Author:
Cassie Scott
Owning an archery business isn’t easy. You work long hours, make tough decisions and often deal with fickle, hard-to-please customers. You might feel alone, but you’re not! The Archery Trade Association created ATA Connect, an online discussion community for ATA members, that helps you build peer connections and talk regularly with like-minded business owners.
The Retail Growth Interact community within ATA Connect helps archery retailers share ideas, ask questions and get business advice. It’s a confidential space for retailers to network and solve business challenges through constructive discussions.
Engage with your peers and share your great ideas and questions. Your peers have likely experienced, or dealt with, similar issues, so be open and honest. You’ll receive insights on business matters, including buying patterns, profit margins and what to charge for lessons, services and leagues.
The hottest current topic on ATA Connect is managing inventory as new compound bows hit the market. Retailers are also discussing ways to communicate with suppliers to ensure positive, profitable partnerships.
Visit ATA Connect today to share your thoughts and read what others suggest. You can log in here. Then, set up your profile and start contributing by hitting the “Discussions” tab.
Give your input with our new polls. Make your voice heard. Photo Credit: ATA
New to ATA Connect: Polls!
Engaging its diverse membership is important to the ATA and its many members. That’s why ATA staff conduct polls on ATA Connect every other week. Polls are easy, hassle-free measures of where ATA members stand on industry issues. If you don’t have time to type a response, you can still express your thoughts with a click. By responding to these polls, members learn how they align with others. These polls also help the ATA’s Retail Council and other committees see if they’re representing their peers when working with the ATA Board of Directors.
Exciting things are coming to ATA Connect. Stay tuned! Photo credit: ATA
Coming Soon to ATA Connect
My ATA Network: This open forum is for ATA members!
Distributors, manufacturers, retailers and other ATA members have different business goals, objectives and operations. That’s why the ATA is creating My ATA Network, an open forum that helps all ATA members work together to grow archery and bowhunting participation while boosting their businesses.
My ATA Network on ATA Connect will debut before January, making it available for the 2019 ATA Trade Show. The Retail Growth Interact community is reserved for ATA-member retailers, but they’ll also have access to the My ATA Network.
An ATA Connect App!
ATA members will soon be able to use ATA Connect through a mobile app. The app is easy to use, and it can be set up to send customized notifications on discussions in specific threads or communities. Users can also opt-out of notifications. The app can be used on tablets or smartphones, and will require fewer sign-ins. The ATA Connect mobile app makes communicating with peers more convenient than ever, and it will be ready by the 2019 ATA Trade Show.
If you have questions about ATA Connect or the Retail Growth Interact community, please contact Kurt Smith, ATA’s director of industry relations, at kurtsmith@archerytrade.org or (717) 478-5919.