Gander Mountain marketing fail

[swsig]

Yesterday I received a Gander Mountain coupon in the mail for a $20 discount off of a $100 purchase. Not too bad, considering that it's very easy for me to spend $100 on ammo. (Or, I could get a $30 discount off of a $300 purchase. Spend a lot more, and be rewarded by a much smaller percentage discount. What a deal!) But then I noticed the fine print -- ammo and firearms excluded. Why would GM turn away such a substantial portion of their potential customers by excluding our favorite stuff to buy? It's not like their stores are already packed with firearms customers (or any customers, if my local GM is an indication). Anyway, I don't get their strategy. Maybe they're interested in becoming just a clothing and accessories store.

Fortunately, a few days earlier, I received a similar discount coupon from Cabela's, which included firearms and ammo. Guess which store will get my money.

 

[Faulkner]

Probably not as much markup on guns and ammo than there is on clothing, footwear, and other gear.

 

[dougb1946]

Need to compare cost and sell prices at the different stores to see what your actual bargain is. Gander seems to run high on ammo and guns, compared to Walmart and Scheels and a few others. By the time I get to Cabelas, I've driven over an hour. Kind of eats up the coupon.

 

[Rintimtin]

I got that same coupon, and feel the same way you do about it.

 

[bigwheelzip]

I get coupons from Cabela's with the same discount, except ammo purchase is included. I'll only use it when it coincides with other sales that can be stacked, for at least a 40% discount.

 

[Salty RI]

Why do I always get those coupons when I don't need anything.

 

[swsig]

I get coupons from Cabela's with the same discount, except ammo purchase is included. I'll only use it when it coincides with other sales that can be stacked, for at least a 40% discount.

Cabela's is good about stacking. My last purchase from them was in-store for a Vortex Venom red dot sight. I had coupons for both employee pricing and a $25 discount. They allowed me to use both, and I got the $230 Vortex for $175, which pleased me no end. I hope they continue those sales policies after Bass Pro takes over.

 

[swsig]

Why do I always get those coupons when I don't need anything.

Those coupons usually work for me. No matter how much ammo I have, somehow, I always need more.

 

[alwaysoutdoors]

They're very high on guns. I hear they give high trade in values though. They are not an attractive store to me unless I need it now.

 

[StakeOut]

Midway recently had an offer of $10 off a $100 purchase,$20 off a $200 purchase and $30 off a $300 or higher purchase.

I put $309 in my cart and then applied the $30 off coupon and nothing happened to reduce the amount by $30.

Everything I wanted to buy was excluded from the discount.

I ended up only buying 1 Smith 15rd mag for $34

 

[O2Guy]

I got the same coupon and it went to the trash.
We have a Gander Mountain in the area that has only been open for not quite 2 years. Every time that I've been in there it seems like they are lacking for customers or even lookers. I'll be surprised if it lasts another 2 years.

 

[Arik]

Probably not as much markup on guns and ammo than there is on clothing, footwear, and other gear.

Oh man I don't know about that. I've only been to one GD, the one they built here a month ago. Full MSRP on guns, ammo, mags. Blazer Brass 9mm 124gr fmj .....the same ammo we buy from SGAMMO for around $10 a box.....they were selling for $24/box! TWENTY FOUR dollars!!
Glock mags were $49.99, Beretta 92 mags were $52.99.

That's the first and last time I go in there

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[Absalom]

Sometimes it is bait-and-switch.

But generally, you'd have to know the business well enough to make a judgment. Blanket condemnations may miss the mark.

Most frequently with large retailers, like Cabelas, it comes down to departments. The clothing VP says we want to do a 20% discount, the camping guy says we'll go along with that, and the fishing guy says we can do that. So we have almost a business-wide coupon, but the firearms guy, whose business is more low-volume/high profit per item, says my bottom line can't afford that, so you end up with the exclusion in the fine print.

Where it gets dishonest is when a coupon is marketed as a general discount and then excludes the core business in the fine print. If for example Midway, as in the post above, which is known mainly as an ammo business, excludes ammo, I would call that deceptive marketing.

I've never done business with Gander, so I don't know how harsh to judge them based on the OP's facts.

 

[Salty RI]

I got the same coupon and it went to the trash.
We have a Gander Mountain in the area that has only been open for not quite 2 years. Every time that I've been in there it seems like they are lacking for customers or even lookers. I'll be surprised if it lasts another 2 years.

We don't have any in this area but there was one near my son's house in Va and it only lasted a few years. Years ago before Cabelas and Bass Pro I did buy a lot of stuff from the Gander catalog.

 

[jack the toad]

When I peruse the local GM, it's usually for any ammo sales and the used handgun counter... which doesn't take me too long. The only bargains I've seen were mismarked handguns which weren't a bad price but was stuff I'm not interested in.

 

[Roadtrash]

I used to buy from the GM catalog back years ago but have never been in one of their stores. Cabelas is a bit too high priced for me. Back in the day I used to buy a lot from the old Herter's catalog though, they seemed much better priced and had most of what I wanted. Wish they were still around.

 

[the ringo kid]

Why do I always get those coupons when I don't need anything.

The same reason I get those #$%^&^& finger hut catalogs though ive NEVER subscribed or contacted them for anything and never will buy through them.WHY CANT I GET AN LL BEAN CATALOG instead??

 

[the ringo kid]

I got the same coupon and it went to the trash.
We have a Gander Mountain in the area that has only been open for not quite 2 years. Every time that I've been in there it seems like they are lacking for customers or even lookers. I'll be surprised if it lasts another 2 years.

Same situation with the local Dick's here. Ive been in it 3 times. The first time i had two $5 dicounts on whatever I wanted it on? I bought two 50 rd boxes of Remington 9mm (they were out of my favorite brand) but I paid about $18 for 100 rounds-which was cheaper than anyone else in town at that time. 2-went in to TRY to get .22-none to be had-also had a clerk with no gun and ammo knowledge. 3rd time-just to use the restroom and buy a coke. Its been about 2 years since I last went in-and theu have a huge parkinglot that has mostly employees cars in it. I dont expect them to last very long either.

 

[meaneyedcatz]

It could be ammo is a lost leader.

 

[Malpasowildlifer]

Maybe they want to get their asking price for firearms and ammo, and know they'll be able to soon.