Profile of Success: More than Military Might

When I last spoke to Randy Acton in 1999, his U.S. Cavalry catalog was focused mainly on selling camouflage pants, flak jackets, crossbows, nightscopes, military memorabilia and the like.

Today, he says: “There’s been a major change in our business as we’ve moved from an almost exclusively military product line-up to selling law-enforcement and anti-terrorist products.”

Even before Sept. 11, U.S. Cavalry Inc. started to move to more law enforcement-related products as the military downsized in the 1990s. “Look at my industry and the place where it is now,” says Acton. “We’ve had to move away from military and on the upside with the law enforcement.” Acton says he recognized the need for change by watching trends. “It’s the old adage of staying in touch. This gave us a clue as to what new things we could sell”—and also what products to drop. For example, he says, “Humorous military mottos on T-shirts that were popular 10 years ago are taken completely differently now.”

One thing that won’t change with these changing times is the company’s name. Says Acton, “The brand name has been out there for so long (29 years), and we have spent so many dollars to develop it that we could not walk away from it.”

Big Changes Are Afoot

CavPro is U.S. Cavalry’s business-to-business catalog and Web operation. That’s where much of the company’s growth has been in recent years and also where Acton believes further growth potential lies.

About 30 percent of the company’s business is currently from b-to-b sales. It also has a separate contract sales division that sells to the government. Another new b-to-b unit, CSGSHQ.com, supplies specialized equipment for homeland security, such as suits for chemical protection. The other 70 percent of sales include 23 percent mail order/catalog; 27 percent Web via UScav.com; and 20 percent retail.

Acton says the contracting side of his business has seen a 114.6-percent growth spurt this year. Why? “More and more purchasing agents are being required to use the Web to place orders to expedite their workflow,” he says.

U.S. Cavalry runs all of its businesses as one company. “It’s basically the same products, but we’re marketing off two different customer files, using two separate front ends with a shared back end,” he elaborates.

On the b-to-b side, Acton says product sourcing has been a challenge. “We need to locate new product that our customers want, but we’re dealing with [supplier] companies that have never dealt with us before.” Many of the new homeland security products it sells come, not surprisingly, from Israel.

Selling products such as gas masks and kits to set up a saferoom against bioterrorism presents promotional challenges as well. “These products are expensive, and they have a lot of specifications that need to be spelled out,” he says. Those issues are complicated by a need for creative sensitivity in copywriting and displaying products. Acton says many marketers were trading on fear after Sept. 11. “We don’t want to do that,” he says.

A Wide Web World Out There

Acton believes consumers’ buying habits are heading more to the Web, and so he has geared up to invest in the company’s Web sites. However, he recognizes now is not the time to alienate catalog buyers. “You can’t get away from catalogs, and we’re not trying to do that. We can’t be just a Web company.”

But he sees great potential for his b-to-b business online. “I can easily see it becoming half of the business. Internationally, the Web is becoming the method of choice. So we’re putting a lot of emphasis there.” The timing is right, as Acton notes: “All freedom-loving nations are interested in acquiring high-quality security products.”

Alicia Orr Suman is editor in chief of Catalog Success magazine.