Hunting dogs: sell dog products in gun shops? You bet!

Shooting Industry, August, 2004 by Carolee Anita Boyles

Hunters love their dogs! A good hunting dog is a privileged creature and hunters spend big bucks on their hunting canines. Whether they're buying training dummies, bird scents or training collars, hunters spend money all year on their best buddies.

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If you're not profiting from this segment of the market, you're missing out on significant dollars. Hunting is still the biggest segment of the shooting sports marketplace and a considerable number of hunters own hunting dogs.

In 2003, Pheasants Forever commissioned a survey of its 108,000 members. The dog-related segment of the survey shows 64 percent of Pheasant Forever members own dogs, 30 percent own two or more dogs, 84 percent personally train their dogs, 82 percent use their dogs for hunting and 49 percent own electronic training collars. In addition, Pheasants Forever members spend over $18 million on dog food annually.

"Most customers who go into a retail store to buy guns and ammunition are hunters," said Dick Knapp, owner of Hallmark Dog Training Supplies. "And a lot of those hunters have dogs they hunt with, and they want to train them."

What kind of margins can you make on dog products?

"Some retailers will be happy with 40 percent," Knapp said. "But a lot of retailers are able to keystone."

Stephen Kitchen is the assistant store manager at Dunn's Sporting Goods in St. Charles, Mo. Because hunters in the area are heavily into waterfowl, Dunn's keeps an extensive inventory of products designed for retrieving dogs.

"We make anywhere from 39 to 40 points on dog products," Kitchen said. "We don't make that on products like electronic collars, but on products such as collars, leads, whistles, duck scents and products such as that, we make that much."

Dunn's carries electronic collars, regular collars and leads, scents, dummies, dummy launchers, kennel crates and neoprene dog vests. However, the store does not stock dog food and other basic pet products.

"There are too many PETCOs and PETs-MARTs in our area," Kitchen said. "So we specialize. Besides, when you store that kind of stuff, you have to worry about rodents."

There are a number of ways to promote dog products in your store. Kitchen says Dunn's works with a local retriever breeder to attract customers by selling puppies in the store.

"She puts an ad in the local paper saying she's going to be here from nine until noon on a Saturday morning. That brings people into the store who are interested in buying puppies. They remember they bought their puppy in our store, and they tend to come back for products they need. We build our clientele by doing that," Kitchen said.

Additionally, during the store's Fall Waterfowl Festival, Kitchen always has a couple of dog trainers at the store, as well as manufacturers' reps who can talk to customers about dog products.

Kitchen says the most important factor to consider before you stock dog products is knowing your hunting area.

"Are you in an upland bird area, a waterfowl area or in an area where people don't hunt with dogs?" he asks. "Having that information will help you make a decision whether to carry dog products and which categories to stock."

Then, Kitchen advises, start small.

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"There are so many lines out there. Go wide. Get a fair amount of product in, but don't go deep in anything," Kitchen said. "Test the waters slowly and find out what your customers are going to buy."

That, Kitchen says, provides a do and do not sell list.

"We know the only scents we're going to sell are waterfowl scents, and we're not going to sell rawhide chew toys, food bowls or dog beds. We're narrowed what we carry down to items our customers want. You have to feel your market out and see what will sell," Kitchen said.

Select The Right Training Inventory

Hallmark Dog Training Supplies manufacturers a wide range of products for hunting dogs, including training dummies for retrieving dogs.

"We have four sizes of canvas dummies: regular, puppy, junior puppy, and one that's big like a goose," Knapp said.

Many trainers and hunters want to accustom their dogs to the scent of the birds and animals they will be hunting. Hallmark offers a fabric "scent band" that can be placed on the dummy to carry the company's liquid scents.

"We have nine different scents," Knapp said, "We have goose, bear, raccoon and rabbit, and we're working on turkey for next year."

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Remington has branded its name on a line of sporting dog accessories from Coastal Pet Products.

"Having Remington dog products in the store creates a brand association, particularly if your customers buy Remington guns," said Dawn Bittecuffer of Coastal Pet Products. "We developed items that fit well into brand loyalty. It's a natural step to enhance a retailer's gun line."

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The Remington sporting dog products include collars, leads, training restraints, safety vests, muzzles, training scents and even health treatments. Coastal Pet Products has a variety of displays to help you merchandise the Remington line.