IN THE AFTERMATH of the shootings at Columbine High School, at least two direct marketers polled by DIRECT noticed a dip in sales. But one marketer, a gun seller, saw an increase in response.
For cataloger Omaha Steaks, Omaha, NE, sales “leveled off” after the April 20 tragedy in Littleton, CO. The high-end foods marketer attributes the slowdown to the event, according to director of sales Ron Bruggeman.
“It’s not unusual,” says Bruggeman. “Every time there’s a tragedy, it distracts the customer. We found that kind of thing happened when [NATO] first went to Kosovo. During the Gulf War, we had a similar thing.”
Why? People aren’t thinking about ordering products when they are glued to television news, Bruggeman explains. “People just reprioritize their time. Over time, things return to normal,” he says.
It is a grisly fact, however, that at least one firearms marketer experienced a peak in response after April 20-MKS Supply Inc. of Mansfield, OH, the wholesale distributor and marketer for Hi-Point Firearms. Hi-Point built a 9mm rifle that was used in the Columbine shooting.
Hi-Point owner Tom Deeb expressed in a newspaper interview extreme regret over how the rifle was used.
But the already booming business-Hi-Point was 6,000 orders behind prior to the shootings-experienced a lift in the days that followed.
“There has been a 20% increase in requests since the event,” says Charles Brown of MKS Supply. “Interest always goes up dramatically when any kind of media hype is pointed at any event involving firearms.” It happens with any product, he adds, “if the media gets on a thing and hammers it for seven days straight.”
MKS maintains an informational Web site (www.hi-pointfirearms.com) for consumers who log on to view inventory, check prices or find a retailer in their home state from whom they can make a purchase. It is illegal to sell firearms by direct mail.
Upon request, Brown mails a paper version of the catalog (it’s typically about 18 pages) to consumers, and another version, about the same size, to retailers. Orders cannot be placed via the catalogs.
MKS’ consumer catalog requesters file contains 15,000 names and the retail file has about 10,000. Brown invests in space ads but not direct mail. He doesn’t have to. Last year, MKS sold about 65,000 Hi-Point firearms, he says.
Lillian Vernon Corp., which publishes eight catalogs, suspended outbound customer service calls the evening of the shooting.
“We realized people would be preoccupied, upset, watching the news,” says spokesperson David Hochberg.
National sales at the New Rochelle, NY cataloger did not fall off but there was a marked dip in calls from Colorado. “From the day of the event and for the first week after, there was a 20% decrease in orders and calls from Colorado,” says Hochberg.
Sales were not affected at the Jade Mountain catalog in Boulder, CO, says director of public relations Scott Taylor. But because the company is about 20 miles from Littleton, Taylor’s biggest worry was the state of mind of the catalog’s high-school-age employees, who were “shocked and horrified,” he says.
“You hear about things happening in other places,” notes Taylor, “but when it’s right in your backyard, that’s hard.”
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