents in order to shoot handguns, or 12 with a hunter's safety certificate to fire the rifles or shotguns. We may not sell lots of guns that day, but the word of mouth is great and we get residual sales all year."

They also organize and run rifle and pistol leagues during summer, and have a jug shoot in August.

"It's a lot of fun and helps keep people shooting," Eckelman said.

Even during the fall sales season, the Ecklemans host a promotion. Called Ruger Days, it's a factory promotion where customers can fire Ruger rifles and other firearms. Sales at the event make it well worth doing, according to Eckleman.

Another excellent self-promotion is the writing Mark Eckelman does for the Brainerd Daily Dispatch. "I write up to four stories for the hunting section of the paper," he said. "These are general hunting stories, not veiled advertisements for my store. In exchange, I get free advertising."

As he says, they are always planning the next promotion. "We're never finished," Mark said. "We just roll from one to another."

Another retailer who has found that promotions make the registers ring is Steve Naatjes (pronounced "notches"), manager of Gary's Gun Shop Inc., in Sioux Falls, S.D.

"We host four to five major events each year," said the 44-year-old Naatjes, who has managed the 10,000-square-foot, 16-year-old store for the past 6 years.