My local knife dealer is dumping ZT for Benchmade.

T

TheEdge01

Joined
Apr 3, 2015
Messages
3,707
I was surprised when I visited my local knife shop and seen a “Benchmade coming soon” sign taped on one of their display cases. I spoke to the store owner and he said that he is trying to clear some of his more expensive knives out. He asked me if I would take one of the catalogs home with me and mark the Benchmade knives that I thought would sell so he would have an idea about what to order. Apparently, ZT knives just don’t sell very well in this area.
There is another Benchmade dealer about 45 minutes from where I live. Even with MAP pricing, Benchmade still has products that are fairly cost efficient as well as more expensive. They still carry Spyderco and Kershaw though, but bye bye ZT.
 
Last edited:
I feel like to the average brick and mortar walk-in Benchmade is more of a household name. Which certainly plays into it.
dnno.gif
 
Last edited:
We sell more ZT online and more Benchmade in store. If he is not on line it is probably a good call. The knife business is tough and decisions like this are hard to make. I wish him the best of luck. Hopefully if it goes well he will be able to sell both!
 
Could be that BM comes out with a plethora of “new and exciting” knives throughout the year compared to ZT having a handful or two.

They may also be able to market BM better, especially with their Hunt series to their customers. (Or have greater demand for them)
 
Makes sense, BM has a much broader target demographic.
I hope you can help him out find some good selling models. I would suggest the mini grip, grip, bugout and mini crooked river for sure.
 
Benchmade is by far our number one brand both in store and online. Zero Tolerance sells in store but not quickly. The brand is not well known among the average knife buyer. Benchmade has a much bigger product selection with a much broader appeal. If I had to pick one over the other then I would pick Benchmade.
 
My local knife dealer is a hunting/gun shop. He has a few no-names, a case of...er, Cases, several Steel Will, and then about 150 Kershaw knives. On a spinny case he keeps about 8 models of ZT knives. Of the 6 or 7 I have bought, I think maybe 3 weren't the ones in the case, ie he had more in the back. His stock was minimal, but they make their money on guns. Knives are just icing.

I'm just happy to have a place to handle ZTs before I buy. Honestly, I had never held one in person I would have never purchased such an expensive folder. Now I pick one up every few months.
 
Northwest Knives said:
Benchmade is by far our number one brand both in store and online. Zero Tolerance sells in store but not quickly. The brand is not well known among the average knife buyer. Benchmade has a much bigger product selection with a much broader appeal. If I had to pick one over the other then I would pick Benchmade.
Click to expand...
Without getting into specifics, is there much of a difference in the cost structures of ZT and BM? I.e. could a retailer switch from ZT to BM be purely margin based? Volume seems to definately favour BM....
 
basmca said:
Makes sense, BM has a much broader target demographic.
I hope you can help him out find some good selling models. I would suggest the mini grip, grip, bugout and mini crooked river for sure.
Click to expand...
He ordered the mini grip and mini crooked river, but not the bug out this time around. He said he noticed that blue handled knives didn’t sell very well and didn’t think folks would care for it.
 
SharpieB said:
Without getting into specifics, is there much of a difference in the cost structures of ZT and BM? I.e. could a retailer switch from ZT to BM be purely margin based? Volume seems to definately favour BM....
Click to expand...
It is not enough of a difference to make a major change. It really comes down to appeal and product selection. Taking the "Knife Guy" out of the equation then Benchmade just makes more sense. Hunting, Autos, Traditionals, Spring Assisted, etc. Wide range of price points. Better known.

We have guys come in daily asking for Benchmade and wanting to look at Benchmade. We show a lot of ZT but have to explain who ZT is quite a bit as well.

I carry a lot of brands so it is not an issue for us but if I was a small store that had to choose then Benchmade fits better.
 
ZT hasn't come out with any good knives in years... besdies a few LE's/Re-runs. Maybe this just represents how non-knife collectors, aren't attactive to the artsy knives they now produce.
 
Gideons said:
ZT hasn't come out with any good knives in years... besdies a few LE's/Re-runs. Maybe this just represents how non-knife collectors, aren't attactive to the artsy knives they now produce.
Click to expand...

Exactly, I wouldn’t mind is KAI just discontinued their ZT line and directed all of their attention to Kershaw. They could beef up their higher end products and add a few appealing details to their midrange and lower end models.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top