Could the Midlands Do with an Airsoft Shop

gungun wrote: »

sorry if this has been posted as i dont have time to read all posts but there is a shop down Lloyds lane in Athlone, a small shop but they sell bbs gas, i think their supplier is asg but im not 100% on that, but its dead handy not to have to order the basics online

what else does he sell in the shop, is it an airsoft shop or a 'gadget shop' as they seem to be commonly referred to ?

yeah just airsoft gear, middle is taken up by clothing(helikon i believe), tac gear on one wall like holsters/knee pads and the other has aegs,
the guys is there seem pretty sound, whenever im in next i'll ask again who their suppliers are
its fairly small but has all the nessesities

Get what your saying Trev.

Some research would want to be done though before someone throws money into it. Or even contemplates it

Skirmish sites in the area
Local demographic
Customer shopping hotspots
Airsofters in the region
Current retailers in the region.


I still get a bit confused when I see new shops opening up, the barriers to entry are so high I cant see how anyone thinks they can make any living in it, if I got a large wad of cash in my hand right now, the very last thing I'd do with it is open a shop.

Foothold by already established large retailers
M.I.A, Eirsoft, Hobby. The three big guns I'd say if asked "who are the top dogs". Big stores, competitive prices, huge ranges, mostly quality reputations and strong after sales support. If your a new entrant into the market, you should be quivering in your boots.

Strong online service currently in place
Most of the retailers in place have online stores and websites. Most have all their products online with stock levels, and shipping is pretty cheap, service time within 48hours. Comfort from shopping at home. At this point a new entry level store should be asking themselves why bother

Customer loyalty hard to break
All the big guns have been operating for some time now. They have good links and ties within the community and throughout the airsoft sites. Everyone has their favorite store, and after an initial period, stick with one store and keep going back. Its very hard, especially in airsoft to break that loyalty, cause in this industry more then others, you do get genuine customer satisfaction and looked after in stores. So as a new store, your looking to break down customer loyalty thats been built up over 2 -3 years.

Stock ranges and exclusives gone
At this point everyone knows what the good brands are and whats the bad ones. But at this point, all the big stores have the exclusives, they have the foothold on all the big products and they have the connections. Their suppliers arnt going to supply you, cause they dont want any trouble stirring, and why would suppliers want to ruffle their big irish connections?
So now your stuck looking at what sort of products your going to sell, knowing that you cant sell the best of the best, cause you probably cant get your hands on them.

New legal requirements
So after you have gone through all of the above, now you have new legal requirements to deal with and or worry about. You need a fixed premises, you need to sell only airsoft gear yada yada. You may get a really rough time since your a new retailer. The other retailers are ok, they've been in the game, they have got their references they have their experience behind them, youve got nothing.

Where to make your money
So where do you see the money being made in this? Are you going to provide some innovative service that no other offers? Some places think about this with doing upgrade and mod parts and the likes, but long behold, its minimal business, more hassle then its worth and piss poor return on investment.

Guns? We have touched on that above, you are still puzzled over what type of product you can stock or sell, and likelyhood is, starting off, you cant compete price wise with the big boys.

Accessories?
We can get them in for a penny to nothing from China, accessories arnt really a big seller, unless its a walk in store, youve got something tasty and someone has a few quid in their pocket. Accessories are impluse buys, no one goes out with the intention of buying them, so this income cant be forseen, and is a little suprise for you on a daily basis.

Consumables?
Probably your best source of steady income, your gas, your BB's, your Co2 etc. But shock horror, the big boys have the connections and the finance to buy in bulk, therefore costing them less then your first few purchases. They can sell onto customers for less, they can throw them in free for the laugh. But they buy in such bulk, suppliers might be a little hesitant to sell to you, incase they upset their other irish contract, who has been with them longer, and buys more then you, therefore valued more then you.

You will probably end up going to one of the big retailers, and using them as your supplier, therefore, really negating any profit you could have made, since you cant sell it cheaper then they do.

And since its going to be the same product, customers will shop with the big dog, not you.

And since your buying of the big dog, your pumping your finance into his spending power, making him, yes you got it, a bigger dog.

Holy **** that was the best study preparation I could have done for my exams

But as you see theres a huge barrier to entry to this business, but people still do it, so theres something I'm obviously missing. But I just feel most of the business and ventures that spring up are short term money bursters, without long term objectivity and stability plans.

Ok, my last post seems completely irrelevant now, as Stone beat me to it, he types fast for a big fella!

tudenham10 wrote: »

While there have been some very valid arguments raised in the thread, I think it has started to derail slightly. I don't think Stone has any interest in opening an airsoft store, (he has enough hassle in keeping the rest of us in check ) but there might be an opportunity of one of the big three (that Doc referred to) to open a smaller outlet in the region to service any particular need for walk ins?

I do agree that there are quite a number of retailers for such a small playing population and that none of us are as flush as we were when we started playing but if a retailer has a monopoly in a given geographical area, then surely some success must come of it? There is also the point that if a retailer was to setup in the area, providing they measure up to the required standards, they could also serve as a positive advertisement for the game at large.

Opening any store or any venture requires finance and money put in. Now typically with any investment, you want a return within a reasonable amount of time. If your opening a big store in a big area, and have done your homework, you might see figures stating that its going to be slow starting, then peak, then steady over a long period. This typically will lead you onto expecting a ROI after 18months.

Opening a small store in a small area with a low demographic, would lead you to believe, large influx at short term, with a significant fall long term. So for your investment, you'd typically want ROI straight away, or within 6 months.

Having a store in Dublin for example, allows a number of benefits.

It has the highest pool of airsofters per city in the country. So you will get regular airsofters coming in for consumables and possible a new toy once a year.
It has the largest amount of new players. So you will snag alot of the first purchases and hopefully those will stay on as customers long term.

But the main point is having such a large proportion of the market, you know your safe in the knowledge youll have steady traffic through the door or the site week to week.

You open in an area that doesn't have alot of players or exposure.

Your relying on consumables for your trade. And maybe a couple of new gun purchases a year. But the small amount of players might treck in to kick some tyres, but ultimately just buy gas and BB's, every few weeks maybe a gun or two may be sold from your stock. So this leaves you struggling to decide what to stock from the go. Lots of guns? Gets you lots of walk ins, but maybe not alot of sales, and if that happens your left with stock taking up space.

And from experience stores that try open up shops on sites pretty much dont do well at all. Skirmishers dont come out to games with money in their pants, so your not getting any impulse purchases. Skirmishers dont go out to a site with no BB's, without any clue, hoping they can buy them there, they get them beforehand, or know they are on sale. You just wont get any impulse buys which actually accumulate to alot of an airsoft stores income. There is advantages of perhaps being able to test fire and the likes, but what you get is a huge amount of tyre kickers wanting to have a shot, leading to product deterioration. Who wants to buy stock thats being used? I know I wouldnt buy a gun being sold on an airsoft site. And with the new regulations, this option pretty much gets scrubbed of the map. So we are back to having an investor or prospector having to invest in a whole new store

And what about marketing the sport? I guess it is important for retailers, more people that know about it, play it and want in, is more foot traffic for them. But there is no metric to measure the success of a campaign of " promoting the sport". Theres no real census or the likes ( sorry the boards.ie one doesn't count) So you might be pumping money into local advertisement, but you don't get any facts or figures saying if its being a success or a failure. It might get you some more foot traffic yeah.

But unless you do the following
Research the areas you feel your marketing/promotion will be mostly penetrative.
Record current level of foot traffic (accurate estimate) and sales per day/week
Run your marketing/promotion for a valid length of time
During this time record level of foot traffic and sales per day/week
Query new customers as to where they heard of your store, and record this data

After you do this, then you can see if it was worthy or not, but alas, I assume no one does this, therefore there isnt any statistics to prove anything. And although you have put a few grand into advertising, and you "think" it has increased footraffic, what probably came out of it was a handful of people and maybe a small hundred euro worth of sales, and again, no return on investment, and your at a loss.

I'd be interested for there to be a proper census. Perhaps headed by the IAA. Have recordings for site attendance and iaa membership annually.

Think of what can be achieved after a few years

Determine accurate playerbase numbers annually
Determine where the highest concentration of players are geographically
Determine the varying age groups
Determine the turnover in player from new entrants to veterans
See clearly the peak seasons for participation

And so much more, the benefits are so obvious, and with the amount of investment now with retailes, sites and players I think there should be one undertaken. There are so many benefits to having one

Organisers can determine the proper time of year to run large scale events based on the peak play times
Retailers and site owners can see if theres an area of a large demographic of player that doesnt have adaquete facilities.
The IAA can have official statistics to present when asked about current playerbase etc
Having some facts and figures goes a long way in being taken seriously other then guestimates
Retailers can better organise their businesses with statistical aid

And back on topic, like I said, you wont gauge anything from boards, nothing at all. And if a retailer just goes and sets up a store based on boards requests its doomed to be pretty fail in the current climate.

But what you are doing it raising some awareness, and it probably will catch an eye or two of a retailer. And what they will do is go investigate, property, locations, market research, see the player base in the area and what facilities are about in relation to sites and draw etc.

Its nothing to happen overnight though

But to pose back the question, Does the midlands need an airsoft shop? Obviously I only know MAC. Is there other sites in the region? What are the player numbers like? And could the player base be able to uphold a store weekly running?

Remembering, that you buy BB's and gas once maybe every 3-4 weeks. You buy a new gun maybe twice three times a year max.

I'm just trying to convey how a store needs a really consistent customer base to run off.

I'd love an airsoft site that was strict milsim, larp, midcaps only, proper command chains the whole shabang, every week, maybe every second week.

But I know this just isn't going to happen because there isn't the demand there to uphold a business like that from running properly.

(And before you say anything Trevor, yes your the closet to a milsim home I have, but your miles away :P )

I'm not sure about the midlands but if you have a look here (not trying to plug the site, just using it as a reference) you can see where a few sites are needed. I think there is enough shope in Ireland at the moment, but the could be a few more Skirmish Sites, just not in Leinster.

J.D.R wrote: »

I'm not sure about the midlands but if you have a look here (not trying to plug the site, just using it as a reference) you can see where a few sites are needed. I think there is enough shope in Ireland at the moment, but the could be a few more Skirmish Sites, just not in Leinster.

But see the problem is, ( what I see when I read into the airsoft industry)

Is business popping up where
A) They are not needed and have not enough demand to support them
Trying to muscle in on a large cluster, trying to cut a living.

Although there is obvious gaps in the map, is there demand for sites or shops in that region?

Like I said before there is a lack of statistical data available to be able to make educated decisions.

But if we look at that map ( which is a nice tool btw)
How do we know a site is needed in say Sligo? Tralee? Donegal?

And we dont get that from two lads from Tralee coming on saying " a shop would be animal in tralee" we need to know if its sustainable.

The likes of puding and paul H can give some good input here. When you look at the map, those guys are out on their own.

Now Cork is a big county with a big population. The guys run a shop and a site. Are they bursting at the seems? Is there too much demand for supply? Could they open a second site or shop? Why havnt other gone down and opened a shop in Cork, why havnt others opened sites?

I guess the answer is to what I stated above, the barriers to entry, the guys have a strong foothold there, but I'd guess also that there isnt the demand for another one, even though its a huge county. ( guesstimates dont know any statistics )

Doc, I guess this sort of ties into the whole 'promoting airsoft' thing. I love this sport and wish I'd know about it sooner (first aeg/skirmish last August) - and if I hadn't seen a short piece on the news about it (positive promo - not Joe Duffy 'An Airsoft Gun Made My House Explode and Killed Elvis' piece) I'd still be none the wiser - a potential airsoft junkie blissful in my ignorance (and probably less broke too!).

In my eyes the market does not yet exist for huge expansion of retailers outside of the areas already cornered. The market is bound by the fact that this sport, for better or worse, is largely fringe/underground. To me every MW2 or Battlefield player IS a potential airsofter. But that's just opinion, nothing based on stats/facts. In my case I was the first of my mates to stumble upon airsoft, which led to me introducing my brother in law, his mates and I've my best mate signed up for a skirmish in the near future (I think he's dubious, as I was at first - one skirmish and I know he'll be hooked).

Expansion goes hand in hand with promotion - and I believe we've thrashed that out to death on another thread.

First thing to do when opening a shop is to do everything Doc has said in his previous posts.Well, thats what all the text books tell us.However ,do you reckon most small business startups do?
Rarely, in my experience if ever and even when they do it still wouldnt stop them going ahead anyway.
If i had a penny for every relative at some party or get together who insists it would be a great idea to set up a coffee shop here or a clothes shop there.......... well you know the rest!
I dont see Airsoft any diferent to this, you just replace the bored housewife who likes good coffee and Prada with a guy whos always had an interest in guns.
Most small businesses are started with little preparation and usually out of a personal interest in the item they intend to sell.
I wont knock that, as its a good a reason as any to get into a business your passionate about.
So what i would say is Trevor, its only a matter of time before someone opens near you weather its viable or not!
The part where i see things differently from previous posters is that i still believe most of you are looking at the airsoft business as reliant on sites and gamers.This in my opinion is not the case.
I have a retail outlet literally in the middle of nowhere behind a petrol station between Ballitore and Moone in Kildare which has been established for just over two years.
I work there myself and i promise you 90% of our sales are to rural dwellers within a twenty mile radius.That shop survives from word of mouth and Macieks customer service skills.
Boards,gamers,sites all have no relevance to the money that shop continues to turn over.If you notice we never post about the Kildare shop or push it in any way on Boards.
Most of our customers are thirty and forty somethings who just want to have a bit of fun at home.Maybe their bored, want to treat themselves or just always liked guns.Whatever the reason, they'll probably only use it a couple of times and then throw it there.
So is it possible to make a living as a small airsoft operator in the North West or midlands? I would say yes.A modest living.
I dont base this opinion purely on my own shop as i deal with many small shop owners around the country and some have and are selling a lot of airsoft.
Most of these guys will be gone when the RIF license comes into force and therefore i think there are areas of Ireland which could maintain a small airsoft business.
The absolute key is selling to the general population and not looking for gamers business.It will come as you get established.
The set up money and cash flow is the real problem and yes i have to admit if i had 50K to start a new business it would not be in Airsoft.
I remember sitting with another retailer and coming to a figure of 250K to set up a new Airsoft business properly.A pretty serious amount of money.
But if you start with a couple of grand can you get big?
No, I really dont think so but you can do something you enjoy and maybe make a living!!
Doesnt really seem worth the risk does it,but I know I'll still get a call next week from somebody wanting to start their own airsoft business.
Who am i to argue with that!!