A question to the 76 RFDs on this board.

pedroeibar1

Security is a major concern to RFDs and deters some from advertising. A website has no need to show a physical address iand as such is an ideal way of advertising products, prices and building brand recognition for a business.

The country is in recession, the few customers with cash to spend do so very carefully and do Internet research before buying. Every 'wanted / for sale' advert on Boards gets anywhere from a couple of hundred to a couple thousand hits. So, could anyone explain to me why only nine of you have websites and of the 9 sites three do not work and some of the others are awful?

This is the sad list of Irish dealers online:
www.courtlough.ie
http://www.may-tec.com does not work
http://www.amsport.info does not work
http://www.fingalsports.com
http://www.shoot.ie/
http://www.landers.ie/ Nothing about guns, their online shop directs to this http://www.landers.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=55 – honest, I'm not making it up.
http://www.sportsden.ie
www.thegunandtackleshop.co.uk does not work
www.eastcoastdogandgun.ie

Do you guys care about your businesses or customers??
Answers from RFDs preferred,

P.

Kryten

may-tec is now may-mac.

http://www.may-mac.com

CJhaughey

http://www.fishingandhunting.ie/
This makes ten.

rrpc

If we're talking about the Island of Ireland, there's also: www.intershoot.co.uk

Dr_Teeth

http://hilltopshootingsports.com also.

J.R.

Alsp Jim Halpin, Listowel, Co. Kerry

http://www.halpins.net/

Tackleberrywho

J.R. wrote: »

Alsp Jim Halpin, Listowel, Co. Kerry

http://www.halpins.net/

Clever the way you get directed straight to Remington site when you click on remington.
Not so clever though if you don't go back to his site later.

never knew one could buy Mausers in Kerry, Now I do

I might get one to Match my WW1 1915 Mauser bayonet

I'd love if stock was on a website, however i reckon there is a method to their madness.
Customers can not compare prices without physically going to inspect their wares

patsat

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

C
never knew one could buy Mausers in Kerry, Now I do
I might get one to Match my WW1 1915 Mauser bayonet
I'd love if stock was on a website, however i reckon there is a method to their madness.
Customers can not compare prices without physically going to inspect their wares

If you are ever down that side of the country they are well worth a visit. They have a very interesting collection of military rifles and a man working there who is happy to spend his talking about them !

FISMA

Pedro,
When you're the only game in town, people find you, you do not have to find them.

Also, when you're the only game in town AND you're the best at what you do, why spend money on advertising?

weldersmask

the way i see it is something similar to the last poster, there are those who want to advertise and spend time money on websites hoping to catch /attract as many customers as possible , 'the type that are jacks of all trades and master of non ' selling everything from archery to tennis balls and then there are those who have a niche buisness and cater for a more select and exclusive customer and are quite happy to leave it at that , i know where i would rather do my shopping even if it means 2 hours in the car

pedroeibar1

Interesting (from a marketing/advertising perspective) that the ‘new’ sites listed above were not sent to Boards for the Dealer Wiki......


On the Sportsden site (on Wiki, and a good one BTW, I like that they price their s/h guns) there are some interesting figures – 68% of visitors found that site using a search engine. Dealers with no sites ignore that amount of name recognition and potential business leads.

FISMA wrote: »

When you're the only game in town, people find you, you do not have to find them.
Also, when you're the only game in town AND you're the best at what you do, why spend money on advertising?

This must be irony, but the lack of smilies is worrying. Do tell me you're joking.

I've said on another post that I’ve no problem in paying a bit over the odds for convenience, but I’m not happy being taken for a ride. So, if I'm buying, I look at prices on the 'net and usually buy from there. The lack of any prices is IMO the indication of bad value.

Despite the reasons suggested to me in a couple of PMs, the absence of a higher number of professional websites reinforces a view that most of the Irish dealers are complacent at best, lazy at worst and certainly not customer focussed.
P.

IRLConor

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Interesting (from a marketing/advertising perspective) that the ‘new’ sites listed above were not sent to Boards for the Dealer Wiki

Anyone can edit the wiki. I've done a good chunk of it, but you don't need any special powers to change the details there.

homerhop

29 buisnesses advertising shooting related gear in this months ISD and only 5 with websites. I have said it before and will say it again, you have to spend money to make money. In this climate any chance to make a sale is good buisness sense and tbh local dealers are losing out to websites like sports den.
Thankfully I am still working but by the time i get home in the evenings it is after 6, so if i am looking for something I have to go on the wibbly wobbly wonder and look it up and it is quiet frustrating trying to find anything in this country without being diverted to ebay.
Its well and good driving 2 hours but i would rather save myself a long drive if i knew somewhere local had what i wanted.

sharky0922

i know why! some lads didnt notice..but we have XXI century now..

aah..sportsden nice refreshing blow.. but youre doin a bit of everything
and if something is good for everything is good for nothing, focus on something boys, BE shooting webiste . for know youre just another webiste with few gadgets.
darts? snooker? schoolbags? what else you gonna squeeze there? fire breathing? :rolleyes:

if i just had money..
for PROFESIONAL web shop with specially designed logo for company , business cards and paper around 2000 -3000 euro really?so big money?

jap gt

sharky0922 wrote: »

i know why! some lads didnt notice..but we have XXI century now..

aah..sportsden nice refreshing blow.. but youre doin a bit of everything
and if something is good for everything is good for nothing, focus on something boys, BE shooting webiste . for know youre just another webiste with few gadgets.
darts? snooker? schoolbags? what else you gonna squeeze there? fire breathing? :rolleyes:

if i just had money..
for PROFESIONAL web shop with specially designed logo for company , business cards and paper around 2000 -3000 euro really?so big money?

i think sportsden have the best website of all the dealers in this country, they wouldn't make much just selling firearms and ammo, once they keep the firearms and gear updated they can sell what they want, hell anything is better than landers and the shewees :rolleyes:

endasmail

sharky0922 wrote: »

i know why! some lads didnt notice..but we have XXI century now..

aah..sportsden nice refreshing blow.. but youre doin a bit of everything
and if something is good for everything is good for nothing, focus on something boys, BE shooting webiste . for know youre just another webiste with few gadgets.
darts? snooker? schoolbags? what else you gonna squeeze there? fire breathing? :rolleyes:

if i just had money..
for PROFESIONAL web shop with specially designed logo for company , business cards and paper around 2000 -3000 euro really?so big money?

are u taking a dig at the lad for selling all sporting equipment or what?

jap gt

endasmail wrote: »

are u taking a dig at the lad for selling all sporting equipment or what?

i think so, its a bit of a rant, but i like the site i play darts and snooker, and i carry a backpack when hunting as do most hunters/shooters, so i dont understand why he has a problem with a man doing the sensible thing and putting them all on his site

sharky0922

endasmail wrote: »

are u taking a dig at the lad for selling all sporting equipment or what?

no, just saying if they want be good shooting website they should have
more things shooting related.since they said

Sportsden.ie wrote: »

I would welcome any advice from our customers on how we can improve our service and our site in the future.

so i did.. gave my advice

jap gt wrote: »

they wouldn't make much just selling firearms and ammo, once they keep the firearms and gear updated they can sell what they want, hell anything is better than landers and the shewees :rolleyes:

sadly true.. for now,
how many shooters is in ireland? i dont remember right now ,but good website would have plenty of customers.and who said that they have to sell in ireland only?
they can sell whatever they want to make more cusomers,
anything better.. also true, but whats wrong with wanting that "better" make it great?

jap gt wrote: »

i think so, its a bit of a rant, but i like the site i play darts and snooker, and i carry a backpack when hunting as do most hunters/shooters, so i dont understand why he has a problem with a man doing the sensible thing and putting them all on his site

i like it to! and i dont have ANY problem..
but they trying to be shooting website,so i look from this angle.. if they could focus all their money and time on 3-4 most popular categories they would come out with this far more better. since they have to spread money around 9 ..they have bits of each. calm down boys, its just constructive criticism

weldersmask

i suppose the question that should be asked is how much time is spent updating the website and how much time is spent fullfilling the orders placed on it
of course if you have enough help then its a no brainer but if the rfd is a one man band with time constraints then a web site that dosn't get updated is worse than ner a one
and its fine telling a lad he should have a website and it'll only cost X to get one up and running but if he dosn't have the time or expertise to keep it updated then it's a waste of time for him

homerhop

There are 5 dealers within a 40 min road trip from me, you don’t know what they have in their shops until you go there and even at that most the stuff is tucked away in a back room or behind a counter. If you call you get the great Irish business line of “I will call you back tomorrow and let you know the price” As much and all as I would love to deal with the local fellas the fact remains that I can look up on line through the like of sports den etc , see the price and exactly what is in the shop and in some cases have it the next day if ordered before 2pm. €10 is as good in my pocket as it in to a shop in this day and age and if I do get the time to get into town to a “one man dealer” half the day is wasted waiting to be served while Billy and bob exchange stories about the one that got away. Jeez just thinking back now on the amount of times I went into G&H waiting for over an hour even to get my foot inside the gun room door.