With a long history in the outdoor industry, Moultrie will be a familiar name to your customers, many of whom own or have owned one of the company’s feeders or cameras. The company continues to grow, leading with its mobile technology to power its products. We talked to Heath Stanford, Moultrie Mobile’s director of sales, about the brand and how it sees its products fitting into hunters’ lives.
Can you talk about the company’s history and its place in the industry today?
Dan Moultrie began making spin-cast deer feeders in his apartment closet more than 40 years ago. He then went on to develop the first trail camera using a rat trap, a 35mm camera and a piece of string tied to a bear-bait barrel. In the 1990s, he developed the digital trail camera, and then in 2009, he began experimenting with the first cellular game camera. Today, Moultrie Mobile is a leader in the cellular trail camera and feeder market.
What sets Moultrie Mobile apart?
The Moultrie Mobile app and customer service. The Moultrie Mobile app is the one app you need for all of your hunt planning. From artificial intelligence (AI) that allows customers to quickly sort through buck images, to localized deer-movement prediction forecasts, to historical deer movement patterns, to weather forecasting, to mapping with pins, property line, topo features and more — hunters can plan their entire hunt from one app.
Our customer service is second to none. Our customers purchase our cellular game cameras so that they can monitor and scout their remote properties, many of which are hours away. That’s why customers can reach us on the phone seven days a week. The average time it takes our customers to reach one of our customer success members is 22 seconds. That’s why so many customers post on social media and tell their friends that Moultrie Mobile’s customer service is the best. Many of these customers have competitor cameras or were former users, and they tell us about their frustrations with trying to get through to other brands.
What specific category have you seen the most growth in recently? Any categories that are struggling or shifting to something else?
Our growth has been in the cellular game camera category. The market has been on a steep climb over the past several years. As camera and app technology has advanced, more and more SD camera users are making the switch to cellular. Once a customer tries one cellular camera, they buy more because they don’t have to go to the camera and manually pull an SD card to view their images. The images are now served to them via the app on their smartphone or desktop.
Is there a specific product that’s just on fire for you right now?
Our Edge cellular camera has exploded. It’s the easiest camera on the market to activate and set up, doesn’t require an SD card, and works on the four major U.S. cellular networks. The best part is that everything happens automatically. When you turn the Edge on, it will automatically scan for the strongest cell signal out of the four networks, and it uses one SIM card, so there’s nothing the customer must do. You also aren’t pigeonholed into a camera that will only work on one network. The camera just works.
Where does Moultrie Mobile see the potential for growth? How about non-growth? Is there a part of the industry that’s shrinking?
Moultrie Mobile is all about creating products that help solve problems for customers. We do this through cellular-connected devices. The cellular game camera has been our bread and butter and is continuing to grow. However, we are adding this same connected technology to other products like feeders. The ability to monitor different products remotely is a game changer. Customers don’t have to drive hours to check on feeders and cameras now, because they can do it on the Moultrie Mobile app from their home or anywhere. We’ll look to expand on other products in the future as well.
What can we expect out of Moultrie Mobile in the second half of 2024? What products have you most excited for the future?
The second half of 2024 is going to be exciting for Moultrie Mobile. We’ll be launching an industry-first technology called Feed Hub, a cell-connected feeder. With three different SKUs available, customers can install the Feed Hub in their existing spin-cast feeder, even if it’s not a Moultrie feeder, or buy the pre-installed version in a Moultrie Pro Hunter II feeder kit. Once installed and activated, Feed Hub connects with the Moultrie Mobile app to show feed levels and battery life and allows all settings to be controlled remotely from anywhere. You can even feed on demand.
This summer we’ll also be releasing the next generation of our popular Edge and Edge Pro cameras: The Edge 2 and Edge 2 Pro. Both cameras will have Auto Connect technology — 4 networks, 1 SIM card — that allows them to automatically find the strongest cell signal in the area. There’s no SD card needed, either. Each camera will have enhanced image and video quality as well as the new On Demand feature that allows the user to take a photo or video anytime and have it sent directly to the app. The Edge 2 Pro will feature onboard AI technology to eliminate false triggers and will also have built-in GPS to automatically pin your camera to the maps section of the Moultrie Mobile app.
What sort of product testing do you do?
Our products go through extensive internal and third-party testing during development. Then they are placed into our beta-testing program, where testers around the nation run them through stringent testing protocols to ensure exceptional function and reliability. All of our cameras carry a two-year warranty.
How does Moultrie support its dealers?
Our philosophy is we take care of our customers, so we are there all the way from sell-in to the sell-through process with our dealers. We listen to our consumers so we can help our dealers provide the right products at the right price at the right time. Each one of our dealers is an extension of our company, so we want to make sure they have everything they need to be successful in delivering a great shopping experience to their customers.
Do you have any advice for retailers about selling cell cameras and Moultrie Mobile products specifically?
Moultrie Mobile has built out a full product line, so the key is to carry our great-selling cameras while also supporting these cameras with power and mounting accessories. We believe an important aspect to providing a great customer experience is when cell cameras are full of power and mounted in the right position. Our team is dedicated to help each of our dealers present our products in-store the best way possible, so we encourage each one of our dealers to reach out and work with us on how we can make the overall shopping experience better.
What’s your personal favorite Moultrie Mobile product, and why?
The power accessories such as the 3.4W Solar Panel and Rechargeable battery are incredible. My Moultrie Mobile cameras are set up 15 hours away on a ranch in Texas, and those two accessories help make it a worry-free process when it comes to making sure my cameras stay active and help me monitor not only my wildlife but also our front gate to see who is coming in and out of the ranch.
Is there anything you’d like retailers to know about Moultrie Mobile and its products?
Moultrie Mobile is more than just a cell camera company. We are changing the game with our ecosystem of products for the total hunting experience. We are building a best-in-class team that continues to push the envelope on innovation and challenge the traditional norms. We work through our retail partners to provide best-in-class products that exceed the customers’ expectations.
Moultrie Mobile can take care of the customer who is simply looking for a reliable cell camera to deliver pictures to their phone, but we can also take care of the customer who wants to totally plan their hunt using our game-changing features like Game Plan, built into the Moultrie Mobile App. When we are able to partner with our retailers, we can produce amazing results — and we are just getting started.
