Many of you have seen some social media scuttlebutt lately about one of the largest companies that sells through fly-fishing retailers sending out a questionnaire to those dealers… asking them to describe their business… and then offering up more than a dozen options, ranging from Sporting Goods, to electronic stores, gasoline stations, book stores, and pet stores. Fly shop didn’t make the list. That’s not to criticize this company, because in our opinion, it has done far, FAR more for dealers and the sport as a whole than many of the other companies that draw lifeblood from fly fishing ever have, or ever will.
But it does raise an interesting question for the dealers. Given the marketing muscle, consumer outreach to everyone from soccer moms to gear heads that some of the larger “consumer” brands bring to the table, and selling certain products, would you rather be a big fish in a small, specialty pond (that is, specifically fly fishing), or a small fish in a much bigger pond (where you might just grab some outlier business apart from fly only)?
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