Just weeks after halting sales of all firearms to customers under the age of 21 and banning AR-type rifles in its Field and Stream stores, retail giant Dick’s Sporting Goods announced a “deeper-than-expected” sales drop as their stock sank the most in four months, according to Fortune.
“There’s going to be some pushback and we expected that,” said CEO Edward Stack, in an earnings call with Wall Street analysts, CNN reports. “There are going to be the people who don’t shop us anymore for anything.”
Dick’s Posts ‘Deeper than Expected’ Losses Weeks After Taking Anti-Gun Stance
One of the great things of staying out of politics altogether is that you do not piss off any significant amount of customers. It intrigues me that any company would follow that advice or cave to boycott threats of Left Wing people and politicians who happen to hate Capitalism and therefore the making of a profit.
Fortune is careful to tell its readers not to blame the company’s struggles on its anti-gun stance. Dick’s has struggled with “excessive inventory and deep discounting,” and it’s been unable to compete with Amazon and Nike, who have both been pushing customers to make online purchases.
If you are already hurting business-wise, who was the effing genius who convinced the rest of the board morons of losing more clients? Because it makes all the Harvard School of Business’ sense to dismiss the Gun Owner who will drop $1K buying guns, ammo and accessories in order to try to get the business of a Moms Demand follower who may spend only $70 on a sports bra and a pair of yoga pants.
I think I’m going to try for an MBA and do my master’s thesis on “How to fuck your business to death by crapping on gun owners.”
Most graduate degree holders lack your clarity of expression and business sense. Your post is more informative than a garbled MBA article about Deming or other such puff balls.
Dick’s never carried pistol ammo in all calibers I use. But, I did buy other items there, such as Under Armor cold weather gear, 5.56 ammo by the ammo can, i.e., 420 rounds, etc. But, no more. Convenience is not the end all. Their Anti Bill of Rights policy killed my future purchases there. I averaged around $250 a month there.
Waco has Academy and Cabelas well stocked with ammunition and sports clothing and pro-gun in the bargain. Dicks is presently building a huge store in Waco, Texas. I don’t know if it will be a field and stream store or not but, in either case, the prudent choice for them would be to cut their losses and walk away. We simply have a limited number of junior baseball programs and the LGBTQ community here doesnt’ even HAVE a soccer or Basketball team.
I agree with the article. I have never understood any business willing to take any political stance that will irritate half of your customers. It is always better to say that a company has no opinion on outside issues. Anything that will lower profit is an outside issue. Businesses are there to make a profit. Most people don’t recognize that once you open your mouth you have taken a stand, and roughly half of the people disagree with you. If you say nothing then nobody thinks to disagree with you. Dick’s might have seen a few cranks upset with them if they had remained silent, but by picking a side they automatically loose significant clientele. It kind of follows the old adage, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool. Then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
Had the beefed up there guns and ammo sales during all of this instead of an outright boycott, they would’ve made quite alot of money…