By David Crane
defrev (at) gmail (dot) com
August 30, 2010
On August 4th, DefenseReview (DR) advertiser and online firearms ammunition store/ammo seller LuckyGunner.com officially came out of “stealth mode” with a press release on PRWeb. LuckyGunner.com is a highly successful and aggressive online ammo store/seller that’s owned and operated by shooting enthusiasts who want to make their customers very happy customers, and ultimately LIFE-LONG customers. They want to do this the old fashioned way: by offering high-quality products (in this case, ammunition) at great prices, and with superior customer service. From what Defense Review can see, so far, they’ve already achieved that goal.
But, back to the press release. The release detailed LuckyGunner Ammo’s rise to power, if you will, arising like a Phoenix out of the ashes of the 2008 presidential election, just one of the silver linings and divine ironies of Obama’s election victory and subsequent presidency, which caused a run on firearms ammunition (rifle and pistol ammo), the likes of which the United States (and the world) had never before seen. It was the rough equivalent of the 1929 run on the banks after the 1929 stock market crash, only instead of pulling their money out of the bank, everyone pulled all the ammo out of the gun stores!
If you remember, back in late 2008/early 2009, ammo supplies were already shaky from the huge demand by DoD (Department of Defense) and the U.S. military. This, combined with Obama’s win and the Great Recession, created the perfect storm, the perfect confluence of events for an upstart ammo seller like Luck Gunner to capitalize on, and capitalize on it they did! While LuckyGunner.com’s founders “had no previous experience or connections in either the ammunition industry or with e-commerce”, they had an entrepreneurial backgeround, and a lot of experience in business. They were thus able to take the skill sets they’d already acquired in purchasing, logistics, coding, and customer management, and apply them to selling firearms ammunition online more effectively than it had ever been done, before.
“We also own a construction company, a software development company, and some investment property. I know it sounds weird, but we really were able to use a lot of these same skill sets at LuckyGunner.com,” says one founder. “We take our jobs seriously. Whether that means improving our systems to reduce errors and costs or broadening our supplier base for our customers, this industry is changing and we want to be the tip of the spear.” The LuckyGunner.com team spent a lot of 12+-hour work days calling ammo manufacturers/suppliers, checking in products, talking to customers, improving the website, and every other task involved in making a new business venture successful.
Regarding customer service and manufacturer/supplier relations, the LuckyGunner.com team puts it this way: “We have two primary groups of people we are accountable to: customers and suppliers. We take them both very seriously. For our customers, we try to design an easy to navigate website, update it with tools to make their lives easier, keep plenty of quality product in stock, and ship it fast. For our suppliers, we try to promote their brand value and new products to our customers, fulfill our commitments, and always pay on time.” Just imagine if every business in America operated that way!
LuckyGunner.com’s great-products-at-great-prices-with-great-customer-service philosophy resulted in over $3,200,000 in revenue in the first 12 months of the company’s existence. Two of the keys to this were a reliable and continuous ammo supply and their customers’ trust. The momentum is now with them. “Now that we have a trusted reputation in the industry and a solid lineup of suppliers, we have more time to focus on driving down our costs and making our operation more efficient: both of which lead directly back to solving problems for our customers, which is the reason we started the business,” says one of the company’s founders.
LuckyGunner.com’s path forward (in the rather bleak recessionary business environment, post-2009 guns-and-ammo rush) is straightforward: keep doin’ what they’re doin’, and what got them here. The core philosophy remains, and they’ll strive to deliver the best possible value to the customer via system improvements (including improvements to both the overall website and online store features), product, selection, pricing, and great customer service.
“We have a fun team and have learned a lot in the last twelve months; now we are are eager to apply the lessons and continue adding to our team, which is our biggest asset,” says a company rep. Recognizing their people (employees) as their most important and valuable asset is a positive sign. The LuckyGunner team includes Heidi and Steven in Customer Service, Jake in Purchasing, and Angela in Marketing.
If you’re on the lookout for the best ammo at the best prices, DR highly recommends that you check LuckyGunner.com out, ASAP. If you’d like to learn more about LuckyGunner.com Ammo directly from the horse’s mouth (or, in this case, the hottie’s mouth), Heidi, Lucky Gunner’s resident customer service babe/video girl will tell you all about it, here. Heidi’s photo link to her video presentation is on the right-hand side of the page. When you click on it, Heidi will appear in the middle of your screen like a futuristic hologram from a Sci-Fi movie. If you liked the hot MILFs from The O.C. (like we did), you’ll probably like Heidi. So, enjoy. Just don’t stalk her. She’s probably armed.
Company Contact Info:
Lucky Gunner Ammo
P.O. Box 32747
Knoxville, TN 37930
Phone: 800-317-9506
Fax: 800-844-0602
Email: customerservice@luckygunner.com
Website: http://www.luckygunner.com
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