The MAP issue IMO

NorthernSouthpaw said:
One thing you forget Esav. To sell Benchmade, it doesn't matter if most business is online, a dealer MUST have a storefront. So the overhead is equal if not more for the online guys because they need IT. Also prices befor MAP were already ridiculous here in Mass . I checked a (fairly) local store and they wanted $60 for a freaking Tenacious! The closest Bass PS had only 4 BM models, and they wanted over $200 for a 940. The selection here is sadly limited, and to top it off, extremely overpriced. I didn't WANT to shop online, I was FORCED to. I will continue to do so because even after MAP enforcement the online prices are still cheaper.
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I think he is aware. Up until about 4 years ago that policy with Benchmade was not the case. You could get knives from wholesalers for a steep discount (provided you met their requirements for purchase). Once that change was made, several other changes followed after like the MAAP policy. One is that you needed to order a minimum of $3500 worth of products (not sure if that is per order, but it may be). The other being you must have a physical storefront. What this did was wipe out most of the little guys trying to sell knives online via online only sales.

Now, i realize many of those folks were severely undercutting the brick and mortar stores, which is why they changed the policy. The brick and mortar stores are apparently still suffering through their own inability to bring their business up to a level of normalcy given the current business models, so yet another blow was made.

I agree with your statement though, it was being forced online because the BM prices were far too steep at whatever the respective MSRP is set at. Possibly the sweeping change in management could have also had something to do with it. This always has some impact on business, more often (from my own experience) it is negative. Corporate shuffling is a strange phenomenon.
http://www.ammoland.com/2013/09/ben...ey-new-employees-restructuring/#axzz2wWdbozOb
 
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Esav Benyamin said:
Exactly.

Online dealers are being penalized for having a better business model. They learn their territory, their stock, their customer needs. They put their money into shelves and shelves of product. Then they are told they aren't allowed to out-compete shopkeepers who put their money into a small storefront.

Online dealers have overhead too! They need to own or rent a building big enough to stock serious quantities of those knives we want. They have electric bills and taxes to pay even though they might not have a sales counter selling to you in person. They have employees to pay. They run computer systems and shipping departments.

Benchmade is now in the social responsibility business, propping up small dealers who don't sell their knives as well as the more advanced online entrepreneurs.
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Thank you. Ive been discussing these among other angles of the topic on these threads. I wonder if BM itself has experienced a significant drop or increase in sales/profit since the selective artificial increase.
 
I have no direct input from anyone at Benchmade or any of the local retailers that sell Benchmade, but I would be very interested in knowing how many of the people posting here own their own business? Some personal experience competing against online sites would also be interesting to know. That would give us a better idea of what the opinions given here were based on.
 
It's going to take a bit of time for the books to show a drop in sales (if there is one) because of the fact that everyone who was on the fence about purchasing a Benchmade plus all the people who had any BMs on their wishlists lost their minds this past Nov-Dec. and bought everything they wanted at the (then) discounted prices before they increased. So this quarter the dealers probably had to order more than usual to re-stock after they were slammed by this unexpected rush. This also may be the reason why BM is releasing all it's new knives in Q1 & Q2. So dealers have to purchase these new products at that time therefore showing profit. If consumers continue being picky about purchases (not talking boycott here) I doubt BM will see any real sales decline until probably Q1 next year
 
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Yes, most of the local shops I've been to (Bass Pro included) usually sell Benchmades at FULL MSRP, not even MAP. This still makes online shopping cheaper, so It's not going to make me shop locally any more than before. And now I won't even consider buying new. If I want a BM, I'm going to the exchange now.
 
The one question I have is do we know definitely that the MAP enforcement is an effort on BM's part to "level the playing field" between local retailers and Internet dealers?

Reason I ask is I've followed this closely since the issue came up and to date the only dealer that I've seen come out and give any insight that he claimed came directly from BM was Cutlery Shoppe and they posted on their facebook page when this first started that the new MAP enforcement was due to "Brand management" raising the perceived value of the brand by raising the price.

The end result remains the same but I am curious as to the "why" and wondering if anyone else in the know (dealers) have made any other statements or given any explanations that anyone here knows about?
 
Stays Sharp said:
Noone denies that this helps brick and mortar only stores. The many folks who voiced their disappointment over the artificial price increase in the various threads all acknowledged that from the beginning. Also, BM not making a cent more was widely known from the start in these discussions. These werent points of contention.

As far as helping the little guy, it sure hasnt helped this little guy (customers are the littler little guys) and I havent purchased a BM new ever since. Ive since purchased an MPR, and a Shotshow Grip from the secondary market and at good prices but as a whole, even secondary market prices are changing. Good for sellers but gone are the days of LNIB $80 707's, $90 710's and $45 Grips from the exchange.
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Nor have I. I purchased about 20 BMs last year prior to the change, none since and no intent to buy another. A shame because I like the product - to a point. BM lost my business for 2 reasons:

  1. The way BM treated their consumer base - "Our prices haven't changed." What an insult to our intelligence.
  2. IMHO, this increase pushed BM out of my "value" window. I no longer believe that the product is worth the price and there is plenty of competition out there that wants my business and provides value.

BM has an absolute right to do this, and in return I have an absolute right to spend my money elsewhere. The thought that some have that the ability to provide deep discounts is not fair runs counter to my philosophy. I believe that companies that invest money, time and energy into a successful business model should succeed and those that don't should fail. It bothers me not at all if some B&M stores fail as web oriented businesses succeed. That is the way the economy should work - IMHO. It aggravates me to see someone artificially prop up a company at the expense of someone else. Esav nailed it above. That post was spot on.

JMO.
 
BladeCommander said:
Yes, most of the local shops I've been to (Bass Pro included) usually sell Benchmades at FULL MSRP, not even MAP. This still makes online shopping cheaper, so It's not going to make me shop locally any more than before. And now I won't even consider buying new. If I want a BM, I'm going to the exchange now.
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A lot of retailers also have a tendency to only sell black, combo edge models as well. BassPro can shove it when it comes to knives generally. $49 for a Kershaw Volt?!?!?
 
I've got a question. My understanding was that MAP does not dictate the actual selling price, just the advertised price. So if you contact a dealer, he may sell to you for less than MAP.
I contacted Knifeworks and was told that they sell at MAP. So is this MAP or is it actually MRP Minimum Retail Price or is there another name for it?
 
The only official words we've seen are:
"Our prices haven't changed."
If the discount codes are all gone, it stands to reason that MAAP is the actual selling price (be ause that is what the prices are across the majority of stores), no 2 ways about it. If it were not the case, then the retailers are punishing themselves by restricting their sales volume. You can either sell a few at a high price, or you can sell a lot more at a slightly lower price. Hard to have it both ways.
 
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