Kinsey’s Full Speed Ahead

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Throughout its first 70 years as a family-owned business, Kinsey’s has been dedicated to the success of its customers through superior customer service, unique programs, a one-of-a-kind dealer show experience and making astute investments for the future.

Today, Kinsey’s is a leading distributor to the archery, firearms and outdoor industry. Carrying items from more than 600 brands — in-stock and ready to deliver — the company offers 4,500+ domestic and international retailers a wide array of products and services, including a 1,000-page catalog, an online ordering system, a renowned custom-fletching program and more. The company also owns innovative consumer brands including Alpine, BlackHeart, Fin-Finder, Elevation and October Mountain Products.

Kinsey’s is poised to further its impact in both the archery and gun industry for the next 70 years. Here are four ways Kinsey’s is benefiting its retail and manufacturer customers.

1. KDS: A Can’t-Miss Trade Event

Kinsey’s dealers are treated to an annual trade show — the Kinsey’s Dealer Show (KDS) — which features unbeatable terms, programming and pricing. It’s a margin-maximizing event, delivering real savings to fuel dealers’ businesses for the year.

“It’s one of the best shows out there,” shared Aaron Beverly, owner of Beverly’s Gun, Archery & Pawn in Coeburn, Va.

Held at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pa., Feb. 25–27, KDS22 attracted the highest attendance figures in the show’s history and featured over 250 industry-leading archery and firearms vendors.

“The show is quite a draw, a lot of good crossover between archery and firearms — it’s a one-stop shop,” stated Justin Gorman, Kinsey’s VP of sales and marketing. “At
this year’s show, dealers were able to program out orders on accessories through Aug. 1 — one of the largest booking windows for a distributor show in this industry.”

Approved dealers were able to place ASAP orders, drawing from over 20,000 accessories in Kinsey’s catalog, at KDS22. Those who took advantage of this program won’t need to pay until 8/1/22 for products they received in March. Orders for guns and ammo were booked for ASAP shipment but held open through 6/30/22 to give dealers the widest possible window to receive backordered product.

In addition to providing significant savings off everyday prices, KDS attendees are also treated to a Dealer Appreciation Night, $1,000s in prize giveaways and more.

Though KDS offers Kinsey’s best promotions, the company also runs several sales events throughout the year — available to brick-and-mortar customers only.

KDS23 will be held early 2023. Prospective attendees can register for next year’s event beginning in October. For more info: KinseysInc.com/dealer-show.

“With the investments we’ve made in our warehouse system, dealers receive fast processing time and access to more inventory. Today’s order ships tomorrow.”

Justin Gorman, VP of Sales & Marketing — Kinsey’s

2. Today’s Order Ships Tomorrow

Every business has faced considerable disruption in the supply chain over the past couple of years, but Kinsey’s has risen to the challenge and recently completed an expansive warehouse system merger project that increased its available inventory by 25%.

Since its acquisition of Pape’s in 2018, Kinsey’s has served customers from two locations: Mount Joy, Pa. (Kinsey’s) and Louisville, Ky. (Kinsey’s South). The addition of Kinsey’s South accelerated delivery times to customers on the east coast (1–2 days) and increased the number of available SKUs.

With its warehouse system merger complete, Kinsey’s retail customers have streamlined access to both warehouses — providing more inventory with quicker service times.

“Kinsey’s main focus is to increase the ease of doing business. When a dealer sees an empty peg, we want it to be easy to get their order in,” said Gorman. “With the investments we’ve made in our warehouse system, dealers receive fast processing time and access to more inventory. Today’s order ships tomorrow.”

Beverly, a Kinsey’s customer for more than a decade, shared the distributor’s trademark reliability has shined over the past two years.

“Throughout the whole hard-to-get times over the past two years, Kinsey’s has been really good at shipping and staying on top of things,” he said.

Kinsey’s also has a fulfillment dropshipping program available to online businesses, but it’s set up in such a way to safeguard its brick-and-mortar customers.

“We offer fulfillment programs to support dealers with online stores or online-only businesses. But their set of criteria is different, so we’re protecting the brick-and-mortar dealer at the same time,” Gorman informed. “We make sure we can serve both business models without cannibalizing the other, and we do so with integrity.”

“One thing with Kinsey’s: They’ve always been easy to work with. You get the feeling you’re part of their family.”

Aaron Beverly, Owner Beverly’s Gun, Archery & Pawn

3. Onboarding Firearms, Ammunition

Kinsey’s continues to evolve and add more business facets to strengthen the outdoor retailer. For example, Kinsey’s added ammunition and firearms to its inventory in 2019 and 2020, respectively, to complement its long-standing excellence in the archery segment.

Gorman shared the crossover potential between firearms and archery retailers represents a significant opportunity for growth.

“We’ve traditionally been an archery and general hunting supplier, but as we were looking at the next phase of growth, we did some market research and found a lot of archery shops crossover into gun shops and vice versa — exactly who we want to serve,” he stated. “We’re serious about this market; this multi-category approach is who we are for the future. Firearms, archery and the outdoors is who Kinsey’s is going to be for the next 70 years.”

The decision to onboard firearms and ammunition products gave Kinsey’s an opportunity to not only serve a larger market of customers, but also to make new connections in the industry — like the thriving partnership it has developed with Winchester Ammunition.

Kevin Winscher, Winchester Ammunition sales manager, shared how partnering with Kinsey’s has benefited its brand and opened up an entirely new base of retail customers.

“In 2019, Winchester and Kinsey’s met with the goal of expanding ammunition distribution to outdoor shops complementary to the traditional gun shop model,” he said.

“Many outdoor and archery shops don’t have an FFL, but service consumers who hunt with a firearm, shoot at a local range or are looking to get into shooting sports and need ammunition products. Since we formed our partnership, Kinsey’s has doubled their Winchester business every year, in part, by distributing to customers who never carried ammunition before and via expanded distribution to gun shops that were underserviced with the Winchester brand.”

4. A Perfect Fit

From its signature KDS event, special promotions, expedited shipping and diverse inventory, Kinsey’s represents a perfect fit for dealers with firearms and archery customers.

“A shop needs to find the distributor that best fits their needs, but the fact we’re a full-service archery and accessory hunting distributor — combined with firearms and ammunition — gives us a leg up,” Gorman said. “Our combination of archery and firearms is unique because when you look at other distributors, we offer the most expansive assortment when it comes to anything in the archery space. If you’re a dealer who participates in both pursuits, we’re really the perfect fit.”

Beverly shared how his store is treated makes Kinsey’s his standout distributor partner.

“One thing with Kinsey’s: They’ve always been easy to work with,” he said. “Even after they added firearms to their supply, you get the feeling you’re part of their family. A lot of my distributors aren’t that way; you’re treated as just another customer. With Kinsey’s, you feel like you’re part of the whole process.”

For four generations, the Kinsey’s team has continuously strived to persevere and exceed the expectations of customers around the world — and they’re just getting started.

For more information on becoming a Kinsey’s dealer and learning more about its unique programs, contact Kinsey’s at (800) 366-4269 or visit KinseysInc.com.