No “buycott” here.
Two weeks after making adjustments to its firearms policy, Dick’s Sporting Goods is seeing a surge in foot traffic, according to mobile audience platform Reveal Mobile. The results seem to indicate that the retailer’s newfound stance on the controversial gun debate is driving more visits from customers who support the outdoor and athletic giant’s decision.
Reveal Mobile conducted the analysis, based on aggregated visits at more than 700 Dick’s stores across the country, and found that overall foot traffic was up 3.7 percent overall in the two weeks since the retailer announced the new policy on Feb. 28.
The firm also reported a 7.59 percent increase in blue states — or those that voted for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election — during the weekend of March 2 to 4, compared with the weekend of Feb. 23 to 25. Over the same period, traffic in red states rose 2.84 percent.
In Florida, foot traffic increased by 9 percent. The state itself is home to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and teachers were shot dead by alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz a month ago, prompting major retailers to rethink their gun policies.
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“Foot traffic data provides information on how many people are entering their stores, but not on the money they’re spending in-store,” Reveal Mobile’s chief marketing officer Matthew Davis said. “It can take a lot of soccer balls and basketball shoes to make up for the sale of one assault rifle.”
The findings come just two days after Dick’s CEO and chairman Edward Stack said in a conference call that the new firearms policy was not insignificant for the company and will likely lead to a loss in sales.
“Although [the response] has been overwhelmingly positive, there has been some negative pushback on this,” Stack said. “Some of those customers that buy firearms [from Dick’s] buy other things also. We’ve had some pushback, and we knew that was going to happen … There’s going to be people who just don’t shop us anymore for anything.”
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