Cutlery brand Schmidt Brothers knows that with a lifetime warranty for its knives, driving repeat purchases can be a challenge. So the Schmidt Brothers focuses on loyalty initiatives that engender positive brand affinity and keep its brand top-of-mind.
Its most recent effort is a live, online cooking show called The Cutting Edge. In celebration of its 15-year anniversary, Schmidt Brothers Cutlery debuted the chef-led class in January and hosts new episodes every two weeks. The show highlights its products — primarily knives — and different skills to use with the knives while cooking a recipe.
The show is only available to customers, as a way to “give back,” co-founder Jared Schmidt said. Customers can register their product for warranty and that is how they sign into the show and view previous episodes.
“It’s been a tremendous response in the community in the sense of their love for learning new cooking skills and recipes,” Jared Schmidt said.
Results from the cooking show
The content marketing initiative is working in terms of driving more engagement to its site. The number of shoppers returning to its website has increased 34% year over year in June 2025 compared with June 2024.
On average, about 200 consumers watch an episode, with a “strong” repeat viewer rate, Jared Schmidt said. In the 10 episodes since launch, about 2,110 consumers have viewed a show, for a total of 37,800 minutes of viewing time. Jared Schmidt and co-founding brother Jordan Schmidt are pleased with these metrics, as it shows strong engagement and interest.
While immediate sales are the direct end goal, the brand knows that shoppers have purchased at least 150 orders using a promo code provided in the cooking show.
“We have other means that are direct call to action,” Jared Schmidt said. “This was more of a brand halo effect, so it’s not something we’re really measuring from a standpoint of an ROI versus a standpoint of something we want to provide to the community.”
The Schmidt Brothers sell its knives direct on its website and at 12 retailers including Williams Sonoma, West Elm, Crate & Barrel, Target, Walmart, Huckberry and others.
Revenue across its entire business grew 64% year over year and ecommerce specifically grew 133% year over year, the brand said. Among all of its channels, ecommerce delivers a higher average order value and long-term customer value compared with other channels, Jared Schmidt said.
More ways to drive loyalty
While an average home cooker may view a knife block as a one-and-done purchase, the brothers tap into repeat purchasing in other ways. For example, if a consumer purchases a single knife from the brand, it works to get them to upgrade to a full block of knives.
“It is a bit of a challenge, but we stand by a product that’s a lifetime warranty and a product that is meant to be a heritage item and part of your home,” Jared Schmidt said. “We also look at loyalty as something that’s passed down from generation or through family members or through friends as another way of getting a secondary purchase from that original consumer.”
The brand’s magnetic knife block is another way to drive consumers to purchase from the brand, as the staple product fits many different brands of knives. Shoppers don’t have to give up their favorite knife because they are purchasing a new block of knives, Jordan Schmidt said.
“We know that people are attached to certain knives they have at home. Be it your mother’s, your father’s, your grandfather’s,” Jordan Schmidt said. “You may have some sort of attachment to it that you love the way it looks, you love the way it feels, you love the way it cuts. That knife will fit in our block.”
Shifts in brand marketing
Beyond retaining current customers, the Schmidt Brothers taps the typical channels for customer acquisition including paid search and Instagram ads. Over the past year, the brand has increased its marketing spend 5%-12% depending on the channel.
In the past 15 years, the brothers said the biggest change in the marketing landscape is being able to directly target specific customer groups, opposed to being more broad, and the speed of being able to measure effectiveness.
One of the ways Schmidt Brothers directly targets shoppers is via retail media networks. This marketing channel has boomed the past few years, but it’s really just a digital flavor of retail marketing, Jared Schmidt said.
“You always had a level of support that you’re providing to [your retail partners] and reinvestment in the business in terms of advertising. That has shifted from a scenario of let’s call print ads, logo ads, to now digital ads,” Jared Schmidt said. “It’s something that as a brand that we’ve already been doing and that you need to be providing your retailers as a good partner and as support for their sell through.”
For example, in the past, Schmidt Brothers may have paid to have its products featured in a Crate & Barrel newspaper ad or to have a brochure coupon next to its product in store. Today, that would look like a sponsored ad in on-site search results.
Tariffs increase costs at Schmidt Brothers
Like most brands today, the Schmidt Brothers is trying to decide the best way to handle its increased costs because of tariffs. It’s goal is to absorb the cost of tariffs as much as possible and not raise its prices. On average across its products, the brand’s costs have increase 30%, and it has increased its prices 10%-15% on about 30% of its products.
It has not informed shoppers about the increase in prices. The brand is still determining the most appropriate way to communicate with shoppers about the circumstance the brand is in, but also not wanting to turn anyone off from the brand, Jordan Schmidt said. The brand is struggling to communicate a transparent message to shoppers because it’s unsure about how long the tariffs will last and it does not know its long-term strategy.
“The problem really comes down to the fact that brands are struggling with the idea of, ‘Should we be listening to this or not listening to it,’ because of the uncertainty of what’s going on in the market and everything changing so much,” Jared Schmidt said. “Brands and companies want consistency, and it’s hard to be consistent at the moment. So our opinion is to weather the storm to be consistent while they figure it out before we start rolling things out that are just going to be fluctuating.”
For new products it plans to debut this year, it will likely bake in a 10% price increase because of the tariffs. This is a benefit to the brand, as the market will not have viewed this as a price increase, but just accept it as the starting price point.
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