Have you noticed that gunstores often are behind the times with their web presence?
Buddies at work have and are complaining to ME about it. They work in the Information Technology industry so they are comfortable using the internet to do their shopping. One person got his Credit Card info hacked out of a gunstore's online shopping system because they didn't properly encrypt their database.
Another buddy laments that he went to go to a bunch of gunstore's websites to check for current and specific inventory availability and there is nothing to be found. When he went old tech and let his fingers do the walking person on the other end wasn't freely sharing information. "How much do you retail Blastomatic2000, if you sell them?" "Yes, we sell those" "How much do they run?" "600 700 800." "$800?" "Yes. Maybe 1000 bucks" "What?!" "If we had them, that's what they'd cost." ~click~
What the... Standard gunstore attitude in a lot of stores is to ignore and/or alienate potential customers. Not ALL, certainly, but way too many.
I know it costs time/money to maintain a website with current inventory and pricing information, or at LEAST inventory, but it seems gunstores are resistant to the innovation no matter the cost. And I can only guess why. Sure the 1968 GCA and all the ATF regulations and understandable fears of flack from anti-gunners and gummint busybodies (particularly in my state) sort of incentivizes today's gun purveyors to keep a 1950s business model, but still...
Plus gunstores tend to be a Mom and Pop style operation. One owner or a couple of partners and a few clerks, some of them family members. But even BassPro doesn't post its current individual store inventory. (I bet their online shopping cart is better than Mom and Pop stores, tho.)
The only reliable way to shop for a gun around here is to burn up the gas visiting the store in person. If you want something specific, that's a LOT of driving.
Like I mentioned, this isn't all gunstores, by any means. Stores that are active on GunBroker already have half their work done for them because of the necessity to post on the auction site. I bet there is a good chance current inventory is (or can be) well represented on their own website. But here you run into the possible problem with shopping cart encryption, again.
It's rare to see a gun store, or many firearm manufacturers, have a website that looks like it was made after 2002, too. New websites cost money. And why have a store online when folks have to come down to fill out paperwork and pickup their new gun 7 days later, all in person?
Anyway, that's been the frustrations of some of my gun buddies at work, just starting out. They're not into it enough to have a favorite gunstore, and may never need a fave to haunt.
[Glock has an online presence problem, too.]
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This is why, though I expect instant background checks by themselves are Constitutional by any reasonable standard, I just can't imagine a way to enforce them that would pass honestly-applied strict scrutiny. When you're forcing all commerce to go through government-licensed brick and mortar stores, you're severely burdening lawful commerce in a world where you can buy all other legal products on Amazon.
I think there is a resistance to list current inventory on line for a couple of reasons.
First, it would allow the anti-rights cultists to target them. Imagine "Snuffy" Phlager (spelling) standing in front of a store in Illinois reading off the inventory. He would make it sound like each and everyone of the "blastomatics 2000X" had been brought in to kill innocent children.
Second, there is the aspect of creating a shopping list for criminals. While other stores are vulnerable to this, the public perception of a gun store that was robbed because it listed inventory would be worse. Why I don't know other than media bias.
Lastly, the manpower issue you mentioned. In the stores I visit, inventory changes and changes fast. Unless systems are created from the beginning (e.g. everything bar-coded on receipt, scanning into inventory updates the website, scanning on sale removes it from inventory, etc) it is quite a chore to maintain online inventory. I don't think it is just gun stores that have this issue. I've had the same problem looking for washers and dryers at smaller stores.
And camping supplies? Not many stores even try.
I do think the stores are evolving, many stores have an online presence through social media such as Facebook.
I've found the same problem when I'm looking at gun store websites, with two very notable exceptions: www.budsgunshop.com and galleryofguns.com. Both of these have inventory updated frequently, and seem to be pretty well designed for the Internet shopper.
As a gun nut computer programmer with over 16 years of Interweb Tube Development, this makes me a sad, sad panda.
I could SO envision a software packaged that would allow even the most humble of mom & pop stores to be able to put their inventory online. But the one thing I've found about gun stores is that they're cheaper bastards than myself.
Most of the gun stores I've talked to about it that have tried to put their inventory online found it to be too much of a pain and did not receive any sort of ROI. I think that's mostly attributed to sales systems geared for non-gun related items.
Sadly, while I am assured I could write the most kick ass Gun Store Software Package available, I am also assured I'd lose my shirt doing so.
I think the problem is that the Cletus Family Genepool has contaminated the system. You should check out Tam's post on the issue from a few days ago.
Of course, you could always talk to Breda, since she's now slinging WMD's across the Counter. I'm sure she could cut you a deal on Bersa Thunders and Snubbies from Hell.
1) Gun stores, like most other small specialty retail shops, operate on a lot smaller profit margin than most people think. At the end of the day, most of 'em barely more than break even. A surprising number of them are "hobby jobs" or even tax write-offs.
2) The Venn diagram of "People Most Likely To Own A Gun Store" and "People Least Likely To Have A Clue About The Internet" features nearly 100% overlap. We are talking about people who are, almost by definition, somewhere between "conservative" and "reactionary", suspicious, and who carry more than a whiff of Luddism. These are people who frequently think that using your credit card means that the card company (and the therefore government) knows what you bought. (They don't. Only the time, place, and total.)
My local store's web updates are average. But, they are pretty small and family run. Showing IMI M855/ss109 in stock (@13 for 30) is just teasing, though. Did luck out on an upper they didn't show in stock on the web but did have in store. At a lower price than the web price.
The worst part is that I don't have direct deposit and they are close to my bank...... Tax is less than shipping........ I regularly walk in for a minor part and walk out with x new toy......Say, is a 20 year old unfired P13-45 worth getting?.......Must resist. I ignored the 10mm Delta elite.
You don't even need a complete database back-end. Moving fotward, Ed has the right idea...
http://www.edsgunshop.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2
A simple forum (in this case phpBB) used to upload pucs of new and used stock. Also allows communication between the staff and the public.
Ed 1...
Others 0...
When a store-owner I know was pissed that some yobs broke in and stole an empty cash register (no fool he, the daily take went into the safe) because the replacement cost is a significant pain in the cash-flow, I figured that his margins were pretty small...
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