The traditional brick-and-mortar gun store is rapidly being replaced by online retail outlets. In fact, online sales have been increasing steadily in many sectors over the past few years. However, the firearms industry—not to mention its clientele—has always been more comfortable with actual physical stores. That’s why they were late in hopping on the bandwagon—but all that is in the past.
The industry and its many customers have realized both the importance as well as the convenience of the online firearms trade. Today, some of the largest firearms companies maintain an online presence in addition to their mainstream physical stores.
Apart from that, a veritable plethora of small-scale online gun stores are now also taking advantage of the ever-increasing popularity of eCommerce today. These stores have been racking in profits thanks to a rapidly increasing customer base.
Unlike a brick-and-mortar store, online outlets don’t have any working hours. This means your wares are always available 24/7. Add to that the convenience of making a purchase by simply swiping your smartphone screen. It’s no wonder that online sales are really taking off!
Setting up an Online Firearms Outlet
It’s pertinent to note that starting a gun shop is not as easy as any other retail trade. There are many different regulatory bodies at the state, federal, and local levels, and they all have their own rules and requirements.
Before creating your online retail outlet, you should know that you cannot ship the weapon directly to the customer. You can only send it to a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holding dealer. You’ll have to create a field in your checkout process where the customer can input the details of their preferred FFL dealer. The checkout cannot proceed if this field is left blank.
You should also create an easy returns policy in case the customer is unsatisfied with your product. Make sure that you have all the details such as shipping costs and legal requirements present on your support page.
Create an Eye-Catching Site with Plenty of New Products
Prospective customers usually don’t spend more than a few seconds at a site they don’t like. That’s why you should create a website based on the psychographics of your target audience. You might also consider offering discounts while ensuring your stock doesn’t run low—especially during the holiday season.
Always Use a Gun-Friendly eCommerce Platform
Many website builders place severe restrictions on firearms sales, and some even ban them altogether. Sometimes, even ostensibly gun-friendly sites can take a 180-degree turn and remove all such products from their platform. Here, the ideal solution would be a platform created by firearms enthusiasts—for firearms enthusiasts.
Make Ready Arms is just the platform that can fulfill all your needs.
We specialize in online gun stores and offer real-time catalog synchronization along with a whole range of value-added features designed to make your gun store a resounding success.