Sports Publications

Razor-shard sales: hone your gun shop knife profits!

Shooting Industry, March, 2005 by Jim Gardner

You also can add knives to your firearm, ammunition, optics and accessories displays. When you do, highlight the knives by placing them on contrasting fabric or perhaps a bamboo mat. Arrange a few knives on a piece of attractive hardwood, using lighting to draw attention. Set them off and demonstrate that your store views knives as important products.

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Quality Knives Do The Selling

Grosch's third sales tip involves stocking superior-quality products.

"Our customers really appreciate quality, and we've found a good knife virtually sells itself," Grosch said.

What "sells itself" at Arizona Tactical?

"That's easy," Grosch said. "Tactical folders are our best movers by a wide margin. We stock Benchmade, Spyderco, M.O.D. (Masters Of Defense), Microtech, Buck, SOG and Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT). We also carry a few custom-class knives, particularly from Chris Reeve and Strider."

Arizona Tactical generates impressive sales of Benchmade knives, a company that has been honored six times with the Knife of the Year Award from the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence.

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"Our Benchmade sales are huge," Grosch emphasized, "and when we can get them, we do very well with the automatic knives from Microtech. The Spyderco line is important to us, because our customers perceive them as being an extremely good value for the price. CRKT products are beginning to fill this niche, as well."

Signature knives also are popular sellers in gun shops. Many gunmakers, including Beretta, Browning, Colt, Glock, HK, Kimber, Remington, SIG and, most recently, Ruger, offer branded cutlery that attracts customers. Remington is an old hand at this game, and there are die-hard Remington buffs who anxiously await the latest "bullet knife" each year.

Add Profits With Knife Accessories

In contrast to firearms, accessories for knives are limited, but they're good profit boosters. On the plus side, mark-up is always generous on knife accessories, and a limited number of SKUs eases ordering and stocking chores.

Sharpening tools are the primary knife accessory. While a few good-quality, natural Arkansas bench stones may be in order, this is one area where "hi-tech" definitely sells best. Man-made diamond abrasives have revolutionized the process of maintaining a "hair-popping" sharp edge.

Diamond Machining Technology (DMT), EZE-LAP and Smith Abrasives offer a great range of products from pocket-sized sharpeners to full-size bench stones. Place a sharpener on display so your customers can try it, and you make sales. Another sharpener that's easy to use and produces great results is Spyderco's Sharpmaker. It's a ceramic (and optionally diamond) sharpener that's capable of touching up even serrated edges. DMT has a new sharpener that works wonders on curved blades.

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Storage cases are another accessory dealers should consider offering customers. Once your customer gets the knife-buying bug, he'll want to keep them clean and protected. Benchmade offers the Knife Attache, which holds up to 12 folders.