Full-Line Advantage

By Scott Bestul

Maximize your relationship with a company and your customers 

In a market dominated by savvy consumers capable of sifting through thousands of choices, carrying only a few selected items from a host of manufacturers is a natural temptation for retailers. Unfortunately, cherry pickers often discover the truth of the old saying, “In trying to please everybody, you often don't please anybody.”

Enter the full-line retailer: the shop-owner who finds a quality manufacturer whose products fit the scope of his business, then stocks the full line. Though not necessarily exclusive, the full-line relationship carries many benefits.

Drawing the Line

“The conventional wisdom is that the current market is driven by sophisticated consumers always looking for the best deal regardless of maker,” says Tom White, marketing director for BlackHawk Inc. “In other words, people aren’t very brand loyal. But our experience is just the opposite; once someone has tried out our gear, he seeks it out and shops less, not more.”

Jeff Eason, vice president and CFO of Dana Safety Supply, which is a full-line BlackHawk retailer and distributor, agrees. “We’ve continually seen customers seek out top-notch, state-of-the art equipment like the BlackHawk line. It’s clearly been designed by people who know what it takes to do the job. I don’t care if it’s a soft market or an active one, people are willing to pay for quality.”

Although “good stuff sells well” may seem like Business 101, there are other advantages to becoming a full-line retailer. Among them:

Coordination: “In a company like ours, where we have integrated systems designed to work with each other, the full-line retailer is miles ahead of someone who cherry-picks,” White says. “If you carry the holster, you need to carry the light carrier and the knife sheath that work with that system. These items are meant to complement each other and work as a unit, and the customers—especially military and law enforcement—understand and appreciate that.”

Loyalty: Good business is all about forging lasting relationships. “There are a lot of alternatives in this market,” Eason notes. “We are a growing retailer/distributor that has opened five stores in the southeastern U.S. in the last two years. I’ve concentrated our efforts on forging alliances with companies that produce an excellent product and support us when we need it. When you’re dealing with a company like BlackHawk, those relationships become easy.”

Promotions/marketing: Full-line retailers also enjoy the advantage of greater promotional and marketing support. “We’ve had ‘BlackHawk Days’ shortly after each of our store openings,” Eason says. “The BlackHawk guys come and demonstrate different equipment and offer promotional deals that get customers excited about their gear and our store. They’re always a huge hit.”

White notes that his company has “applications experts” who visit shops like Dana Safety Supply. They “help retailers maximize floor space and display promotional materials and ads designed to fit their anticipated demographic,” he says. “We’re there for our retailers when they need us, and we want to help them get customers excited about the stores and our products, whether those people are law enforcement, ex-military or sportsmen.”

Differentiation: According to White, the prevailing strategy at a lot of the big-box stores has been to cherry-pick from several lines in an attempt to get entry-level buyers. “I hear this all the time from small shop owners who are worried when a big-box store moves in nearby,” he says. “They’re fearful that this monster is going to put them out of business. Often, just the opposite occurs, especially when a shop is full-line. The customer visits the big box, sure—but when he needs something specific from a company he’s come to trust, he goes to the smaller shop. If they’ve done their marketing correctly, the customer knows he has an alternative.”

(Photo by Justin Appenzeller)