Boost Knife Sales

It’s As Easy As 1, 2, 3

Written By Pat Covert

2021

Just as with firearms, having educated members on your sales
staff is key to selling knives and cutlery accessories.

All successful firearms dealers know the value of secondary sales, but selling cutlery is often overlooked when seeking these valuable added dollars to their bottom line. There are a couple of sound reasons gun retailers should take knife sales seriously.

A Shooting Industry dealer survey conducted at the end of 2020 showed knives were the third most popular category in added sales — ranking only behind concealed carry accessories and gun-cleaning gear. Such a lofty ranking is a very good indicator firearms users are carrying a knife as a backup to their firearm, as an everyday tool for cutting and for dressing game in the wild.

In addition, the markups on knives and tools are typically greater than the ones found in the firearms and ammo markets.

Knives are the perfect complement to firearms, and your inventory should reflect your local customer base as well.

Our interviews with firearms retailers over the years suggest cutlery markups can range anywhere from 25%–50% depending on the manufacturer — nothing to sneeze at in the hotly contested retail gun industry. Knife accessories, like sharpeners, can also add nice profits to your bottom line. (After all, every knife that gets used is going to need to be sharpened from time to time.)

Through conversations with dealers, sales reps and manufacturers, we’ve identified three key practices that stand out as surefire ways a retailer can help boost their cutlery sales.

1. Define & Conquer

One of the very first steps to take in achieving cutlery sale success is defining your customer base and buying knife and tool stock accordingly. Knives are the perfect complement to firearms, and inventory should reflect your local customer base as well. To do so successfully, define your clientele and target them effectively with stock they are most likely to purchase.

How do you do this? Some stores are easy to discern. For instance, if you sell all tactical firearms you’ll more likely hit a home run with tactical knives oriented toward self-defense and everyday carry (EDC) knives.

Tactical folders of those types of customers have been dominating the cutlery market for over 25 years, so the selection in these groups is incredible. However, other determinations must be made. Knife users who are geared toward self-defense often prefer a fixed blade over a folder, so this should also factor into your buying.

EDC users are overwhelmingly going to purchase tactical folders, and a very healthy number of self-defense aficionados do as well. Also consider the age and gender demos of your customer base. Older users may prefer a traditional knife while the younger ones lean toward modern and flashy.

The same applies to sporting knife users of which most are hunters — but don’t overlook segments such as campers, survivalists and those who fish. The opposite of tactical-oriented buyers, users in the outdoors market prefer fixed blades because their chores — including dressing game, fire and shelter building and bushwhacking — often require a knife that can handle tougher duties. Indeed, these users are more apt to carry two knives (one large and the other small) to cover their bases.

Broad-based stores carrying both tactical and outdoor firearms are more difficult to buy for simply because the owner has more segments to consider, but the way to determine targeted buying is the same. Determine who your customers are by past sales, foot traffic, age, gender and income demographics — and then buy knives to suit them. The sales will come.

HOT TAKE
“Taking time to view your past sales and current inventory can give you a rough idea how to forecast orders and achieve seasonal turns. Tailor your buying demands to meet the demands of your customer base. A younger customer base will demand the latest high-tech products while the older segment will purchase traditional tried-and-true items.”
— Jeff Chastain, Buyer / Simmons Sporting Goods / Bessemer, Ala.

2. Teamwork Sells Knives

Regardless of the size of your store, you need at least one person on staff well-versed in “knifeology” who can help educate the other sales associates on tips for selling more knives. Given the symbiotic ties between firearms and knives, even in the smallest retail stores I’ve found there’s typically a resident “knife nut” who is knowledgeable about cutlery even though his primary responsibility is selling guns. In contrast, the largest outdoor stores often have dedicated sales associates whose mission is solely to sell knives.

Why is this so important? Simply because knives are so diverse in their designs, steels, mechanics and handle materials. While knives and guns do share many materials in their handle grips, blade steels are a whole different story. American companies such as Crucible Industries and Carpenter Steel produce state-of-the-art steels (both stainless steel and high carbon) proprietary to the cutlery market. It’s wise for your resident expert to be up on these steels in order to advise customers of their capabilities and worth. By the same token, knife designs and blade styles — both folding and fixed blade — vary widely in both the tactical and sporting genres, each with their own distinct advantages and disadvantages. Having this knowledge is a huge benefit to your customer to help them select the best knife for their purposes.

Information on all aspects of knives is available online. Many manufacturers have special links to the various blade steels and styles, handle materials and mechanics (such as locking mechanisms) they offer in their lines — and some of the top factories even offer retailer-training courses on selling their wares with no investment other than time.

Having a knowledgeable cutlery associate in your store pays off because he or she can assist all of your sales team in making a sale. This is teamwork, an essential part of a sales force. Just as you have individuals on your sales team who are more up-to-speed on certain types of firearms to help others with customers’ questions, it pays to have one well-versed in knives.

HOT TAKE
“Educate your sales staff! We offer our dealers educational materials, printed catalogs and online information regarding our knife materials, blade steels, grinds, locking mechanisms, design philosophy and steel element explanations.”
— Joyce Laituri, Marketing Director / Spyderco Knives /Golden, Colo.

3. Cost-Free benefits

Finally, take advantage of “freebies.” Manufacturers and distributors offer a wealth of free training and promotional aids to firearms retailers — and the same applies to those in the cutlery industry. As mentioned above, there’s a plethora of training and educational material provided online to better equip your sales associates in helping customers make informed decisions. Better yet, many manufacturers and distributors will actually come to your store and meet with you, your knife buyer or sales staff to give them valuable information on their products. It costs you nothing but an hour or two of time and can be done outside regular store hours if need be. This small investment could make all the difference in increasing your cutlery sales.

The assistance from manufacturers and distributors doesn’t stop there. In-store sales aids such as point-of-purchase and counter signs, promotional flyers, catalogs, brochures and handouts are also available from the manufacturers and can be passed on to you at no charge.

These provide valuable information to both your sales staff and the customer — and are just another way to hit them square between the eyeballs with some added glitz and glam.

HOT TAKE
“Having a display of knives near the till where a gun sale will be rung up is a great way to have a customer consider a knife with their purchase, and it’s also an easy way to remind associates to offer them. One of the best things a firearms retailer can do is to treat knives as an add-on to a gun sale like a scope, extra magazines, new upper, etc. Make sure to show these as an option when finalizing a gun sale.”
— Anne Reeve, President / Chris Reeve Knives / Boise, Idaho

Bottom Line Boost

By bolstering cutlery sales you not only boost your bottom line, but are also a hedge against crisis times in the industry such as firearms and ammo shortages. Stores that solely sell knives have become virtually non-existent with the decline of mall shopping in recent years, opening up the opportunity for you to become the “destination” for cutlery shoppers in your area.

Never forget you have a key advantage over online retailers: Your customers can actually handle knives before they make a purchase. Isn’t it time you took advantage of this lucrative market for those treasured secondary sales?

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