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Hello from Dealer Services at GunsAmerica!
You are an early stocking dealer test of our local advertising system at GunsAmerica that we now call Customer Connect. Since your gunshop went live, you have had thousands of clicks from local buyers, directly onto your posted inventory, either in hand or through distributor feeds. Many of them came into your store to buy guns. Our Customer Connect shops have not seen as bad a downturn this past year. The program is proving to be really valuable.
We have now added our first permanent test of the very same Customer Connect maps on a manufacturer website.
View at SCCY.com
If you are not on this map, it is because you have not posted any SCCY inventory for sale, and/or have not signed up for distributor feeds on 48 Hour Guns.
The SCCY Firearms website has thousands of consumers every day looking to buy. They have integrated the GunsAmerica Customer Connect inventory locator map to help these consumers find their gun at a local dealer. The program is free as part of your Customer Connect membership.
This is the Customer Connect map on SCCY Firearms. It is driven by inventory and location, so if you have it and you are closest to the buyer, you come up first. It is completely FREE.
Check out the inventory locator map on the CPX-1 and CPX-2 pages at the SCCY Firearms website. If you don’t see any local dealers for your zip code, trying changing the zip to 77055, which is Houston, TX.
We should be rolling out these powerful tools across the entire firearms industry within the next year. We will be sending a special extension offer soon to our original BETA testers and active subscribers.
Your position on the SCCY website will be based purely on location. The closest dealer with inventory, or who has signed up for distributor inventory, comes up first for each consumer on the website. The second closest comes up second, and so on. The system is built to discourage price bottomfeeding, and to encourage the consumer to just go buy the gun for a reasonable price from his or her local dealer.
If you looked in the Houston area on the map (as explained in the caption to the picture on the right), you will see that some dealers appear above the map, and some below the map. The above the map option starts at $199 per month, and includes the GunsAmerica map and access to all partner maps without requiring a code.
Instructions
Post SCCY Guns for Sale – Do you have any SCCY firearms in the store right now? You can either hand post them individually, or use our Bulk Upload system, which is accessible from your GunsAmerica Dashboard. Use the classified ad option, not the auctions.
BETA Testers: Upgrade to a Discount/Connect Package – Right now you are either a Basic Seller or you are at the Trusted Seller account level at GunsAmerica. The BETA test is coming to an end soon and if you want to retain your Customer Connect maps seamlessly, you should upgrade now.
The membership level page on GunsAmerica now incorporates Customer Connect. When the BETA test ends, only the paid members will be left on the maps. We are adding new dealers every day.
Customer Connect is powerful because it brings you business and saves you money. ALL LOCAL SALES WITHIN 50 MILES ARE ALWAYS COMPLETELY FREE on GunsAmerica. So ideally, when you post a SCCY for sale on GunsAmerica, the SCCY Customer Connect map will sell it for you locally. If by some chance someone not local buys it first, our normal fee structure applies. That is why we bundled our discount packages in with some Customer Connect programs. Once a store has committed to maintaining listings on GunsAmerica, through hand posting or using our Bulk Upload from a POS system, often times they want to go full on and sell as many guns as possible through the effort, both online and in store. For stores that don’t want that we have what we call Brochure Mode, which removes all contact options except physical location and phone number.
Make sure that your SCCY map is on and that you have inventory.
Verify Your Local Ad & Map Settings – There are now two active tests going for our remote Partner Connect maps right now, SCCY, and Honor Guard. We are adding a few other small manufacturers in the coming weeks. You should also be looking for our Editorial Heads Up emails to sell guns from GunsAmerica Digest articles.
The system is pretty easy and should walk you right through. First you’ll check the Google Street View image of your gunshop, or you can take your own picture and post it in manually. Some shops use a logo instead, but in our experience it is better for the customer to see the picture of your store to remind them where it is.
Next you will see a choice to link to your GunsAmerica listings or to your Live Storefront listings. Live Storefronts are full automated dealer websites that run on the GunsAmerica back end. For now just ignore that. When you register on GunsAmerica as a store you will get an email about all of our GunsAmerica Stocking Dealer Services.
Brochure Mode is a feature that allows just your phone number and location on Ads.
On the Partner Connect maps, you will currently see SCCY available, along with Caracal, Honor Defense, and our Editorial Maps. If you carry Caracal and Honor Defense, they are all open to you. You just need to post inventory to become visible.
Adding 48 Hour inventory from distributor feeds is easy. Pick the distributors you use, and the system will walk you through the brands you wish to carry, and your pricing and shipping.
Add Distributor Feeds/48 Hour Guns – This is also on your GunsAmerica Dashboard, in addition to the link provided here. For each distributor in our system (the ones we are missing should be on soon) you can post a specific markup (as opposed to margin). So if the distributor price is $300 and you post a 20% markup, the front facing price will be $360.
Our system downloads current inventory and prices from the distributor feeds, crunches the percentage numbers, and shows the consumer your lowest price. If the consumer contacts you through our system, or clicks “Buy It,” you will get an email with the quoted price and how that price was derived using which distributor. It works great.
What is the “right” percentage? We don’t know, but keep in mind that these 48 Hour ads will only be shown to local consumers who may want to order the gun today to pick up at your store. This is not a bottom feeding internet deal application where everyone beats each other up over the last $10 in profit. Don’t be afraid to use a healthy retail firearm markup of 20% or more.
For now we are using generic pricing from the distributors. Some time soon we will fetch pricing based on your individual login, so we get exact price and availability.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can distributors drop ship guns for me? – There is no fulfillment component to 48 Hour Guns right now. But this is primarily a local program anyway, to build foot traffic at your brick and mortar store. On the maps, if there is a seller within 50 miles, the map does not expand further. That is how we can keep the system free for gunshops that don’t want aftersale fees on national sales.
- What if I sell an SCCY I post outside of 50 miles? – Then you would have to pay the standard GunsAmerica aftersale fees. This is why if you look in our Customer Connect packages, you don’t just get your ad on our maps that are seeing by 1-5 million buyers per month, you have the ability to build a 50% fee discount with our Premium Connect package. A lot of stocking dealers also sell extensively online, and the system is built to give you the most value for your effort.
- Can I link to my website instead of GunsAmerica? – Not unless you are using our Live Storefront automated websites. You may have a pretty good inventory component on your site, including distributor fees, but there is no way to link up the matches to the map. Our Live Storefronts are completely integrated, and are better overall than what you have now, for much less cost.
- I hate the internet! Can I just show my phone number and directions to the store? – Yes, we have an option called “brochure mode.” But it is limited to those who have purchased at least the $99/mo Customer Connect package.
- My Primary Distributor is not on your list. Can you include them? – Yes, we are working with new distributors as they show interest. We are currently working with Accusport to get their data, and we added Zanders last week. If you do a lot of business with a distributor and you don’t see them on the list, by all means have them email Austin at [email protected] and we will get them going.
- I don’t use distributors! I am in a buy group! What if I don’t want to sign up for 48 Hour Guns? – The Customer Connect system is actually not about selling distributor inventory, and 48 Hour Guns is more a necessary evil than a critical component. We are against distributor drop shipping and bottomfeeding tabletop dealers that have gutted the profitability of stocking dealers. If you don’t want to sign up for 48 Hour Guns, just post and sell your in hand inventory. The system does not require 48 Hour Guns.
Please, Please, Please Contact Austin at GunsAmerica Dealer Services! if you have questions or concerns. ([email protected]) – Customer Connect is a technology revolution for the gun industry. By signing up for the SCCY Partner Connect map you will take the first step with your gunshop to survive and thrive into the future. But it is a learning curve and we would be happy to help you through it. Thanks for your patience on such a long and involved email. SCCY should be sending one very close to this in the next couple weeks or so as well. -team@ga