Spyderco Forums

I’ve realised from recent threads that I don’t actually know what Spyderco’s distributors do and how they add value for the additional money they cost us. Any ideas?

Here's pretty much the answer, from a typical business perspective. I would imagine spyderco follows this line of action as well.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.busine ... ce-2013-10

I pretty much think it's because they sell in bulk in one shot, then it's up to distributers/retailers to make profit in the long run. If spyderco has one quick "money shot" (pun intended) they can get on with developing and manufacturing more knives. And obviously the mark up is because we aren't buying in bulk. A typical retailer aims for 33% profit margin, or so past bosses have told me. Knife game might be different.

Distribute the Spydercos

twinboysdad wrote:Distribute the Spydercos

:D

TL;DR:

twinboysdad wrote:Distribute the Spydercos

twinboysdad wrote:Distribute the Spydercos

Made my day. :D

I'm ordering from a shop in Singapore that purchases them directly from the USA, despite Singapore having a registered distributor (even on Spyderco's website, they're listed).

The shop operator says it's more cost effective for he himself to source them from a USA distributor..

Spyderco needs to start selling their knives in Brunei/Borneo!

Generally speaking distributors sell to dealers that don't sell enough of a product to qualify for direct shipments from a manufacturer. They don't cost the consumer additional money unless the retailer who purchases from them charges a premium. In the case of Spyderco's European sales, I think you may be blaming the supply chain for the exorbitant fees that your governments tack onto the cost of their knives (and knives in general).

No I am blaming the distributors (except for one or two retailers as notable exceptions) to sell at full catalog price with a 1:1 conversion of dollar and Euro.
Nobody in their right mind buys at that price.
There are two European vendors I am willing to buy from but they don't always have the full choice of stock available, not to mention no access to sprints.
So it is almost always easier to buy directly from the states.
The vendors labeled as "official distributors" over here add absolutely nothing for me. Just extra high prices with no benefit. Not even warranty or anything.

vilePossum wrote:No I am blaming the distributors (except for one or two retailers as notable exceptions) to sell at full catalog price with a 1:1 conversion of dollar and Euro.
Nobody in their right mind buys at that price.
There are two European vendors I am willing to buy from but they don't always have the full choice of stock available, not to mention no access to sprints.
So it is almost always easier to buy directly from the states.
The vendors labeled as "official distributors" over here add absolutely nothing for me. Just extra high prices with no benefit. Not even warranty or anything.

The official distributor prices of those that you mean are truly ridiculous. Even when they go on sale they still cost a lot. For example, i just checked with the biggest distributor, the Vrango is now at a sale (!!!) price of only (!) 370 €... compare that to the 139 $ that for example KC takes. I still think they only keep the prices that high to stay competitive with their own products.

Jup.. Whereas the same vrango, also on sale, costs 183euro at another European vendor, not distributor.
Still more than in the states (a lot more if you consider the exchange rate) but at least in a range where I can see it making sense due to customs and shipping.
As i said, there are a few vendors who sell at those prices, but most of them sell at the usual high price.

Oh well..

My Guess is that distriutors in the US distribute knives and in Europe/Australia/Asia they just add ridiculous margins to keep their own products competitive

In Europe the distributors are just little monopolies in each country it seems. Due to higher shipping costs and language barriers we don't have such a united big market as in the USA. Most people don't buy across borders in the EU. So the different European distributors don't fight each other on prices. Most stores just take their markup on whatever the distributor asks. I don't think the stores are to blame. Though they could try to shop at other distributors. But since Spyderco is not their main business i don't think shops are too busy with that.
The only "cheaper" stores are based in France from what I have seen. I don't know if they use a French distributor or get em elsewhere.

I was wondering this myself.

Hi Rutger.

Welcome to our forum.

sal

twinboysdad wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 26, 2018 6:52 pm

Distribute the Spydercos

That was genuinely hilarious, thank you :D

TriggerThumb, thanks for the interesting read; a very useful overview. Every day is a school day.

When I read Sal’s post: “We've set up distributors all over the world to try to get the product to our customers and service their needs and problems. This is also expensive and many customers will complain about the cost and try to find ways around it, and then complain when they have a problem that circumvents all of the solutions we have tried to put into place.” I realised I had no idea what they do.

I know the UK distributor costs me somewhere around 25% more than the Finnish distributor (both in the EU so there are no additional taxes between the two), but I didn’t know they offered me an option to service my needs and problems.

However, I don’t know who the UK Distributor is or how I know which UK Retailers are supplied by them and hence whether I’m ‘covered’. I do wonder whether the distributors offer some solutions to the recent issues, but if that is the case, we need to signpost them more clearly particularly at the point of purchase and highlight whatever value they add. It might be that I consider that extra 25% well spent and that will be part of my buying decision. Right now, in my ignorance, I’m not convinced.

I wonder if the Distributor arrangements - financial as well as support - with their dealers varies from Distributor to Distributor and is out of Spyderco’s control.