thetraditionalhunter

Hi,
I am a web programmer trying to do some market research, i recently took up a project to build a website for a friend who owns a hunting store. He has lots of nice stuff in his store, so i offered to put it online for everyone to see.

Anyway,
I would like to know what kind of an item description you like to see. Just the specs? or long descriptions?
What do you look for in an online store, and what do you NOT look for in a store.

Thanks for your time.

ranger56528

Myself I do not buy Bows online,I like to hold and feel the bow I am going to buy but as for related items yes I do buy thos online,i.e arrows,flecthing,nocks,field points,quivers and more......

JimPic

I bought 18 custom recurves and longbows in the past 14 months.Only one of those did I actually talk to the bowyer in person and order it--the rest were all on-line.AS a matter of fact,I just bought a recurve on-line yesterday,another one 3 weeks ago,and I have a deal pending right now.I'm waiting on this to comein(Shafer Silvertip)

thetraditionalhunter

What kind of information helps you decide to buy a bow online at one place, and not at another, other then price of course.

JimPic

I normally don't buy off of dealers on-line.When I go to the trad shoots that have dealers,I'll buy from them then-usually smaller stuff.I hit the classifieds on stickbow and tradgang-I do most of my buying there-and when I see something I want,I'll ask to send pic's and I'll put an offer in for it.I pretty much know what I'm looking for to begin with so handling it isn't a big deal for me

thetraditionalhunter

Why is that?

JimPic

As far as bows,I buy most of mine used and I can usually find them cheaper in classifieds

Wyvern Crossbow

Well....having done some of my own research and doing most of my business online myself I found that if you are looking strictly at traditional archery most people will buy their bows online(and by that I mean Ebayas well as the occasional online dealer)if you are talking about off the shelf production bows. I personaly have found that over the last few years the dramatic increase in "custom bowyers" has actually hurt the production bow sales. Even if the performance is less that a production bow, there is a demand for something that was "made just for me". Martin for example makes a very nice off the shelf bow. But for about the same money "Feds bow shop" will make one "custom" (that in itself is a vague term, but that is another thread). There are also a ton of used bows online that can present some great values to archers of limited means. I also sell Trad equipment, but have been frustrated as to how to make it not only profitable but competitive online. It is very tough to compete with say Three Rivers when they sell to absolutly everone while at the same time offer a wholesale business. I am actually a dealer for Three Rivers and can offer everything in their catalog at or even below what they sell it for, but I still see boxes in my UPS truck that are going to local people in my area. I did complain to them at the ATA show that it is very hard to meet their minimums when they are not only my supplier, but my major competition as well.That is a perfect example of some of the lack of support dealers face.

Traditional customers are not like your average compound or crossbow guy. They tend to be more self sufficient (meaning they are more likely to buy raw shafts and bags of feathers and do things themselves rather than buy finished arrows) and they have in many respects become frustrated with the lack of support, product, and knowlage of trac archery at just about every "pro shop" across the country. Mail order and internet is for many the only source for them. Is there a market for internet sales for trad equipment??? yes. For bows??? Ummm...that is a bit harder. Unless you can either sell an off the shelf bow for substantialy less than anyone else(there by making it a viable option to buy that instead of a custom bow) or offer custom bows yourself, I would say it may only be a sideline at best.

What I have done is brought in the Millenium line of bows. These are made in Canada, they are made to order (not mass produced) by bowyers, they are very high quality, and they offer a full custom service if you have a unique draw lenght, or desire specific woods in your bow. This allows me to sell something unique (they are not heavily distributed in the US) and still sell a quality product. How that may do is still up in the air as I will be taking this year to add them to my line and heavily promote them.

Hope that helps

Wyvern