ATA Retail Council, ARRO, NABA Encourage January Release of New Products

The dates manufacturers choose to release products greatly affect retail sales, especially in a seasonal industry like archery. For archery retailers, the third and fourth quarters often generate the strongest sales, while the first and second quarters present opportunities to promote new products and create customer excitement as anticipation builds for the summer and fall seasons.

Industry Best Practice Statement

To maximize annual sales and margins for all sectors of the archery and bowhunting industry, the ATA Retail Council, the Archery Range and Retailers Organization (ARRO), and the National Archery Buyers Association (NABA) support the release of new products in January. These groups want manufacturers to know that retailers prefer to buy and take delivery on the latest archery products at the ATA Trade Show, ARRO and NABA shows starting in 2017 for as many products as possible. They want that request to cover all archery products by January 2018.

Best Practice Rationale

• Advertising new products during the fourth quarter tends to devalue existing products, making many current-year products obsolete for the rest of the year;
• Advertising new products during the fourth quarter creates excitement among customers, yet these customers cannot find those products in stores;
• Because inventories of current-year products must be sold before year’s end, retailers must often reduce prices and margins to make fourth-quarter sales. This means retailers sacrifice profits on their most important products during what should be the peak sales season;
• Although new products are advertised and promoted to consumers in the fourth quarter, sales support and technical information about these products are often unavailable to retailers, thus reducing the value of the retailer as a product-education resource;
• Marketing and delivering new products during the first quarter allows retailers to play a major role in promoting brands and product innovations to the best customers by having more time to coordinate social, digital and print campaigns;
• The ATA Retail Council, ARRO and NABA believe that synchronizing product-sales cycles with customer buying behavior – especially because archery is a seasonal business – must become an industry best practice.

ATA Retail Council
Mark Copeland (Chair) – Jay’s Sporting Goods, Michigan
Randy Phillips (Vice Chair) – Archery Headquarters Inc., Arizona
Peter Gussie (Vice Chair) – Midwest Cimmarron Archery, Illinois

NABA Board of Directors
Gary Kinard (Interim President) – All Star Archery, Texas
Wayne Piersol (Vice President) – Archery Only, California
Lee Piersol (Secretary/Treasurer) – Archery Only, California
Michael Ashe (Director) – Custom Gear, Tennessee
Rhonda Crabtree (Director) – Corner Archery, Arizona
Norman Geersten (Director) – Retired, Oregon
William Rusch (Director) – Bowhunters Unlimited Archery Pro Shop, Wisconsin

ARRO Board of Directors
Martin Stubstad (President) – Archery Headquarters Inc., Minnesota
Will Moulton (Vice President) – Mouldy’s Archery, Wisconsin
Ron Pelkey (Treasurer) – Pelkey’s Archery, Vermont
Kent Colgrove (Secretary) – Full Draw Archery, Nebraska
Tom Wilcox (Director) – Wilcox Bait & Tackle, Vermont
Mark Wagner (Director) – Archery Field & Sports, Iowa
Jim Gauthier (Director) – Gauthier’s Archery, Michigan