Air profits! The airgun, paintball market has changed, with better profits!

Shooting Industry, Nov, 2007 by Carolee Anita Boyles

There's money in airguns and paintball, but you need to know the changes in the market and the keys to profit. Let's look at airguns first.

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"The airgun business is definitely not a BB gun business anymore," said Roy Stefanko, national sales manager for Crosman Corp. "BB guns and entry-level airguns will always be a big part of the business. However, the business has evolved and a very big part of it is the adult class of airguns. By that I mean 1,000 to 2,000 feet-per-second guns, and we're going to be introducing one that's 1,500 feet per second."

The price of airguns also has changed dramatically, Stefanko said.

"We've left the $99 price-point in the dust," he said. "Now, many airguns retail for $200, $300 and even $400. For most dealers, margins can run from 30 to as much as 50 percent."

With that also come higher price-points for add-ons, such as optics and pellets.

"If customers are going to spend $200 or $300 on an airgun, they want premium pellets that are going to retail for $5 to $10, and they're going to want premium optics that may retail between $50 and $150," Stefanko said.

In addition--and this is good news for independent dealers--big-box stores don't carry these types of airguns or cater to this class of customer.

John McCaslin, president of AirForce Airguns, says gun dealers who carry these high-end airguns need to educate themselves in order to sell today's "adult class" of airguns effectively.

"They also need to offer some kind of product support, so they can explain to the customer why the airguns they carry cost more," McCaslin said. "They need to be able to tell the customer why it's important to pay the extra money for an expensive airgun. When the dealer has that kind of information, he can help the customer focus on the area that's most important to him. Some customers are all about the gun's power and some are about accuracy."

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AirForce Airguns uses compressed air to power many of its airguns--not small C[O.sub.2] cartridges that many lower-end airguns use; plus, the large cylinders are refillable.

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"It's still new to most people to shoot an airgun that's powered by compressed air, which has higher power and more accuracy," McCaslin said. "For instance, an airgun that uses a C[O.sub.2] canister operates at about 900 psi. Our guns operate off 3,000 psi. We get that kind of velocity in .22, which means there's dramatically higher muzzle energy." That's getting into the range of small-game hunting guns.

To help you learn about airguns, manufacturers provide good education materials, which are also useful selling tools.

"We have dealer information sheets that we put in our dealer kits, with information on how to sell airguns," McCaslin said. "Plus we have instructional DVDs that are included with the guns. They're for the customers, but dealers should watch them for their own learning before they try to sell the guns."

There's also been a shift in the market for "manual" airguns.

"Spring-piston guns is a very healthy category, with a wide range of price-points available," said Kim Adams, one of the owners of Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine. "We see a trend somewhat away from pneumatics and multi-pumps and to spring pistons."

Adams said Kittery Trading Post stocks a number of brands in spring-piston airguns, including Crosman, RWS, Gamo and Beeman.

If you're not into airguns, Adams says, you need to be.

"There's just too much overlap with shooting customers," he said. "If you're in the firearms business, you're doing yourself a disservice by not being in the airgun business. It's a lot of the same customers."

This is particularly true where access to shooting ranges is becoming a challenge.

"An air rifle is a perfect opportunity to take shooting indoors or into the backyard," he said. "And it's still a good way to get someone introduced to shooting who may then graduate to firearms. Airguns should be part of every shooting department."

Soft-Air Phenomenon

Any mention of airguns must include the phenomenon created by soft-air guns and accessories.

"Soft air has been an additive to the entire airgun business," Stefanko said. "It's helping grow the airgun business, because a lot of people who may not have shot an airgun for some time have bought a soft-air gun, remembering the good times of knocking a tin can off a fence post."

Those customers now can experience that same fun indoors, which means an even bigger customer base for airguns. To meet the growing demand, soft air is now available from numerous manufacturers, many of them offering soft air versions of firearms.

AIRGUN MARKET

Adco                         358
Air Arms                     359
AirForce Airguns             360
Anschutz                     361
Beeman Precision Airguns     362
Benjamin                     363
BSA                          364
B-Square                     365
Burris Co.                   366
Bushnell Performance Optics  367
C-More Systems               368
Crosman Corp.                369
Daisy Manufacturing Co.      370
Dynamit Nobel/RWS            371
European American Armory     372
Gamo USA                     373
Leupold & Stevens            374
Marksman Products            375
RWS                          376
Swift Optics                 377
TruGlo Inc.                  378
Weaver                       379
Webley & Scott               380