After Friday’s feature about those that complain about SHOT Show, I received a number of emails from those agreeing. Not surprising since most all of them were long-time SHOT Show attendees and understand the importance of the event.
One email stood out because it asked an essential question I had not considered. And that is, “What is innovation?”
Being deep in the weeds of daily product announcements it’s hard to look for anything that isn’t truly groundbreaking. And that’s an unfair standard to apply across the board. As I was reminded, “It’s a rare event when innovation at a monumentally significant level comes along, like the iPhone.”
Looking at every new product introduction expecting an ‘iPhone’ is a fool’s errand, but one many fall for because we allow ourselves to be sucked in by marketing hype and our own expectations for something truly original.
The fact is, innovation is different for different people. For those of us that have attended many, many SHOT Shows, or worked at exhibiting companies, our standard is very, very high. But a new product we recognize as a simple line extension, a derivative product, might be just what another gun owner has been waiting for.
Is it fair to judge every new product through the ‘I’ve seen it all before’ lens? Not according to Rob Southwick of Southwick Associates, a research firm that specializes in the hunting, shooting, firearms and outdoor industry.
It was Rob’s email that pointed out the ‘forest for the trees’ syndrome many might be suffering from when gauging in what is and isn’t innovative.
“Innovation is certainly relative, unique to each consumer. For a person who owns a firearm for protection and shoots maybe once a year, it’s hard to wow them with something new. For others who want to tighten their groupings or be the first among their peers with something new and cool, they’ll respond much better,” Southwick noted.
Southwick Associates has done a lot of work with NSSF to identify and categorize gun owners. In an overly simplified way, you can think of them as the brand new gun owner to the ‘super’ user. Each of these categories responds differently to marketing. Retailers need to focus their sales efforts according to what motivates each of these groups.
And manufacturers need to focus product development on which group they – and their retailers – will be selling to.
“Just like any form of marketing, ‘innovation’ needs to be targeted to the right niche, the right market,” explained Southwick.
When looking through the endless aisles at SHOT it’s easy to be unimpressed if all you’re looking for is an iPhone. But taking a closer look reveals more than you might think. Perhaps it’s incremental innovation in a particular category.
Over the last few years we’ve seen a notable increase in the number of firearm companies from Turkey. The proliferation of Turkish-made firearms is not and indication of cutting edge of firearms design and manufacturing as many of the guns are knock-offs of existing products.
But, as these companies grow, so will their design, engineers and manufacturing capabilities. It’s just a matter of time before those working closely with their U.S. distributing partners come up with something that we look at and say, “Now that is new.”
Looking past the trees of SHOT to see the forest might reveal more to us than we realize. After all, as Southwick pointed out to me, “This year (again), innovation in optics and suppressor categories are driving interest and traffic at the broader level, but there was plenty in the other specialty niches, too.”
Innovation isn’t singularly defined based on its most extreme example, so stop looking for the iPhone and just look at what’s new, and which category of customer it’s meant for.
– Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network
Editor’s Note: Each year at SHOT Southwick Associates sponsors the NSSF Industry Research Breakfast. NSSF, Southwick Associates and other research and data firms make presentations. It’s one of the hidden gem events at SHOT because of what you can learn, and who you can connect with to find information for product development, marketing, or writing about industry trends. It is a must-attend event for me, and one you might want to look into.