The U.S. firearms industry is worth an estimated $28 billion, while the global guns and accessories industry is expected to grow by more than 6% annually between 2020 and 2027. Pistols, rifles, revolvers, shotguns, ammunition, and accessories can be purchased at more than 50,000 dealer locations across the U.S., more locations than McDonalds and Starbucks combined. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of guns sold in the U.S. more than doubled. Today, more than 42% of U.S. households own at least one firearm. Meanwhile, there have been more than 600 mass shootings in each of the last 3 years- almost 2 per day. The battle between gun control advocates and those who passionately defend their right to bear arms continues to be one of the most high-profile and divisive issues in recent history. Given the magnitude and projected growth of the firearms industry, in today’s post we will share a few examples of different types of retail gun displays and gun accessories display stands that are designed to be cost-effective while also generating a strong return on investment.
One of the most important aspects of gun and gun accessory merchandising is creating an opportunity for the customer to interact with the product. We made the demo unit below so customers could test out Sig Sauer’s scopes. Constructed of MDF with a blue PU coated finish and printed graphics, this demo unit was designed to enable customers to strap on and look through different scopes. It served as a great vehicle to increase customer engagement and encourage product trial while reinforcing the Sig Sauer brand name.
Another example of a gun accessories display is the freestanding Grey Man Tactical mobile merchandiser we made to display the company’s seat back firearms organizers and accessory products. We constructed this unit out of MDF and added back panel, header, and side graphics. We designed the bottom shelf to hold boxed product and added hooks to accommodate hanging organizers and accessory items.
After showing examples of a demo display and a freestanding display, let’s look at a few examples below of glorifier displays that we made for Sig Sauer. All of these glorifier displays are designed to enable the customer to remove the gun or firearm accessory from the display and interact with it. All of the displays feature sheet metal construction with a silver powder coated finish, screen-printed graphics, and removable front-lip graphic inserts. Three of them also include circular screen-printed rubber logo pads.
Displays don’t have to be fancy to be effective. The Swarovski Optik scope display is a good example of a minimalistic display comprised simply of a branded MDF base and 2 rubber-coated metal cradles to hold the scopes.
Pistols are the top-selling firearm. We made the counter display shown below for SCCY to showcase 10 colorful pistols, each of which sat on black contoured foam with PVC dividers and digitally printed PVC sides and front lip.
Another example of a countertop accessory display is the iTAC Defense tactical lights lasers display we designed for Sig Sauer. The display featured a slotted metal base with a removable PVC back panel.
Our final example is the 4-sided TAPCO floor display shown below which we made using metal tube and wire grid panels powder coated in a green camo color. We added locking casters, side panel graphics, a header frame with a removable 2-sided graphic, and hooks to hold a wide range of hanging accessory products.
Jim Hollen is the owner and President of RICH LTD. (www.richltd.com), a 35+ year-old California-based point-of-purchase display, retail store fixture, and merchandising solutions firm which has been named among the Top 50 U.S. POP display companies for 9 consecutive years. A former management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and graduate of Stanford Business School, Jim Hollen has served more than 3000 brands and retailers over more than 20 years and has authored nearly 500 blogs and e-Books on a wide range of topics related to POP displays, store fixtures, and retail merchandising.
Jim has been to China more than 50 times and has worked directly with more than 30 factories in Asia across a broad range of material categories, including metal, wood, acrylic, injection molded and vacuum formed plastic, corrugated, glass, LED lighting, digital media player, and more. Jim Hollen also oversees RICH LTD.’s domestic manufacturing operation and has experience manufacturing, sourcing, and importing from numerous Asian countries as well as Vietnam and Mexico.
His experience working with brands and retailers spans more than 25 industries such as food and beverage, apparel, consumer electronics, cosmetics/beauty, sporting goods, automotive, pet, gifts and souvenirs, toys, wine and spirits, home improvement, jewelry, eyewear, footwear, consumer products, mass market retail, specialty retail, convenience stores, and numerous other product/retailer categories.