FishUSA offers a wide array of fishing gear for all types of freshwater fishing—from bass fishing to fly fishing to ice fishing. It’s one of the top retailers in the midwest servicing a large swath of anglers. Now they are offering an equally great service to independent tackle stores with their new Wholesale Service. With a simple login, independent tackle shops can log in and order up to 50,000 different items for their stores with no minimum orders and quick processing times. This new service offers a much more nimble wholesale option for independent shops.
“We’ve been up and running for more than 6 months now, and we already service more than 100 independent tackle shops,” said Doug Straub, Senior Director of Merchandising for FishUSA. “We cater to bass, salmon, trout, panfish, fly fishing, ice fishing and more. So we can fill a lot of needs for a lot of fishing tackle retailers.”
Straub saw a need for tackle shops who can’t always afford the minimums dealing directly with some manufacturers or large distributors. And they also grew FishUSA from a local pro shop to a national powerhouse, so they empathize with the growing pains of a small tackle shop and wanting to better service their loyal customers.
“We built FishUSA the same way as most tackle shops, and we ran into the same problems where as a smaller shop, we couldn’t always afford the minimums to bring in a new product or wanted a few colors to try something in our store that our customers wanted,” Straub said. “We do not operate like a large distributor, so that allows us to be nimble. We special order all the time, and we always restock throughout the year instead of bringing in the inventory one time and selling through until it’s out. This gives stores the flexibility to try some new products in small batches of just a few colors in their stores.”
The service is all credit card based although there is a “buy-now, pay-later” option that allows for payments if necessary. And while large distributors will offer discounts for volume and show specials, what FishUSA is focusing on now is offering great customer service to small tackle shops. They have the products in their warehouse and can get it to shops quickly.
So if a customer walks into a tackle store and wants a reel that the shop doesn’t carry, the shop can log into their FishUSA wholesale account, order the reel and have it in a few days for them. It gives the small shop a more personal touch for their customers.
Certain brands won’t allow for distributing as they are direct retailer based relationships. So brands like Megabass, Shimano, FishPond, and Simms will still deal direct with the stores.
But uniquely different, FishUSA offers custom colors with several brands like Keitech, Salmo, Bobby Garland, Michigan Stinger, Moonshine, Dreamweaver and more, and stores can access those custom colors and carry them in their shops.
They also carry a full line of their branded tools and in-house fishing rods that tackle shops can access as well.
With no minimums, flat fee shipping and no tiers to deal with, the FishUSA Wholesale service offers tackle shops a great resource to be able to bring in new products in smaller quantities, get one off products and special colors as well as fill inventories when their other distributors might be out. And with great customer service and timely shipping, it gives tackle shops a great option for carrying a diverse tackle selection and being responsive to unique customer requests.
If you own a tackle shop and are interested in signing up for the service, visit https://wholesale.fishusa.com.
