I wish Mr. Les de Asis would weigh in on his new business model. It's mho he's losing touch with the true reality of things.
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2012/04/26/geithners-secret-meeting-at-nike.html?page=all
I agree Tom. Another member sent me a link about this subject. Benchmade has made some changes in upper management, in various different areas of the business. When I read it my first thought was, this is WAY to much change at one time. It seems like a recipe for disaster with 5 or 6 new people trying to prove their worth. One at a time can be bad enough, but this makes it exponentially worse.
Those of us into Traditional knives remember not long ago, we lost Schrade and Camillus. Schrade had been around for many years, and new management was supposed to streamline the company to be more efficient, and make them more profitable. Well, we all know how well that worked out.
Camillus IIRC was partly management issues, but also some labor issues.
Unfortunately like most forums/enthusiasts we are probably the vast vast minority of their sales. I know tons of guys at work with Benchmade knives, most paid full retail at some local shop because they liked the design or heard Benchmade was a good knife. Not one of them can sharpen their own knife, or has any real enthusiasm for knives, and could care less about Benchmade's business practices or price schemes.
If they were going to increase prices to the customer, I'd have preferred they increased dealer cost (dealers would pass it onto us which is fine) and used those profits to IMPROVE their quality control and fit/finish. EARN a higher place in the marketplace through your PRODUCT, not your price tag.
Very true. We are just a small minority, but we are big enough to cause change in some instances. Case for example has listened to us whine for years about wanting more knives available in CV. They finally did it. I'm sure other companies are paying attention as well. They won't get this kind of input from the general consumer. They find a knife they like and buy it. Most likely they won't give it much thought afterwards unless it has an issue and needs warranty work, or if they have to have it sharpened...
I'm not sure they will really pay attention when it comes to management decisions, or changing business practices like we are discussing here though...
Perhaps they know more than we realize
I'm extremely disappointed in BM's new pricing policy. Is it affecting business? You bet!
I had been planning on getting a couple BMs as Christmas gifts this year (you know introducing friends to the brand and helping to grow it), but instead I was just in time for a price hike.:thumbdn: Horrible timing! And no real warning? So no new BMs (that's 3 knives and 3 new potential customers) instead I pulled one of my own and gave that as a gift, the rest got slippers (or whatever)...
My most recent purchase were 2 from another American brand that typically comes sharper out of the box anyway (I'm sure you can guess), with the pricing for a limited with S90V steel matching a standard production BM. It was a no-brainer! And a trend that will continue if pricing stays the same, better value will be found in other brands and my money is shifting accordingly:grumpy:
Unfortunately this is the affect we all thought it would have. At least among those of us here that really pay attention...
I have to wonder if the general consumer will feel this way, or if they will go to the store and find one they like, and buy it without much consideration of pricing ?
People that don't pay attention, may not realize they went up 33%, and may not even think twice. They find a knife they really want, and that is the price, so they pay it... Raising the prices 33% isn't even something that was publicized, and retail stores certainly aren't going to put up a sign saying that the prices have went up 33%.
The general consumer may not start thinking twice about buying their products, until BM's prices far exceed the prices of other knife companies, for similar products.
