President's Message: Looking Forward to a Great 2023

Like many of you reading this, I’m just back from Shot Show.

It was a great week and great catching up with so many friends and colleagues. It was especially gratifying to see the show floor filled up once again with exhibitors and visitors. From what I’m told by the show managers at NSSF, it was a dramatic increase in attendance over last year, approximately 20% higher. That’s good news for the event and for our industry.

From a very practical perspective, I really like what NSSF has done with the show floor and the spacing as well. As someone who’s been to the Shot Show a number of times now, I really enjoyed the fact that you could actually walk in the aisles. 

FEATURED ARTICLES

The 3rd Annual Shooting Sports Showcase is scheduled for March 27th & 28th at the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park in Talladega, AL. This event offers hands on experience to members of the media and NASGW Wholesalers as well as dealers. The event provides a great low pressure environment to connect and learn about products from the manufacturers. To learn more about the Shooting Sports Showcase and the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park visit the website below. 

The digital age has ushered in an era of data collection and utilization that has significantly affected the firearms and shooting sports industry. When people think of data, seemingly endless excel spreadsheets and rows of numbers come to mind. The question is — how do you use it? Every business and every person collects and uses data in some way, but NASGW’s SCOPE has taken it to a new level, providing hard numbers on specific UPC’s, market trends, and more that allow retailers and distributors to make smarter decisions about how much and what to stock.

Tom Hopper, Senior Data Analyst for SCOPE and NASGW, elaborated on the topic. “Data is more than just numbers. Data includes consumer perception, geography, political outlook, international events, social events, etc.… We are surrounded by things that influence consumer decisions. We are surrounded by data in all forms.”

2022 SCOPE Annual Report Now Available

The 2022 Annual Report is now available for SCOPE users in your portal as well as for non-users on the SCOPE website. This comprehensive report aggregates data from NASGW wholesalers to understand sales and inventory trends, product performance, and so much more. Visit the SCOPE website to purchase the 69-page full version or download the smaller 7-page preview report. 

Firearms Shipments

Ammunition Shipments

Optics Shipments

Annual Membership Dues

2023 Annual dues notices have gone out and should have been received by everyone. Dues must be paid by the deadline of February 28th or your membership with NASGW will lapse and you will be required to reapply. If you have questions or would like to make a payment over the phone, please contact NASGW's Member Services Director Kelly Kipping. 

NASGW Distributor Survey

Attention distributors, NASGW will soon be sending out a survey to help us compile information and data about our wholesale members and their impact on the shooting sports industry. NASGW completed a similar survey in 2016 that helped us demonstrate the size overall size of the wholesale business, the expansive warehouse space, overall reach of our members, and more. Once again our team is looking to our members to supply us some updated information to help us communicate to the industry about two-step distribution and the benefits of working with NASGW wholesalers. We appreciate your participation in this survey. It will surely help us support your businesses. 

ARTICLES OF INTEREST

• ATF Posts "Final" Rule on Stabilizing Braces
• 45 Annual Shot Show Recap
• Data Integration, Data Ingestion Are Different Things
• Shot Show 2023: Data Spotlights Trends
• Gun Controllers Deny Reality on Polls
• Sharing Data Can Yield Endless Benefits
• Anti-Gun States Renew Attacks on Lawful Firearm Industry
• Market Smarter Not Harder

UPCOMING EVENTS

February 4-12, 2023

Great American Outdoor Show

Harrisburg, PA

March 27-28, 2023

Shooting Sports Showcase

Talladega, AL

April 14-16, 2023

NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits

Indianapolis, IN

June 12-15, 2023

POMA Business Conference

Broken Arrow, OK

October 24-27, 2023

NASGW Expo

Columbus, OH