SAKs in North America

[strmliner]

My apologies if this has been covered in an earlier thread, but all these discussions about availability of the 2015 Limited Edition Blue Alox knives, and the possibility of a Pioneer w/ scissors caused me to dig a bit deeper.

Previously, I was under the assumption that Victorinox had a distributor handling each country and/or region of the world.  Really, that was pretty much wrong.  Victorinox AG controls it all.

Swiss Army Brands, Inc. was the exclusive United States, Canadian, and Caribbean marketer of Victorinox(R) Original Swiss Army Knives(TM), multi-tools and SwissCards(TM).  The company was founded in 1897, based in Monroe, Connecticut.  The company changed its name to Victorinox Swiss Army, Inc. in May, 2007.  Victorinox Swiss Army, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Victorinox AG

In August 2002, Victorinox acquired the American company Swiss Army Brands, Inc (SABI), to unify and gain control of the Victorinox and Swiss Army watch brands. Previously Swiss Army Brands, Inc (SABI) had sold the Swiss Army branded watch in North America and under license had sold the Victorinox branded watch outside North America. But after Victorinox AG acquired Swiss Army Brands, Inc (SABI), a combined Victorinox Swiss Army brand was created and has been marketed worldwide.

On 26 April 2005 Victorinox acquired Wenger, the other official supplier of the Swiss Army knife, announcing that it intended to keep both brands intact.  On 30 January 2013 Victorinox announced that the company will integrate Wenger's knife business to strengthen its competitive position internationally.

So, in reality, Vic AG controls it all and is just managing their markets...and us SAKaholics just have to learn to live with their manipulation or mod our way to Nirvana.  The chances of Vic AG listening to our little global community are slim at best.

[Etherealicer]

Welcome to the global market...

Not everything is available everywhere and certainly not at the same time.
Here is a thought. No matter how large a company is its difficult to have a global product release. So commonly the product is released market by market. If it fails* in the first market it might never show up in the other markets.
This is not manipulation, its just common economical sense. IIRC the 2015 series has been announced to come to the US, just with a bit of a delay.

*Failure is a broad term, it could also be financial failure (less units sold than projected etc.).

[strmliner]

Welcome to the global market...

Not everything is available everywhere and certainly not at the same time.
Here is a thought. No matter how large a company is its difficult to have a global product release. So commonly the product is released market by market. If it fails* in the first market it might never show up in the other markets.
This is not manipulation, its just common economical sense. IIRC the 2015 series has been announced to come to the US, just with a bit of a delay.

*Failure is a broad term, it could also be financial failure (less units sold than projected etc.).

Oh believe me, I get it.  It's just sometimes companies amaze me.  And I do give them credit, they answered my email and told us how to get one here in North America.  But the fact that they don't currently plan to list the 2015 series on their North American website encourages the gougers on fleabay...I think that's the part that slays me.

[ColoSwiss]

I just ordered out the 2015 Pioneer and Cadet from Germany.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Victorinox-Schweizer-Taschenmesser-Pionier-ALOX-Limited-Edition-2015-Neu-New-/141723192339?hash=item20ff5c4c13

[Grass]

Here in Australia, we get nothing anyway. Long live the Internet; Tim at FelineVet; ebay; KnifeCentre and MTo!

[Etherealicer]

Welcome to the global market...

Not everything is available everywhere and certainly not at the same time.
Here is a thought. No matter how large a company is its difficult to have a global product release. So commonly the product is released market by market. If it fails* in the first market it might never show up in the other markets.
This is not manipulation, its just common economical sense. IIRC the 2015 series has been announced to come to the US, just with a bit of a delay.

*Failure is a broad term, it could also be financial failure (less units sold than projected etc.).

Oh believe me, I get it.  It's just sometimes companies amaze me.  And I do give them credit, they answered my email and told us how to get one here in North America.  But the fact that they don't currently plan to list the 2015 series on their North American website encourages the gougers on fleabay...I think that's the part that slays me.

I think that is intentional, kinda to create a hype. Stuff that is just in the store does not get discussed about*. And once they show up in the store, people will buy them fast and probably more than they need just in case.

And there would be no gougers on fleabay if no-one would buy from them. They would pretty quickly die out if they buy products they cannot sell.
At the end of the day colored alox is a luxury item (and collecting is a luxury hobby) and if people overpay for it they can only blame themselves.

*Case in point, look at this thread.