A slice of the market - pocketknives

Shooting Industry, March, 1998 by Roy Huntington

Innovation, Quality And Dealer Support Drive Success In Knife Sales

While many areas of the industry are still experiencing slumps in sales, the knife market continues to expand steadily. With one of the larger manufacturers shipping up to 50,000 units a week, the trend is clear: people are knife hungry. They're buying cutlery of every make, design and style.

Many in the industry attribute at least part of this unexpected buyer interest to the increasing difficulty the average consumer may encounter when attempting to buy a firearm. Bombarded with peer pressure, media bias against firearms and an increasing number of Americans who simply don't own guns anymore, many people look to knives as an outlet for their interests. Collecting knives and cutlery is rewarding and easy to do, not to mention it's still "politically correct." How can you best direct your energies toward this profitable segment of the market?

WHY KNIVES?

"Some dealers don't want to be bothered with knives and know very little about them. This lack of knowledge is hurting them in their pockets!" said Chuck Hoffman, president of Boker USA Inc. "Margins are usually better with cutlery than with guns and many accessories. Try selling knives. You're going to have to invest some time to learn how to answer your customer's questions, but the payoff in direct sales and add-ons will be almost immediate."

"Almost immediate" payoffs are tough to find in the industry. Knives have proved themselves to be consistently strong sellers across the board. And there's repeat business. Knives are lost, broken or otherwise become useless with time. This creates new opportunities for you to sell more knives to your customers. The chance that one of your customers might misplace their new Colt automatic is remote, however, that same customer may very easily loose, abuse and break many knives during a year.

Shooters are historically knife owners and usually own many knives. If it were possible to develop a "knife to gun" ratio for an average shooter what might the number be? Two to one in favor of knives? Five to one? Ten to one? The trend is obvious, customers invariably buy many more knives than guns.

THE CUSTOMERS

"Almost everyone buys knives," said Gary Fadden, president and CEO of Al Mar Knives. "Wives, girlfriends, family members and friends love to buy knives for themselves and especially as gifts. They are often relatively inexpensive when compared to firearm purchases and the customer can have immediate gratification they walk out of the store with it now."

Knives often "catch the eye" of customers as they browse the display case. Their casual interest rapidly turns into a "gotta' have" proposition. Suddenly the $30 or $40 for a decent quality folder seems reasonable and most customers don't engage in the teeth gnashing and soul searching that goes into a $500 or $600 gun purchase.

"But," Fadden said, "we are in the era of the educated consumer. It's no longer as simple as it was in the old days. Thirty five years ago if you bought a folder it was a canoe, stockman, Barlow or a handful of other designs. In today's market, the choices are almost unlimited, but one thing is consistent, today's buyer wants quality and usually isn't afraid to pay for it."

Look at your market and target it. Who are your customers? Hunters? Fishermen? Campers? Stock the style for your customers. Got lots of deer hunters in your area? Look to Buck Knives, Imperial Schrade and Kershaw knives. Stock hunters, folders and game saws.

If your customer's desires run toward the tactical market, stock fighters from Benchmade, Al Mar, Cold Steel, Gerber, Boker, GT Knives and others. Target your customers needs, wants and desires.

"You can't sell an abalone Osprey knife to a drywall hanger," said Fadden.

WHAT'S SELLING

Trends have remained stable the past couple of years. Pocket tools and high-tech folders dominate the market, with 3- to 4-inch bladed hunters or "utility" knives following closely behind.

In knife construction, look for exotic materials like carbon fiber, titanium, G-10 and ceramics. Consumers are looking for high-end design and quality but at a price that's affordable. Customers are not necessarily afraid to pay $100 or more for a folder, but they want top quality and design for their cash.

Joyce Laituri, of Sypderco, knows the knife market well. "The high-tech materials and designs available to the average knife buyer today would only have been available on an expensive custom knife just a few short years ago and might have cost several hundred dollars," she explained.

Spyderco's new C48 and C49 Tim Wegner CLIPIT knife is typical of what today's buyer is looking for in a high-tech folder. Its drop-point, semi-skinning blade with partial serration and Sypderco's patented one-handed opening starts the list of features. Add to that ATS-34 stainless steel, a G-10 laminate textured handle, lanyard hole, pocket clip and Linerlock blade locking feature.

This kind of collaborative effort, wherein a factory maker works with an individual to market what is essentially a custom knife at an affordable price, can spell profits at your register and is increasingly common in today's cutlery world.