2020 was a whirlwind of a year for many reasons – the boom of the shooting sports industry being one of them. According to latest NICS data, this record-breaking year saw more than 21 million background checks for the sale of firearms – a 60 percent increase over 2019. It’s also estimated that 8.4 million people bought a firearm for the very first time in 2020, creating a new, more diverse customer base for manufacturers.

As the NASGW SCOPE data platform continues to grow and expand, many things have changed. What was once a single data source platform is now four different tools with multiple data sources. With a couple of these tools set to launch this year, it's left many people asking questions to better understand what SCOPE is. NASGW compiled a list of the top FAQs they continually hear in conversations with members and people around the shootings sports industry.

The shooting sports industry is evolving with advancing technologies. Data is becoming a crucial component of decision-making for businesses. The possibilities of utilizing big data are endless, and many industries have exceeded the shooting sports industry in ways they use data.

The shooting sports industry’s leading data platform is about to get a whole lot better in 2021, and the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers (NASGW) is excited to share some more details about what is to come. When the NASGW originally set out to create a data platform, the focus was on providing wholesale members a way to easily share reports with their manufacturing partners as well as a reporting tool for manufacturers to evaluate their performance against the rest of the industry. The more users and NASGW's development team dug into the data, the more everyone realized just how beneficial it could be.

Celerant Technology has supported the outdoor and firearms industry since 1999 with innovative retail software, enabling FFL dealers to expand their business both in store and online. As a preferred software provider for the NASGW, NSSF and NRA, Celerant supports firearm dealers through mobile point of sale and kiosks, eCommerce, curbside pickup, endless aisles, distributor integrations, A&D/e4473, range management, membership management, marketplaces, digital marketing and more. To help dealers be more competitive and operate more efficiently, Celerant has integrated their software solution with many leading 3rd-party solutions in the firearms industry.

After eight weeks of COVID-19 shutdowns across the nation, sales and shipments from wholesalers to retailers continue to be very strong compared to the previous year and the 3-year average. Firearms and ammunition have now had 8 weeks of very strong numbers with optics spiking over the last two weeks.