PDA

View Full Version : Business idea for The Warrior Entrepreneur - ammo of the month club



tweek
12-28-2012, 04:09 PM
offer subscriptions for monthly deliveries of ammo. Keep it simple:
Offer subscriptions for a limited number of calibers. Say Nato 7.62, Russian 7.62, Nato 5.56, 9mm, 40, 45
Keep the subscriptions simple: $100/mo + shipping for each caliber selected

On the 1st of the month the business ships to the customer whatever they are subscribed to.

Your job: line up suppliers to keep up with demand while providing you with a margin of profit.

In case you are wondering why I'm posting this: I work with investors and entrepreneurs. Want to know how much anybody's idea is worth? How much is a grande latte at Starbucks. That is how much your idea is worth. Your ability to execute the idea is what investors are interested in. I have no ability to execute this idea b/c I don't know what regulatory hurdles need to be crosses and don't know suppliers. There are other people out there in a much better position to execute this idea and I'd be delighted to sign up for 3 subscriptions right now.

tweek
01-02-2013, 05:04 PM
As somebody pointed out - shipping sorta screws this up. However, our local club has an idea along these lines so I'm going to help them develop it. Hopefully I'll have some interesting results to report back.

OdieWon
01-02-2013, 07:56 PM
I'd think in this market, if a guy was going to get into the ammo business he'd better pick one of two paths.

1. Buy it by the truck load, and good luck with that.

2. Start loading it. Become the next CorBon, or the next Double Tap or whatever. There may be a little bit better lead time before the raw materials are dried up like the loaded ammo.

I can tell you right now, that ten reliable people running ten Dillon XL1050's (or whatever the high end loader is now) with quality products at 50-60 hours a week or more, could make some serious cash with the right marketing plan. You could do a 30 day run, all ten loaders running 5.56, and then switch to 9mm for 30 days. And then .308 etc...... THEN if you could get a couple truck loads of primers and brass, you could do a ammo of the month club, but no memberships. Because ammo SELLS without that sales pitch bro.

You could make it worth your time just selling to this forum alone, if your product would reliably compete with a commercial product.

I see DOLLAR SIGNS for whoever picks this idea up and puts some capital, 10 reliable worker bees, and one hard working mf'er to do all the phone calls and the guerrilla marketing.

WHO'S IT GOING TO BE? (I'm just starting my own business in another direction for the firearm culture, so don't say YOU!!!)

OdieWon
01-02-2013, 08:31 PM
Dang that's the best idea I've had all day. (I've been trying to actively create new opportunities daily). I tried to give my self some reputation points, but it didn't work. <joke>

Saladin
01-02-2013, 09:10 PM
Don't forget to plug some Big bucks for liability insurance!
Oft overlooked "gotta have it" thing in today's world!

I don't like it, but it's a must.

Saladin (Thug in Transition to a higher level)

WinstonSmith
01-02-2013, 09:24 PM
I'm with C on this, though you could maybe do what Amazon does with their "subscribe and save" program.

The prices aren't locked, but they are competitive current market prices. The auto re-orders are same quantity with a reminder email a few days in advance allowing you to change quantities, skip a shipment, etc. Shipment frequency can be adjusted from monthly to every quarter. What you're selling in this case is convenience-- not having to search for each order.

Granted, I only used this for things like baby diapers ... :cool:

bae
01-02-2013, 09:31 PM
I order by the pallet, usually, when commodities pricing is low, and ammo is cheap and plentiful. My grandparents, who lived through The Great Depression, taught me this scheme. I sometimes go for *years* without buying any.

I wouldn't be interested in a monthly ammo dollar-cost-averaging scheme, unless I knew and trusted the fellow on the other end of the phone.

WinstonSmith
01-02-2013, 10:25 PM
I order by the pallet, usually, when commodities pricing is low, and ammo is cheap and plentiful. My grandparents, who lived through The Great Depression, taught me this scheme. I sometimes go for *years* without buying any.

I wouldn't be interested in a monthly ammo dollar-cost-averaging scheme, unless I knew and trusted the fellow on the other end of the phone.

Yeah, but that's not to say there aren't plenty of live-in-debt-folks who wouldn't be interested in parting ways with their money for a service like this.

tweek
01-03-2013, 04:20 PM
We'll see what happens. To a degree, what I see us doing is really more along the lines of a regular group buy. Basically, by getting 30 local people together who all want to purchase 55gr SP 223 and each person specifies a dollar amount they want. Add it all up, call the supplier and see what can be done. In our case the range owner already orders ammo so he's already got insurance and everything else in place.

At the moment there is 1 reason I'm interested in this: Convenience. For grins and giggles I've checked all the local usual places to pick up 223 and 9mm. 9mm can be found fairly easily. 223 on the other hand - good luck. I jumped on the GPAmmo thing even though the ammo is better than I like to use for practice.

I now see the light and am with BAE 100% - I'll be building up a decent stock pile of my usual calibers to make sure I never get caught out again. I have an ok supply now, but it's not big enough for peace of mind. I'd like to be able to go to the range to practice about twice a month. That means I probably need to purchase about 400 rounds of 9mm and 300 rounds of 223 each month just to maintain my stockpile. And there in enters the idea of an automatic monthly order.