theoutdoorwizard

Since Leupold is making it mandatory to advertise their products at a certain price, there has been several different promotions, gift certificates and other incentives that are now available. This is a little marketing question hopefully everyone can help me with. If a Leupold scope is selling for the same price at every retailer, what would convince you to buy it from a certain retailer?

Jon Jackoviak
The Optic Zone
www.theopticzone.com
[email protected]

pa-savagehunter08

Just try to get your name out there, and make sure that as many people as possible that hear about that scope, know u have it, and there willalways be the guys who come to you first, and if they need it, they' ll check with you first. So, just try and get your name out there, and that school help.

MOTurkeyTamer

I would say free shipping first and foremost. Or if I needed rings and bases, that would be a nice incentive. A gift certificate on the next order would work also.

Danny45

Customer service is the number one reason that keeps me going back to a certain store for anything. It' s also why I had lots of repeat customers when I was selling guns. It wasn' t because we had the lowest prices, but we usually did.

You don' t have to go broke doing it. I never gave away anything, except advise. 1. Make sure you sell quality products.
2. Help the customer make informed buying decisions. I' ve talked alot of customers out of spending a bunch of money if we could outfit them for less and still satisfy his/her needs. They appreciate that.
3. And knowledge is critical. If you have to attend seminars, go out and field test products yourself, or whatever, make sure you know what you' re talking about when you recommend something or talk to a customer about a problem.
4. Be honest. If you don' t know, find someone that does, or promise to research it and get back with the customer. Even if they go somewhere else to get their answers, the effort you put into helping them will be remembered in the future.

And that' s what it' s all about isn' t it? The future.

Aught Six

I agree with Danny45: customer service is key! It seems that a lot of people disregard that nowadays, but I take it very seriously, and so should you.

While not the most important factor in choosing a retailer, free shipping helps a lot, too!

GordonGekko

Jon,
I am one of your very satisfied customers, and I can tell you that your customer service is second to none. Also, I realize that it is time consuming but the presence of a retailer in these forums influences me to do business with them. I think people will build a relationship with you through the forums and will hopefully become good customers. The gift certificate idea is good, as is the free set of rings, and one of my favorites is no shipping charge for UPS ground on orders over $300.

During this whole Leupold fiasco, I've been listening to the comments on many boards and thinking that it seems an awful lot like what some camera manufacturers do. They tell their retailers they can't advertise below X price. So to get around that the retailers list the Retail price and then have an e-mail link for them to reply to you with their low price. Just wondering if that might be a way around the whole thing?

Back to your original question, rings, bases and maybe even scope covers would be a good idea, but if the customer requests you could issue a gift certificate in lieu of them.

Gordon

Wolf killer

Customer service & knowledge of the products you sell. I personally will not buy sporting goods from used car/shoe salesman. I will gladly pay more for quality service.

theoutdoorwizard

Thanks all. I am trying a couple things. Zone Bucks, which can be used on accessories, future orders or as instant cash. I also have a "Leupold Policy" change statement on the site along with an email link to ask for the discounted prices.

Gordon,

I am very glad that you had a good experience with us. We are a small business and we (my wife and I) take pride in having a satisfied and happy customer, that is why we do everything in our power to help our customer and hopefully new friends enjoy the experience.

Jon Jackoviak
The Optic Zone
www.theopticzone.com
[email protected]

RKenSparc

Here's my opinions as a guy who shops the internet alot. BTW I don't own any internet retail shops, and this post turned out to be alot longer than I had planned.

Things that keep me coming back
1- Fair price (notice I didn't say the lowest price). Item #2 is equally important, and I'm willing to pay a few bucks more if I know #2 is there.
2- Great customer/technical sservice. If I have a question I want a good usefull answer, and not some snide, condesending, or incomplete answer.
3- Easy Hassle free return/repair policey- I very seldom return something I buy, but if I get it and it's broke, not going to work, or I just changed my mind, I want to be able to return it for my money, and not in store credit, or be charged a restocking fee. I understand some items can't be returned (ammo, openned software for example). If I need something repaired I want it done fast and with few hassles.
4- Fair shipping, I love free shipping, but don't mind paying for shipping, if I'm only charged the shipping cost. I really hate paying a fixed shipping price that I know is two or three times higher than the actual shipping chargers incurred by the vendor. Normally I'll go somewhere else, even if in the end I'd end up paying about the same.
5-Easy to navigate web site, with prices. If I have to call or email to get a price I'll find some where else to go. Plus if it takes me more than a few minutes to get zeroed in on what I'm looking for, I'll find a new site.
6- Easy to remember URL.

The following things don't influence me much.
1- Coupons, or discounts on future purchanses. I shop the web a lot, and return to sites a lot, but not with enough frequency to make these incentives very meaningful. In your case I'm not going to be purchasing scopes very often.
2- Freebies that come with the product. Unless the freebie is something I would be buying anyway I just don't care. For example, scope rings with a scope, but often I find myself upgrading scopes and don't need the rings.

How to get me to your site:
1-Word of mouth is great, but that's hard on the internet. You might hit boards like this one offer up good, reliable information, and include a link to your site - but don't make your posts be plugs for you site.
2-Work on your meta tags, and submit your site to search engines. If I type in optics or scopes on google, you want you site to be listed in the top ten. Make sure your site description is good, so when your site does come up, guys like me can see what you have to offer.
3-Ebay - If I had a internet store, I would regurally offer items up for bid on ebay. This has several advantages, first your auction turns into an ad for you that goes to a very large but specific audiance. Second, as you sell items and build up a good number of positive feedbacks, others will have more confidence in you, and will be more willing to bid. If you do, do ebay make sure you take credit cards. Signup with Paypal if you have to. Think about it, if you sitting at your computer shopping, convenience is a big thing. The last thing I want to do is go get a money order, and mail it. Wait 3-10 days for everything to clear, when I could just type in the CC number and be done with it.
4-Pay for ads on popular related sites. If you sell scopes an ad on HuntingBBS might pay for you.
5-Swap links with other revalent sites.

Sorry for the long post - I hope some of this helps, I'm not a internet retailer, or guroo but I do shop it a lot, and know what I like.

Good luck
Rkensparc