Is Benchmade as a company not profitable?

Ourorboros said:
A smart business cuts underperforming lines, not only failing businesses. There is no sense in continuing to make knives people are no longer buying in quantity. It's not like the dies & jigs are thrown out. If there is enough demand, they can be brought back, perhaps as an anniversary edition. A product is only evergreen if it keeps selling.
The QC problems were never enough to indicate a failing company. Contrast to Queen, for example. I've seen this across many industries.

Internet word of mouth is meaninless, the IKC are like teens following the pop idols - in a few years we are all enthused about something else.
The relevant part is that Benchmade is sold in big box stores, while others are not. WE Knives or Kizer certainly aren't. That is a huge, maybe overwhelming share that the Chinese companies are cut out of. Even on the internet, for the average knife buyer the Chinese companies suffer from "who dat?" while Benchmade gets recognition from being seen in the store. We know about the newest thing because we ask each other and read reviews.

As said, a failing company starts pumping out a lot of product at lower prices. QC and CS are out the window. Manufacturing is shifted to cheaper sources, next door to Frost and the like. Name brand equity is sold in a desperate attempt to survive. Sure there is hiring, but at low wages and mostly to keep the paper moving.
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I strongly disagree that a company that is losing profitability will necessarily lower qc and cs and focus on a lower end models.

Another strategy is to focus on your core customer base. I doubt if Ferrari will start producing fiats if their company is failing. That would be a waste of their whole image. Rather they could try to focus on a fewer models that have wider appeal. As others have said streamlining, which is usually a good idea under any business conditions really.

Bmw had over 250 vatiations of its vehicles and brought an outsider in to increase profits. For example they had over 20 different leather options available in one vehicle model. The guy thry brought in slashed that to 4 or 5 leather options and it seems like no one complained. Thats just an example
 
Lapedog said:
Whatever the case is I don’t think sales is an issue for them. Remember individual customers aren’t really who Benchmade’s serious customers are. Their real customers are their distributors.

But revenue is only one side of the equation. There is also expenses too.
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Uhhmm...well, I mean, individuals kinda are ultimately the customers. I don't have any micro-level training in supply chain distribution, but the fact is, putting knives in pockets are how Benchmade ultimately generates their revenue. So, it stands to reason that if they keep releasing new product, which they have recently done, they aren't hurting for money because they clearly have the overall profit level to pay for development of new product (in this case, design and bring to market new knives).

In any case, I think that Benchmade is going to be around for a long time, because they have managed to position themselves in the same fashion as Buck did all those years ago.
 
Quiet said:
Uhhmm...well, I mean, individuals kinda are ultimately the customers. I don't have any micro-level training in supply chain distribution, but the fact is, putting knives in pockets are how Benchmade ultimately generates their revenue. So, it stands to reason that if they keep releasing new product, which they have recently done, they aren't hurting for money because they clearly have the overall profit level to pay for development of new product (in this case, design and bring to market new knives).

In any case, I think that Benchmade is going to be around for a long time, because they have managed to position themselves in the same fashion as Buck did all those years ago.
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That is actually one of Benchmade’s strengths, that they understand that the final individual customer is their most important customer.

History has shown that companies that ignore that fact to focus on distributors as their main customers develop a poor reputation.

As for research and development it is a line item on the balance sheet that is there all the time. Companies will increase or decrease it as funds allow. I think to be a player in the modern knife industry today you sort of have to have some new releases for Blade show once a year.
 
jill jackson said:
You want an higher end assisted opening folder, with the same mechanism as their side opening autos, Benchmade is the one that has it.
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That's an attractive knife, Jill. Name of the model, please?
 
sabre cat said:
....As for Benchmade, I am not a fanboy and don't really care for most of their products. Yet it seems the few Benchmade items I own get most of my pocket time. They must be doing some things right.
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The few Benchmades I own are quite good and I generally don't care for most of their knives or the pricing. Benchmade knives are sold in the more expensive retail big box sporting goods stores where people know that pricing is higher and yet stuff sells and continues to sell.
 
AF said:
Compared to say Spyderco, I think Benchmade has always been a bit light on innovation. I would say they've rested on their laurels.
Benchmades are sold in many sporting goods stores. I think they have a well established dealer network.
If I were to speculate, I'd say Benchmade is very profitable.
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I agree. When I got into nicer knives, Benchmade was the only name I knew. I thought they were the highest of the high end in terms of both price and quality. I think they are very well-known to non-knife nuts, and as such, much of their customer base is just fine with S30V, steel liners, etc. Spyderco on the other hand constantly innovates to please us knife fanatics, but still has stuff that appeals to non-knife people. Just two different business models.
 
Lapedog said:
That is actually one of Benchmade’s strengths, that they understand that the final individual customer is their most important customer.

History has shown that companies that ignore that fact to focus on distributors as their main customers develop a poor reputation.

As for research and development it is a line item on the balance sheet that is there all the time. Companies will increase or decrease it as funds allow. I think to be a player in the modern knife industry today you sort of have to have some new releases for Blade show once a year.
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Aren't the distributors the customers?

Eta: yup. You said that.

Lapedog said:
Whatever the case is I don’t think sales is an issue for them. Remember individual customers aren’t really who Benchmade’s serious customers are. Their real customers are their distributors.

But revenue is only one side of the equation. There is also expenses too.
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In a discussion devoid of facts, it is at least important to make sense and not contradict oneself.
 
craytab said:
Aren't the distributors the customers?

Eta: yup. You said that.



In a discussion devoid of facts, it is at least important to make sense and not contradict oneself.
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You’re right I did sort of contradict myself there:

Well the distributors are likely their main customers in terms of how much income they gain off them.

The final customers are likely their most important customers when it comes to their reputation and the image they hold with the public.
 
AF said:
Compared to say Spyderco, I think Benchmade has always been a bit light on innovation. I would say they've rested on their laurels.
Benchmades are sold in many sporting goods stores. I think they have a well established dealer network.
If I were to speculate, I'd say Benchmade is very profitable.
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This is what I think is the case too. They could probably simply make the griptiian variants, a couple other models, and be profitable.
 
bikerector said:
This is what I think is the case too. They could probably simply make the griptiian variants, a couple other models, and be profitable.
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Compared to Spyderco most companies are light on innovation. How many lock types does Spyderco have? Like 12?

The only company that may top it for trying out crazy new ideas is CRKT but the quality gulf between the two is huge.
 
Lapedog said:
Well the distributors are likely their main customers in terms of how much income they gain off them. The final customers are likely their most important customers when it comes to their reputation and the image they hold with the public.
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The final customer is the more important relative to the retail supply chain as without their approval, sales will dwindle and the distributors/retailers will reduce their orders. But in terms of gross sales, the retailer/distributor is certainly more important to a manufacturer.

In business, who do you cater to.... the customer that spent $150 or the customer that spent $10,000? The answer is self evident and reality. I try to cater to both but if nip comes to tug (my time), the 10K guy wins.
 
The fact is the more QC problems the less $ they make . Having to do the job twice cost them money . i don't think they have figured that part yet .
 
Lapedog said:
You’re right I did sort of contradict myself there:

Well the distributors are likely their main customers in terms of how much income they gain off them.

The final customers are likely their most important customers when it comes to their reputation and the image they hold with the public.
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And you did it again. Much like this thread, you aren't making any sense.

Will the distributors be buying benchmades if the end customer is not?

I'm not sure what knowledge is to be gained from this silly "discussion".
 
miltmaldo said:
The fact is the more QC problems the less $ they make . Having to do the job twice cost them money . i don't think they have figured that part yet .
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Maybe you could give some actual references on the QC thing. My Benchmade knives have been pretty much flawless.

Added: I shoot 22LR and Remington Golden Bullets had real QC problems relative to misfires or simply duds. The percentages varied a lot, but some had misfires up to about 8-10% of the total. I never saw this (EVER) and I shoot them. But I certainly had more duds 10 years ago relative to 40 years ago with their ammunition. Case Cutlery has QC issues as far as I'm concerned, but Case doesn't see it that way. If it looks good, functions and is safe, it gets shipped. With Benchmade knives, I would be shocked to learn that QC issues approach even 0.5-1% of total production. They deal with it, but not in the way Case has dealt with it.... I edited my % down.
 
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