u/methodistmonk

It seems both the primary market and the resale market have cratered.

Primary Market - Price increases have slowed demand. The Rucker 5.0 and Tactical Gear seems to be very slow in sales. I would guess the Rucker 5.0 hasn’t been a steady sell. The price increases on MiUSA gear have slowed demand because of cost. SCARS customizations are on hold.

Secondary Market- Demand is even lower than primary market. Formerly in demand NWT Ruckers aren’t moving for $130! EUC GR1s barely fetch $170-200 now. The market used to be huge, now it’s saturated and slowly declining.

Possible Reasons -

1. Economic Conditions - nobody is buying $395 bags when you have to pay $100+ to fill up you vehicle. The economy is crap right now and boutique brands are failing. Look at Western Rise.
2. Market Saturation - there are only so many dollars in the bag market and the audience is full Gorucks already. Resale market is so full right now, most people are naming their own price.
3. Refusal to give people what they want - everyone I know hates the huge branding AND the lack of an exterior slash pocket on the Rucker 4.0, so what does GORUCK do? Make the branding even more prominent and not take the feedback to bring back the front slash pocket on the 5.0! This is not listening to your most loyal core audience.

What can GORUCK do?

1. Stop marking things up to mark them down and call it a sale. They used to have one or two sales a year. Now they are at sales every month. Sales create price fluctuations that people anticipate. You are training people to “wait for the sale” which means they aren’t going to buy anything at full price.
2. Listen to your core customers. Really hear what they want in a bag. Know the first thing I do after I buy a car? Take the stupid dealership tag off the back. 😂
3. Decide if you are a backpack company that offers fitness equipment or a fitness company that sells backpacks. Really important. Lean into that identity.