SWFA business model?

[BRTreedogs]

Last time I checked, Amazon never had a storefront. You completely ignored the fact that SWFA has seen a substantial contraction. Businesses that are succeeding don't normally do that. By all means, please ring in with additional irrelevance!

You literally do not know jack about there intended model, financials, intentions or anything else.
You don't listen to reason and just want to argue.
Wtf do you care. Run there scopes or don't. None of us care what you do.

 

[CorbLand]

Last time I checked, Amazon never had a storefront. You completely ignored the fact that SWFA has seen a substantial contraction. Businesses that are succeeding don't normally do that. By all means, please ring in with additional irrelevance!

But if your transitioning to online from a storefront, you close it. A lot of business have and will go this way. Storefronts are expensive to run and serve little value if the customer base is online.

Amazon is literally the most successful business in the last 20 years. If you are not looking to them and implementing some of there strategies into your businesses, if applicable, they are doing way worse than SWFA.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

You literally do not know jack about there intended model, financials, intentions or anything else.
You don't listen to reason and just want to argue.
Wtf do you care. Run there scopes or don't. None of us care what you do.

their

I know about business, and know that business models that are working well don't find businesses dramatically contracting.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

But if your transitioning to online from a storefront, you close it. A lot of business have and will go this way. Storefronts are expensive to run and serve little value if the customer base is online.

Based on my scan of their website, they only have about 20% of the inventory they used to have. They do have a good in stock position on Barska!

 

[BRTreedogs]

their

I know about business, and know that business models that are working well don't find businesses dramatically contracting.

Why do you care?
Do you have a significant pile of scopes your worried about getting warranties?

If so sell them and move on.

 

[CorbLand]

Based on my scan of their website, they only have about 20% of the inventory they used to have. They do have a good in stock position on Barska!

I would bet Nosler, Hornady, Hogdon, CCI and about 100 other companies have similar quantities on hand of their products too. Do you think they are failing? I can tell you right now that a major retailer in the outdoor space is struggling to get inventory as well. We can’t meet customer demand and haven’t been able to for nearly two years. Are they failing too?

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

Why do you care?
Do you have a significant pile of scopes your worried about getting warranties?

If so sell them and move on.

Is this not a discussion about their business model? That's all I am doing, is having a discussion about it while my ribs are smoking.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

I would bet Nosler, Hornady, Hogdon, CCI and about 100 other companies have similar quantities on hand of their products too. Do you think they are failing? I can tell you right now that a major retailer in the outdoor space is struggling to get inventory as well. We can’t meet customer demand and haven’t been able to for nearly two years. Are they failing too?

SWFA used to have lots of guns, ammo, bullets and other shooting stuff. Go search their website for such items. It is not a supply chain issue. They are adjusting their business model through substantial contraction.

 

[CorbLand]

SWFA used to have lots of guns, ammo, bullets and other shooting stuff. Go search their website for such items. It is not a supply chain issue. They are adjusting their business model through substantial contraction.

Guns, Ammo, and shooting stuff is one of the hardest things to get right now. I work at a gun counter. We are doing everything we can to make it look like we have inventory, we simply do not have. Two years ago, we were selling more guns a day than we have in the store. The company I work for is 100 times the size of SWFA. It has only been the last 4 months that we were receiving regular shipments. Even that has slowed down.

The majority of stores that have inventory of those things have risen there prices to offset demand. SWFA hasn’t done that and I am thankful they haven’t.

The company I work for started to increase their online presence and it has increased dramatically. It started with one employee doing it and has now gone to 1 full time and 3 part time.

Adapting to current trends is the best business model you can have. Sometimes that business model isn’t conventional.

It’s kind of funny, if you asked most people what they think the economy will do in the next couple years, the majority will say 2008 repeat. Then those same people will turn around and wonder why companies aren’t investing in expansion.

I have an uncle that is in the top three biggest real estate agents in his area. Fifteen years ago he would take any listing/showing he could get. Now he doesn’t work with first time home buyers. My brother on the other hand, loves to work with first time home buyers. If you call him looking for a 2 million dollar home, he will direct you to someone else. My other brother owns his own CPA firm and turns clients away all the time because he has enough to keep himself busy and make enough to do the things he enjoys. My father in law built a 4 million dollar concrete business and lost it all in 2008. He still runs a concrete business and says he will never build another on that big. He also turns clients away. None of them are running failing businesses. They have each found what they want from their business and built it to provide that. Some people want to be millionaires, and some want a million dollars worth of time with their families. Sometimes the later comes at the expense of customers and growth of the business and that is ok.

 

[MattB]

Last time I checked, Amazon never had a storefront. You completely ignored the fact that SWFA has seen a substantial contraction. Businesses that are succeeding don't normally do that. By all means, please ring in with additional irrelevance!

Not to ruin your rant, you are overlooking or intentionally ignoring two very obvious points.

1. There is a trend in retail that pre-dates the pandemic to reduce or even eliminate physical stores and shift those sales online. Retail space is generally expensive to lease and its utilization by consumers has been steadily declining, so many businesses are finding they can be more profitable with an online-heavy or online-only sales model. You can Google it if you don't believe me.

2. And then there was the pandemic itself, which made it difficult for many companies to maintain inventory levels. Suggesting that is due to a conscious decision based on a company's business model and not because of breakdowns in global supply chains is simply disingenuous.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

Not to ruin your rant, you are overlooking or intentionally ignoring two very obvious points.

1. There is a trend in retail that pre-dates the pandemic to reduce or even eliminate physical stores and shift those sales online. Retail space is generally expensive to lease and its utilization by consumers has been steadily declining, so many businesses are finding they can be more profitable with an online-heavy or online-only sales model. You can Google it if you don't believe me.

2. And then there was the pandemic itself, which made it difficult for many companies to maintain inventory levels. Suggesting that is due to a conscious decision based on a company's business model and not because of breakdowns in global supply chains is simply disingenuous.

LOL.

 

[prm]

What firearms related seller has great stock of materials? Do you know their sales are contracting?

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

What firearms related seller has great stock of materials? Do you know their sales are contracting?

They used to show a large selection of rifles. This is what they are showing now.

Firearms: Rifles | SWFA - SWFA Outdoors

Shop SWFA Outdoors for a wide selection or rifles from top firearms manufacturers. Plus, take advantage of our SWFA military discount.

www.swfa.com

They used to show a good stock of handguns. This is what they show now.

Firearms: Handguns | SWFA - SWFA Outdoors

SWFA Outdoors is your source for quality handguns. Shop the most popular models from top manufacturers like Beretta, Glock, and Adams Arms.

www.swfa.com

They used to show a good selection of scopes and red dots. They have 72 total in stock right now.

Riflescopes, Sights, Binoculars & Optic Accessories - SWFA Outdoors

Shop for rifle scopes from top manufacturers like Burris, Bushnell, Leica, Leopold, Meopta, Nikon, Zeiss and more. Click through to find the latest deals.

www.swfa.com

They used to show a lot of in stock rimfire ammo. This is what they show now.

Rimfire Ammunition | SWFA - SWFA Outdoors

Shop SWFA Outdoors' large selection of rimfire rifle ammunition. We sell top products from the top manufacturers in the ammunition business.

www.swfa.com

I'll allow that my memory may be off on this, but it seems they used to have a big supply of component bullets and other reloading stuff. This is all they show now.

Ammunition: Reloading Supplies | SWFA - SWFA Outdoors

Shop SWFA's large selection of ammunition reloading supplies. We sell the top names in bullets, powder, primers, and more.

www.swfa.com

EVERY other player in the guns, ammo, optics, and reloading game is much better shape relative to the their historical stock, BY FAR.

This is NOT a supply chain issue.

 

[Fatcamp]

I am afraid this thread is frighteningly close to meme territory.

 

[knale87]

 

[redneckbmxer24]

They have closed their storefront. They have dramatically reduced their overall inventory. They can't meet customer demand for their flagship products. That certainly has great business model written all over it. Isn't that what thriving businesses do? Cut inventory by 80%, close physical stores and struggle to meet customer demand?

You clearly have little clue how retail works based on this post and others in here. These are niche products, riflescopes in general are niche products, their SWFA branded optics are niche products. Their business has always been primarily ecommerce, so if the greater majority of their sales are online why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year staffing and running a storefront that's not anywhere near as profitable as a smaller warehouse with the staff you have to have their anyway? Then why would you stock millions of dollars worth of products that don't sell as well when you can stock only the inventory that moves through the door that makes money and takes up less warehouse space, further reducing costs?

Their business model is quite smart in that regard. They don't need a store front.

I don't know if they ever sold guns, ammo, and other stuff in their store but I remember SWFA a long time ago when they aquired the SS line from Tasco and I don't remember selling any of that stuff online, they were optics mounts. Optics and mounts have far higher profit margins than guns and ammo which is shit in the retail world. Some firearm brands only have 10% markup which is a joke.

I did not. I am not sure that listing as backordered an item that is available is a good business model either.

How is allowing a customer to place an order for an item that is out of stock that will automatically go through for them as soon as inventory becomes available a bad business model? Please explain that to me. It would be stupid NOT to allow people to backorder, thats pretty much standard across the retail world.

Not having enough product to meet demand on a regular basis is a poor business model. That's simply inarguable.

Again, you have no clue what you're talking about. I guess you've never heard of covid and how some governments ****** the world and continue to do it. You have zero idea how much production was cut for asian OEM manufacturing, for a while it was completely halted, ZERO product produced or shipping. Meanwhile people are buying like crazy because they're sitting at home with nothing to do. I'm CPO of a large ecommerce business, we were not sure WTF was going to happen when it started, we thought we would have to lay off due to lost sales and possibly shut down warehouses. Instead we were immediately hit with the fastest growth we have ever seen, every month are a new sales record for over a year and it leveled off with sales still high. The economy was being flooded with printed money and people had nothing to do but sit home and spend it.

Almost 3 years later we are still suffering from supply chain issues and getting products from overseas. There are manufacturing delays and shipping delays. SWFA is suffering the same delays.

Do you have a better understanding now of how this world works?

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

You clearly have little clue how retail works based on this post and others in here. These are niche products, riflescopes in general are niche products, their SWFA branded optics are niche products. Their business has always been primarily ecommerce, so if the greater majority of their sales are online why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year staffing and running a storefront that's not anywhere near as profitable as a smaller warehouse with the staff you have to have their anyway? Then why would you stock millions of dollars worth of products that don't sell as well when you can stock only the inventory that moves through the door that makes money and takes up less warehouse space, further reducing costs?

Their business model is quite smart in that regard. They don't need a store front.

I don't know if they ever sold guns, ammo, and other stuff in their store but I remember SWFA a long time ago when they aquired the SS line from Tasco and I don't remember selling any of that stuff online, they were optics mounts. Optics and mounts have far higher profit margins than guns and ammo which is shit in the retail world. Some firearm brands only have 10% markup which is a joke.



How is allowing a customer to place an order for an item that is out of stock that will automatically go through for them as soon as inventory becomes available a bad business model? Please explain that to me. It would be stupid NOT to allow people to backorder, thats pretty much standard across the retail world.



Again, you have no clue what you're talking about. I guess you've never heard of covid and how some governments ****** the world and continue to do it. You have zero idea how much production was cut for asian OEM manufacturing, for a while it was completely halted, ZERO product produced or shipping. Meanwhile people are buying like crazy because they're sitting at home with nothing to do. I'm CPO of a large ecommerce business, we were not sure WTF was going to happen when it started, we thought we would have to lay off due to lost sales and possibly shut down warehouses. Instead we were immediately hit with the fastest growth we have ever seen, every month are a new sales record for over a year and it leveled off with sales still high. The economy was being flooded with printed money and people had nothing to do but sit home and spend it.

Almost 3 years later we are still suffering from supply chain issues and getting products from overseas. There are manufacturing delays and shipping delays. SWFA is suffering the same delays.

Do you have a better understanding now of how this world works?

Go open the links I provided for a better understanding of how retail doesn't work.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Go open the links I provided for a better understanding of how retail doesn't work.

Did you read a single thing I posted? The links showing no rifles or ammo or anything? Who the **** cares, they sell optics and they're obviously profitable or they wouldn't be doing it and they've figured out a way to be profitable with less space and cutting costs.

What do you know about retail? What do you do for a living?

 

[ElPollo]

Well shit, I called today to cancel my oldest backorder from September 2021 so I could place a new one at the Christmas prices instead of full price for the scope + other stuff I really don't need/want anymore.

You should have just called and asked them if they would apply the sale price. I did and they agreed. I ordered in August and my scope was delivered yesterday for $419 +tax.

 

[fwafwow]

I am afraid this thread is frighteningly close to meme territory.

@Drenalin @Billy Goat @Fingershooter23 @Nickofthewoods @go_deep @Rob5589