It’s Shot Show week in the gun industry. If you work in the firearm space, and you’re not in Las Vegas this week, you’re probably at home wishing you were. It’s truly one of the most important weeks for our industry every year. And it’s always an enormous spectacle of the latest and greatest our industry has to offer.
It’s a week filled with long hours in the booth, in meetings, and on your feet. That’s then surrounded by late nights and mornings that show up way too early. All the hard work and overtime is somewhat offset by the excitement and energy throughout the convention center.
The sheer number of people you can see, miles you can walk and products you can view are overwhelming. I don’t think I’ve been to a Shot Show that didn’t exceed my expectations but also my ability to be amazed at the creativity and innovative nature of the companies in our industry.
It’s also a frenzy for the media who cover our industry day in and day out. Many media and marketing companies will package together so much information this week it will last them for months. There will be so many releases of new programs and products it’ll make your head dizzy.
And this year, NASGW will be adding to the mix as well, as we very publicly launch our new VAULT product information exchange. We’ve created a tool the industry has needed for a very long time… a central hub for standardized images and attributes. The platform exists in many other industries and NASGW is proud to bring such an important and critical tool to our industry. VAULT promises to eliminate redundant data entry, reduce data entry errors, and establish a single source of truth for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. It’s an exciting and promising new way for this industry to gain efficiency and have more accurate data.
We’ve been working for months in the background to educate distributors, manufacturers and others across the industry. While the tool’s been in development, we’ve shared the mission, purpose and benefits with dozens and dozens of companies.
This week, we are exceptionally proud to announce that Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. has joined VAULT as a founding member and strategic partner. In so doing, Ruger has promised to centralize all of its firearm SKUs and attributes from their multiple brands into the platform. So when you need a photo or a multitude of details on a product that Ruger makes, you’ll be able to find it on VAULT.
We’ve even created a great way for you to remember where you’ll find it all. If you have a question, or you’re looking for some details on an industry product, just know that itsonvault.com will help you get the answer you need. The tool will be available for anyone wishing to centralize their product information management. Companies can load the information themselves, or, we an help you secure professional photos and work with you to get your products into the VAULT system.
I can’t emphasize how big of a deal this platform is to our industry and how much time and money it’s going to save manufacturers, distributors, retailers and any other company in our industry that uses this information for a whole host of reasons.
And, I want to personally thank Todd Seyfert, Ruger’s President and CEO and Rob Werkmeister, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Customer Experience at Ruger, for their understanding of the mission and power of VAULT to the industry and their continued and strong support of NASGW and our efforts to bring solutions to the industry.
NASGW promised the industry years ago that we’d be working hard to do “big things.” We brought SCOPE into fruition, creating a new and better way to analyze industry sales trends. And now we’re equally excited about VAULT and the impact it’s going to have. It’s another big thing from NASGW and another big win for the industry.
It won’t be built overnight, but in the coming days, weeks and months, we’ll be announcing a number of other companies who are planning to support and use the VAULT platform for their industry related data and photos as well. And, we’ve got some other key industry partnerships we’ll be announcing as well. Please, give it a look at itsonvault.com.
Enjoy the week in Las Vegas at Shot Show!
Until next time,
Kenyon Gleason
NASGW President