Meet Ben James… NIOA Australia and New Zealand’s new CEO outlines his vision for the sporting market, including a continued focus on providing the latest products to outdoor customers whatever their passion.

Ben, tell us a bit about your career path and what led you to this role…

I came to NIOA after a 30-year career in the Army. That time in uniform seemed to pass quite quickly in hindsight and was full of pretty amazing adventures for me and my family – interesting places to live, serving alongside some unforgettable people along the way and of course an array of deployments to places like Syria, Israel, East Timor and Afghanistan. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work some with some of the best soldiers in the world over that 30 years.

Three decades in the Army! How did that influence your knowledge of firearms?

The corps I joined and the deployments I’ve had all required a consistent exposure to a variety of firearms and related ammunition. Apart from a solid appreciation of the safe operation of firearms, a lot of my thinking was around maximising the capability of various weapons at hand. How can I best position snipers to maximise the range and utility of their weapons? What capability improvements should we be pursuing to see better and further at night? How can we better integrate the use of rifles and pistols to be a more effective fighting unit? The great pleasure of serving in uniform is that you’re generally working in a team of amazing professionals (some of whom are now also working at NIOA!) who are more than happy to offer answers to questions such as these and more!

Have you ever competed in a sporting shooting event? How did that compare to Army training?

No shooting competitions, but growing up in the regional Queensland town of Murgon, there was always an opportunity to go shooting on a nearby property. I think that’s a typically Australian experience growing up – spotlighting from the back of an old Toyota LandCruiser with an old .243 or .303 or even setting up in the back paddock with a .22 to shoot a few rabbits. One of my best shooting trips was with a mate to Gongolgon near Bourke in NSW. We got after plenty of pigs, goats and foxes with a Marlin .30-30 lever action, a .22-250 Sako and a Remington .30-06. Couple of .22s and two 12 gauge shotguns (a Harrington & Richardson single barrel and a Benelli double barrel).

It’s probably a bit difficult to draw some comparisons with my time in the Army – they’d want to be some pretty big and aggressive pigs if you need to engage them with machine guns, artillery and helicopter gunships!

While it’s only early days in this aspect of your role, what are your areas of focus?

I have really appreciated getting a better understanding of the sporting markets in Australia and New Zealand as I’ve come into this role. Of course, we‘re likely to see some pretty strong headwinds in the immediate future in terms of cost-of-living pressures, elevated interest rates and some ongoing supply chain issues. That said, I think by actively promoting our range of products, staying front of mind in a very competitive market, and continuing to offer consumers and dealers the best customer service imaginable, has served us well and will continue to into the future. We have also put in place some new representative agreements for the New Zealand market which I believe will really help provide some excellent products to the extensive sporting shooting community in New Zealand.

NIOA has been serving the sporting market for 50 years. What sets it apart in terms of product range, quality, customer service and pricing?

Our greatest strength is the quality of our people. Brad Johnson and his team in the sporting side of the business are out-and-out professionals, with extensive experience in the industry and with long-term, deep relationships with key suppliers across the world. When you’re starting with quality people like that, you’re already ahead of the game. I never cease to be impressed by how well they know and understand their customer base across Australia and New Zealand and how quickly they come to an appreciation of how well a particular product or service will be received in the Australian or New Zealand markets.

I have really appreciated getting a better understanding of the sporting markets in Australia and New Zealand as I’ve come into this role.

How is NIOA staying abreast of the latest products to meet the needs of customers?

We’re fortunate to have an extensive global supplier network and a wide-reaching customer base in Australia and New Zealand. We always strive to actively engage with both groups to match customer demand with new products and services. This means we always have our finger on the pulse around consumer trends, emerging markets and product innovations.

Looking into the crystal ball for a minute, what are you seeing in changing consumer demands and emerging trends?

We are seeing some significant changes right across the industry. Thermal optics are proving to be the go-to for many dedicated hunters and we will only see more as technology advances. Hunting tripods like BOG and Spartan are now a staple in all gun shops and lever release shotguns have been the next big thing in that market, but the biggest surge has been in the PRS and PRS rimfire scene. These competitions have been around in the US for many years and just recently, Australian shooters are starting to get on board. PRS rimfire is a fun filled comp that anyone can be part of. You don’t need the latest equipment to compete and being rimfire it fits into everyone’s budget.

What’s NIOA’s approach to service and support, particularly when it comes to helping retailers with order fulfillment and resolving any issues with products?

One of the things I appreciate most about working at NIOA is the deep roots the company has back to small business – initially in a fruit stall beside the Bruce Highway in Queensland, then into tyres and service stations and now into a globally recognised firearms and ammunition company. Despite that rapid growth, there is a deep culture of every individual in the company doing their absolute best to deliver excellence in their field, an overwhelming focus on exceeding customer expectations and commitment to critical review and performance improvement. I hope that mindset flows through to our customer base in their engagements with us.

What’s your vision for the business over the next five years?

NIOA’s vision is to be Australia’s global firearms, weapons and munitions company. The acquisition earlier this year of Barrett Firearms in Murfreesboro, Tennessee has given us a solid footprint in the US market in addition to an extensive global distribution network. When you combine the high-quality people we have in our NIOA Australia and New Zealand sporting business with a laser-like focus on customer service and an extensive range of long-standing partnerships such as Ruger, Vista, Leupold and Eley Rimfire, I really believe that we have a strong foundation to realise that vision.