Spyderco's annual culling - need opinions

Sal,
I love your outlet store!!!!!! I'm there reguraly bothering angela and the crew! I got your book also and I LOVE it!!!
Visiting your store allows one to view all models....
If I had to ax some models it would be the shabaria, the card, and the Wrench. I know they are brand spanking new but here is the reasoning:
Shabaria looks awkward as hell!!
the card is an awkward concealment model
The wrench has removable parts prone to loss ( I think)Plus there are so many multitools out there......
I know the Israeli designer just passed away and I mean no disrespect to sal or the designer
I love simplicity captured in elegant but very functional designs! Delicas and Enduras and Rescues do it for me They are the only production Zytel knives I will buy!!!Stainless is too hefty for my folders. I prefer Ti, aluminum, and G10
I hope I did not offend anybody


------------------
It is all Greek to me
 
Sal, would simply discontinue those knives that are in the bottom third of each category(small, medium and large). Turn the collaborations into limited edition runs, to only become regular line items if demand is heavy.

Just my 2 Canadian cents.

Harry
 
Copis - How do you visit the store from South Carolina?

Great input so far, thanx much.

Kozak (& others) - some points to share. Sometimes an item is going up on the growth curve, but is still at the bottom third. for example, Ladybugs and Rescues had a slow growth curve. Had we discontinued them early on because the were at the bottom, we wouldn't have them now.

Also that would drop the Wegner, which forumites seem to appreciate more than the general market.

thanx again for the sincere opinions. We appreciate your efforts.

sal
 
Sal,
Just moved to gilpin county off 119 in a developement called colorado sierra Been here 2 months. I guess I need to change my profile...My wife got a full blown scholarship at CU for a PhD in education, so we packed and moved...
I am trained as a marketing researcher/data analyst so I love questions about models! When I answered your question, I based it on my opinion, and not on anything else!
I just love a knife like the Endura. It can take an edge many many many times It is affordable so you can buy several and most importantly the design bridges the concepts of tool and weapon. PERFECT.
I enjoyed talking to Angella and Ginny Massimer. Ginny thinks I'm nuts. Say hello to both
 
no, not the cricket!!!

i am a big fan of both the dragonfly and cricket. although I liked the aluminum handled cricket's lockup better.

pegasus and navigator don't do much for me, and neither does the Toad.

Maybe the collaborations should be rotated out to make room for the next line of collabs.

I didn't care for the Stainless Endura either.
 
Definately have too many "little" knives in the lineup. How about getting rid of the progrip and bringing back the Wegner jr?

------------------
Dennis Bible
 
Dennis - Because the Pro-Grips outsell the Wegner Jr. by 6 to 1. In fact, the Pro-Grips are one of Spyderco's consistant top 25% sellers.

It is interesting to note the differences in opinions between the forumites (who are generally more knowledgable) and the actual sales numbers.

And it seems there are even differences of opinion within the forumites.

sal
 
You are right Sal. Logically it makes more sense to cull the ones that dont sell very well. That is exactly what I would do if I were running a company. The numbers dont lie. Which knives are generally your lowest sellers?

------------------
Dennis Bible
 
Sal,

How's this for a suggestion: List the most likely knives to go based on sales volume, including some that you would think would be borderline. Then, the forumites can give you some specific feedback on the ones that they would really hate to see go.

Steven
 
Dennis - In general, I would have to say the collaboration designs. There are and have been exceptions; The Goddard designs did well for quite a while. The Starmate is doing well. The SpyderCard & SpydeRench are in high demand. The Lum, when we can get them out. The Moran is enjoying a nice steady growth curve, albeit slowly.

Endura, Delica, Police, Rescue, Native, Dragonfly, Ladybug, Merlin/Harpy, Pro-Grips & Calypso jr are the higher numbers (all in-house designs). The Cricket & Dyad Jr are moving up nicely (despite the Cricket knock-off in the marketplace). Also in-house.

All new items do well for a while. Longevity will ultimately determine the strength of the pattern & design.

sal
 
This is an EASY one for me.
biggrin.gif
.
rolleyes.gif


I say discontinue ALL Spyderco's that aren't "LEFT-HANDED friendly"...That is, discontinue the ones that the owner can't change the pocket-clip over to the "other side" of the knife, like the Native II that I have.

------------------
Dann Fassnacht
Aberdeen, WA
glockman99@hotmail.com
ICQ# 53675663

[This message has been edited by glockman99 (edited 07-02-2000).]
 
Sal, I agree with Dennis, in saying that you should drop, or at least scale back, those knives that simply don't sell. I would hate to see the collaborations go away, but if they don't sell, hey they don't sell. Because no matter what other forumites say, you are in the business to make money. I own and have read the Spyderco book from cover to cover and I know that you don't want to grow too big, too fast. But you still have to make that bottom line, or you might not be around to keep making these knives we all love so much. I manage an auto parts store, so I know what it is like to manage payroll, pay your suppliers and the like. Just as a side note, I'm glad to hear that the cricket's sales are going up. I recently purchased one for my wife and she just loves it. When I read her some of the posts on this thread, her response was "If they (spyderco) want to appeal to the female market they better not drop the cricket! Over half of the women at my office think it is just too cute and want one for themselves!" I tend to agree with her. One of my two female employees is starting to get insterested in knives from watching myself and my assistant manager constantly opening and closing our spydercos at work. She had even learned to handle my Delica (opening and closing one-handed now!) without being afraid of the blade. I showed her my wife's Cricket and I think I have made another spyder-nut!

Flinx

[This message has been edited by Flinx (edited 07-02-2000).]
 
Sal,
First off, thanks for asking for our input here on the forum.
To begin with, I'd have to say the similar looking designs should be looked at for thinning out. I think that the Dragonfly could be narrowed to one variation, and between the Pegasus and Navigator, one should go. The classics such as the Endura and Delica, etc. should definitely stay, but the variations moving the slowest should be pulled out. I think the aesthetic charm of the Cricket alone should keep it in the line up(and I'm not a small blade fan).
As far as the collaborations go, I feel that they shouldn't be handled in the same way as the in-house designs, personally. They probably appeal to a very specific crowd of ELU to begin with, on top of that, the particular design(aesthetic/function) that is produced may not appeal to even that small crowd. But that crowd is your cult following, your hard core crew that 'will' be there for the next wave to hit market. If anything, I think they should be initially produced with small quantities in mind, and if they sell well, produce more, if not, everything goes as planned. If there are specific models that have plateaued in demand, maybe they should be pulled back for refinement(new variation), improvement(like the Zowada and Viele) and hopefully future reintroduction. If that is too costly, perhaps a retirement of undefined duration with the possibility of future introduction is acceptable? I can see the exotic Shabaria being offered with eccentric pivot and arc ramp someday further down the line.

Just my opinions, thank you for the opportunity to voice them.

Ken
 
Sal - Sorry to hear about Worker - My first Spyderco about 15 years ago & and everyday carry for over 10.

Definitley keep the Pro-Grip - Great hard-use utility knife.

John
 
It's almost impossible for me to make any kind of educated guess about what sells and what doesn't. Fro example, the Military isn't really my cup of tea. However, It's a quality blade and obviously appeals to many, many others.

Instead of picking out individual models to be discontinued, my inclination would be to discontinue the knives with plastic pocket clips. The metal clips just seem to work so well on models of all sizes. I would guess however that the plastic pocket clips remove several manufacturing steps so scrapping the plastic clipped models might not make business sense.

This is a much more complicated question than I thought!
smile.gif


Ben



------------------
"If you're upside down and burning, you probably went too fast."
 
Definately agree with the above - which ones tend to sit on the shelves?

Give us a list of those, and let us decide. Personally, I hate the mini dyad and am not too fond of the Shabaria (sorry, it's just not my kind of knife) but informed minds make better decisions.

Spark

------------------
Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
A computer company needs to make a very large, very fast computer, even though the vast majority of customers buy the comparitively low-end stuff. Why? Because the customer wants to know that there's headroom to grow into someday; more importantly, the customer wants to know the company has the brilliance to pull off the complex and technically difficult project of designing a high-end computer. Likewise, sales numbers be damned, a knife company should have a strong high end offering -- I'll bet anything that helps keep customers buying the low-end. Low end knives that aren't selling well are a no-brainer, they should be retired; but higher-end knife decisions should be treated a bit more carefully, I think. Anyway, point is, this isn't as simple as just dropping off all models from the low-end of the sales list, since there are some hidden dependencies there. I'd want to keep the sexiest high-end knives, even if they're not selling that great.

Joe

 
I agree with the gist of the above suggestions. So long...
  • Toad
  • Snap-It
  • Viele
  • Centofante (large & small)
  • Shabaria
  • Zowada and
  • CoPilot
Some that are on the borderline might be:
  • Cricket - Replaced by Meercat model?
  • Worker - You could try bringing it back in a few years with a different handle material or a slightly different design. That "Worker 2000" turned out to be surprisingly cool.
  • Harpy - You have to think the Merlin is preferable, even though SS models are popular.


[This message has been edited by cerulean (edited 07-03-2000).]
 
Get rid of the JD Smith. Quickly.

------------------
AKTI Member #A000832

"Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, the bear eats you."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top