Selling Handgun Accessories

Shooting Industry, Feb, 2000 by Roy Huntington

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The gun industry is engaged in two tough battles. Manufacturers, distributors, dealers and citizens are fighting against bigcity lawsuits and for the protection of the Second Amendment. Battle number two involves dealers across the country who are fighting to remain profitable in today's increasingly difficult outdoor marketplace.

In 1997, approximately 1,037,000 pistols and 370,000 revolvers were produced in this country. Those numbers are down from previous years but still remain strong. Trends show sales of high-capacity semi-autos are sliding -- with the advent of the Brady Law limiting magazine capacity to 10 rounds -- and sales of .22 pistols increasing. In no small part due to the Brady Law, the design and sale of 1911-based pistols is increasing, dramatically. The old war-horse refuses to die and keeps re-inventing itself to fill the needs and desires of the marketplace.

What this translates into is a still-strong basis for a significant part of any retailer's business to be concentrated in handgun accessories. Margins on the sale of firearms have never been at a lower level with many dealers making 10 percent on a gun sale -- when they're lucky. Compare that to the keystone (100 percent) mark-up often made on accessories like cleaning products, magazines, grips, sights and the like, and it's easy to see why accessories may need to be re-visited in your store.

Are the big-box marts moving into your neighborhood? Welcome to the club. They're moving into everybody's neighborhood and affecting a lot of different businesses. It's sink or swim time in the gun business, now or never, put-up or shut-up, you take the high road and - well, you get the picture. Now, more than at any other time in the gun business, savvy dealers must be clear-headed and innovative to stay afloat and - even prosper.

The old standard of customer service, quality products, proper display and follow-up to sales are more important than ever. Of course, chances are pretty good, if you're reading this, you don't need to be reminded of these business basics. What you need is solid information about what is selling in the accessory market - right now. Shooting Industry polled a cross-section of gun dealers to find out what is ringing registers.

What They Say

The accessory business can often be very regionalized. Varmint-shooting handgun rests might sell like gangbusters in the West but sit on shelves gathering dust in the Northeast. We've taken the generalities Out of this poll and have distilled it into the products and trends that seem to hold their own across the board, in any demographic, from Fred's Guns and Stuff in Montana to the Shooter's Elite Emporium in downtown Dallas.

Pearce Grip products were mentioned regularly in our poll. Their magazine extensions, slip-on grip enhancers and proprietary grips are economical and popular on retail shelves.

Hogue has a solid reputation for producing quality grips in recoil-taming soft rubber and nylon, plus eye-catching fancy hardwood.

Ajax grips offer good value in some pretty exotic woods, stag, ivory and other materials and permits a dealer to cater to the crowd who doesn't want another black-rubber grip. This is especially important if you have a strong cowboy shooting crowd in your customer base. Their new line of ivory polymer grips are difficult to tell from the real thing.

"We keep them on our display guns and it's not often we sell a new gun without the add-on grips going out the door right along with the gun," said one dealer. Equipping display handguns with accessories is a common technique among many dealers. Once a customer sees that new Kimber 1911 with a set of Crimson Trace LaserGrips installed, it's not often they part company.

Eagle Grips offers grips that easily capture customers attention. Their Old West Gun Grips are widely regarded by cowboy action shooters for their workmanship and custom feel. Made of buffalo horn, ivory, stag, rosewood, mother of pearl, sambar and ebony, Eagle Grips transform six-shooters into display pieces.

Beyond The Usual

"I always have an Outer's Pistol Perch on display with a plastic red-gun sitting on it. You'd be amazed at the number of customers who try it out, see how much a rest helps with shooting and then the questions start," said Stuart Grimes of The Gun Rug, a retail gun store in the South. "Those questions lead to other ways of improving group sizes like Novak or Millett sights, grips, ammo and even optics, like an inexpensive spotting scope from Weaver for range use."

"Broaden your interpretation of what a handgun accessory might be," said John Rappele, a long-time dealer. "Be creative and put a basic 1911 in the case surrounded with parts from Ed Brown's shop, custom grips, cleaning kit, zippered case and personal-defense ammo. That way a customer says, 'Hey, I have all those options if I buy that gun,' and most take some with them when they leave."