Bowhunting for gun dealers: three million customers are looking to buy bowhunting gear. Any takers?

Shooting Industry, Oct, 2002 by Carolee Boyles

The other key to reaching the bowhunting market, according to White is good customer service.

"Service is the big thing dealers can offer," White said. "it's the same as what they do with their firearms business, whether they bore sight guns or mount scopes. Dealers need to offer that same king of service for archery, whether it's keeping the customer's arrow size on file, cutting arrows to length, or setting up a bow."

Getting into archery isn't about carrying everything that's out there. "It's about covering all the price points with good value equipment to meet the needs of your customers.

Arrows

Arrows are like bullets. They're the ammunition of bowhunters and they can add up to lot of repeat sales. If you venture into archery, it's essential you carry arrows.

"Customers may not buy a new how every year or two, but they're going to replenish their arrows," ways Deb Adamson, marketing director for Easton Technical Products. "Dealers have the choice of purchasing finished arrows or arrow shafts. If he chooses to purchase shafts, then he has the option of offering the service of building arrows to his customer's specification."

This doesn't mean that you must get into building and fletching arrows. Many archery distributors build arrows and will provide arrows flectched and ready to cut to the lengths needed by your customers.

There are different kinds of arrows in the marketplace. Aluminum arrows are reliable, their straightness can't be matched, and they're great for hunting and target shooting Aluminum/carbon arrows come in a range of qualities and have some special challenges associated with selling and suing them.

Arrows must be matched to the draw length and weight of the bow. Obviously, selling arrows requires a bit of expertise Your archery distributor or Easton Technical Products can provide all the help you need.

"We provide materials for advertising, tuning and maintenance guides, shaft selection chart, catalogs brochures--everything the dealer needs to get started," Adamson says.

Information also is available on Easton's website: www.eastonarchery.com.

Broadheads

"The number one accessory dealers should carry is broadheads," White says.

Satellite Archery, part of North American Archery Group, has a wide selection of broadheads with replaceable blades, a style that's popular with bowhunters. The company also manufactures MatchPoints, field points that match the weight and flight characteristics of Satellite's broadheads. If you carry crossbows, Satellite also has the MaxPoint Crossbow Broadhead System.

One company with a long history of producing broadheads is Muzzy Products Corp. They offer glue-on broadheads for carbon shafts and traditional screw-in broadheads, along with a wide range of other archery accessories.

Another long-time broadhead manufacturer is Wasp. In addition to producing several fixed-blade broadheads, Wasp also manufactures mechanical blade broadheads. These heads are compact in flight, yet the blades deploy upon impact.

Targets

Bowhunters practice on targets ranging from a bale of hay with a paper plate stuck on it to sophisticated, lifelike animal targets. Here, it pays to talk to your customers and find out what they want before you make a decision to stock a lot of targets.