| Shooting for Markets |
20 October 2003
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Smith & Wesson Moves into Home Decor
Business is not always an obvious field of endeavor. Consider the latest move by Smith & Wesson, makers of tools that shoot high velocity bits of metal at people one doesn't like. It seems guns and bullets don't quite have the future management wants, so the firm is expanding -- no, not into surface-to-air missiles nor torpedoes, but rather into home decor.
At first blush, the idea is silly. However, the gun maker has been cutting back on weapons production after a number of cities have filed lawsuits to hold weapons makers liable for the harm idiots with guns cause. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, gun production in the US dropped from almost 1 million in 2000 to just over 600,000 in 2001, and the trend is continuing.
Making fewer guns means making fewer sales unless other products are substituted. Smith & Wesson does sell hunting-related things like binoculars, and it has deals to sell golf clubs and bikes under license. It is a single step of logic (perhaps of the giant variety) to move into the LL Bean outdoorsy feel of home decor. So, enter Crossings, the catalog from Smith & Wesson to make one's home, well, more like one would imagine it would be if decorated by Smith & Wesson.
On the positive side, the company is trying to diversify away from weapons used by the masses for destruction, and frankly, until America comes up with a reasonable system for keeping guns out of the hands of people who should have their meat cut for them at dinner, restraint by the manufacturers is the only hope. Whether the company can make a go of it is another matter. At the same time, with Martha Stewart publicly worrying about going to jail, the odds that Smith & Wesson will be successfully cranking out towels, pillow cases, and throw rugs just got shorter.
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