Bass Pro Shops CEO Warns America | The Economic Ninja

➡ The article discusses the high cost of living and how it affects people’s purchasing decisions, particularly in relation to expensive items like boats. It highlights how companies, like Bass Pro Shops, are having to adjust their business models to focus more on essential items rather than luxury goods due to consumers’ limited budgets. The author suggests this shift is a sign of economic downturn, but also notes that there’s potential for profit during such times. He ends by promoting his email newsletter for off-channel updates and news recaps.

So, the CEO of Bass Pro Shops just put out an epic warning to America and to the American investor and consumer. But the sad thing is, most people are not going to see it or heed this warning because it came through a discussion during the company’s earnings call. And to say that Cabela’s Bass Pro Shops talk about the heartbeat of the American consumer is an understatement. Why? Well, unlike places like Lowe’s and Home Depot, this is the extra money spent. When we’re talking about the way we live our lives or enjoy our lives, a lot of that is put out in our leisure activities.

Hunting, fishing, kayaking, our hobbies. Well, these are the places that we spend money that we have extra. So, when the CEO of a large company comes out and says, we need to shift our focus, you have to understand that that’s actually a warning. And I want to go over this story with you. And it’s even bigger than home improvement. Because it means if sporting goods stores are starting to hurt because people don’t have any extra money, well, what that tells you is that what comes next, if they slow down their spending on their leisure activities or hobbies, then what’s next? I quite frankly believe that what’s next is that people start in mass, slow paying, which is already happening.

And it always does happen, you know, slow paying their credit cards, or just not paying their car payments, things like that. That always happens, but you start to see those numbers tick up. And when those numbers tick up, it gets real, right? That data hits Wall Street. And then all of a sudden, you see the stock market starting to fall, and that kind of stuff. So this story, I think it’s really interesting because, again, we’re not talking about a home do it center. We’re not talking about Lowe’s or Home Depot. This is Bass Pro Shops.

So it says right here, this is out of Fox Business, says Bass Pro Shops CEO says the brand will now focus on affordability amid rising costs. And he’s quoted as saying inflation is here. Now, I’ve talked about the lag effect that inflation has flowing from producers to consumers. And I’ve also spoke about this second wave of inflation that’s coming because the Federal Reserve did not do a good job in a timely manner of getting inflation under control. Now, it says the founder and CEO of Bass Pro Shops, Johnny Morris, says that despite inflation, the hunting, fishing, and outdoor sporting brand will remain focused on the affordability heading into boating and fishing seasons.

Well, why would they have to do that? It’s because their customer is tapped. Now, an interesting fact, during times of deep recessions or depressions, the sales of cosmetics, alcohol, and cigarettes rises. These are actually, they’ve been told and said in the past that these are recession proof investments. Well, if you want to break that down to its simplest step, it’s because ladies want to look beautiful. That’s one thing that they can do to make themselves feel better, right? Better skin care, things like that. During hard times, men find themselves going to the bottle a lot because they don’t know where to turn.

This is a fact of human nature. And as an investor, you should see and understand these cycles. Well, it says here, and they’re talking about inflation, inflation remaining high, we’re talking about for Bass Pro Shops, a 3.4% above the Fed’s 2% target, though it dropped from its peak of 9.1. Every author wants to talk about that. Well, it’s not as bad as it used to be. That’s the internal optimism of the American spirit. Now, this is what he says, Morris says, the CEO of Bass Pro Shops, inflation is here, it’s real.

He tells Fox Business during a video interview, in April, energy prices rose for the third month in a row, and the cost of gas increased by 2.8%. Bass Pro Shops ended an inflation buster savings program in late 2023. But the brand maintains its promise to work with consumers on belt tightening opportunities to combat elevated inflation burning through holes through Americans’ pockets. Now, I got to say, there’s not a whole lot in Bass Pro Shops that the average consumer needs. Sure, they sell items to cook with, survival, things like that. But by and large, they’re not a grocery store.

They sell overpriced beef jerky and pistachios, right? They only sell items that people have extra money to burn. Sure, they provide credit cards and a way for you to spend money that you don’t have, right? They got their Bass Pro credit cards and they’re super excited to sell you on that. But if you think about it, by and large, that company, that entire industry is built on extra money and how people feel about where they are financially. And when it gets to a point where they don’t feel good about themselves financially, they’re going to stop spending.

So this is an excellent barometer, like where I talk about Home Depot being an excellent barometer of the real estate market. This is an excellent barometer of the average consumer. The consumer that has about $5,000 at any given time on their credit card, the consumer that really is… Honestly, and I love Bass Pro shops. I like Cabela’s. I love going to all that stuff. I love… Pretty much every hobby I’ve got is in that store, right? But it really does… I don’t have to have everything in that store. And there’s a lot of stuff that’s insanely overpriced, right? I could go fishing with an old vest with my tackle on it from the Goodwill.

I don’t need to go and spend 200 bucks on a vest to go and press my fishing buddies. Trust me. There’s nobody I want to impress anyway. Sorry, guys. But you think about that and you start seeing this and we’re going to get in a little more to what he’s talking about. But again, it’s about the health of the consumer. So it says… Now, this is what he goes on to say. We worked hard and we still focus on affordability. Why would you have to focus on affordability? It’s because people are showing up less to your stores.

And the cheaper you can make products, the easier it is to coerce people in there to spend money. Bass Pro Shops offers consumers payment plans as low as five to ten dollars per day to make the dream of owning a boat a reality for just about everyone. Now, I gotta be honest with you. I’ve been in the boating industry. I’ve been a boat owner. Actually, no. It was my dad’s boat. I just showed him which one to go by. We bought this old thrash. Oh, gosh. It was a sea swirl spider.

Absolutely loved that boat with the old OMC inboard outboard. Beautiful, beautiful motor. We bought it used, fixed up the boat. And ever since I was just out of high school, I’ve been into water skiing and wakeboarding. Just absolutely loved that hobby, right? But the price of boats are so absolutely insane. To think that you’ve got a company as large as Bass Pro Shops coming out and saying, hey, we’ve got payment plans as low as five to ten dollars a day so that anyone can own a boat. I remember paying for that boat, was it like seven or eight thousand dollars back in the 90s? And we sold it for a little more than we paid for it when we did sell it like 10 years later.

And I always maintain the boat and all that kind of stuff, but I always bought used. To think that people have to do like a layaway program for boats. When I’m looking at Master Crafts and Sleek Crafts, those are different styles of boats. My point is that we’re talking like a hundred thousand dollars minimum for a ski boat. And this is the business model that Bass Pro Shops is building. That’s how you get people in the door. Hey, you can lay it away. You can do a payment plan. Let’s get you into like a 15 year loan for a boat.

Man, I’ll tell you what, if you need to go get a loan for a boat, you shouldn’t own a boat. And it’s funny, you know, and again, this all has to do with this whole business model of what’s it called? The sporting goods, right? My father said when I convinced him, hey, let’s buy a family boat. I’ll fix it up. I’ll go find the deal. You’re not going to lose money on this deal because if you buy the boat, right, we’ll sell it for a profit. And he said when he got the boat, he said, man, I wish I would have just, you know, because I never had money or I never thought I had money, right? The way my dad saved and invested.

He turned around and he says, I wish I would have at least just bought a little $500 aluminum boat and taken you boys out fishing. Because, but I had this like mentality of I got to pay off the house and my dad paid off his house in seven years, essentially using velocity banking, right? Well, he paid it off super fast. And but he turns around and goes, but by the time we bought this boat, the kids, you guys were already grown up. You had lives of your own. And I missed out on that.

And that is because of his perception of how expensive the boat was. And shoot, just as we’re driving, we’re walking here is a guy with fishing boat out and older. Oh, no, nevermind. That’s an expensive fishing boat. It’s a great little boat. Well, it’s like a john. Anyway, I’m not getting into boats. I like boats. But you think about it, that’s the mentality because everything costs so much. Boats are insanely expensive. Now, you just go to bass pro shops or a boat story like, well, that’s just the cost of doing business. If I want that kind of lifestyle.

No, you don’t have to live like that. I’ve always had old used cars until just recently. And I had to do it on a for one of my companies that I owned. I’ve always had old used stuff. And I and I prided myself in that because at least I was out there and I could take my money and stretch it. Well, in the case of bass pro shops, people can’t stretch their money anymore. So here, just like Lowe’s and Home Depot said, we’re now focusing on the customer that’s not building an extravagant kitchen, or doing a room addition, or even for that matter of fact, building a house, we’ve got to focus on the consumer that can just fix the toilet, right? Because the toilet’s going to break.

So let’s let’s put more of those in stock, the needed items right to own a home. Well, you’ve got these large companies that have built these insanely huge what it’s sporting goods stores that are amazing. I mean, if I want to go see some massive award winning trout, I’m going to go to a bass pro shop and go stare. Man, do I want to throw a hoot Cheersie type one. If you were the kind of guy that goes to see that goes, I want to throw a pole in here so bad. If I could just get me a hook and a bobber, I’m going to make some magic happen.

But I’m going to go to those stores. But now they’ve got to focus on the needs, the needs of people, not the ones. And if it’s going to be a want, those people have got to they’ve got to get the product price down so low that people will actually buy it. Well, that’s a failing business model, if you ask me. And that’s where cycles, economic cycles are so important to focus on, especially as a C-suite exec. You should have seen this a long time coming. I guess, obviously, the CEO of Bass Pro Shop doesn’t watch the channel.

It’s okay, we still be friends. But that’s the warning to America. That’s the big shot across the bow. When the companies can’t sell normal products, they have to focus on, I mean, impulse buys, things like that are out. People don’t have the money for that stuff. So they got to start focusing on things like the necessities. That’s when you know you’re turning, the economy takes that dip. And there’s more money made during a downturn in economy than the uphill swing. But most people don’t get that. Look, I hope you guys have a great day.

I’m going to put a sign up list for the email newsletter if you guys want. I’m going to be doing some things off channel for a while. And I’m going to be letting you guys know about that and sending you links if you want to join. It doesn’t cost you anything. And it’s an excellent spot to get news recaps. And if you’re missing any of my videos, they’re all going to be down there. So hope you guys have a great day. America. One more. America, the economic ninja, is out. [tr:trw].

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