Originally Posted by
RCSMichael
Wanna know why we didn't launch with a Shield model?
Because S&W customers don't vote with their wallets. And I say that as a guy who prefers the Shield to the G43.
The M&P users (full-size, compact, and Shield models combined) are some of the most vocal customers out there, begging for product support and complaining when we don't deliver a product to them. Case in point, when the VG2 first hit the market, M&P users were apoplectic that we didn't concurrently launch one for THEIR pistol, too. So we immediately threw all of our resources into bringing the product to market, and upon launch, the M&P VG2 was greeted with crickets and tumbleweed. As a matter of fact, within weeks of the launch, the same voices who had begged for the M&P VG2 simply changed their tune and NOW wanted the VG2 for the Shield.
The Glock VG2 design and tooling paid for itself within 90 days of launch. The M&P VG2 still hasn't sold enough units to break even, and it's been selling for YEARS.
Flash forward to the Shield VG2. There are, conservatively speaking, probably 8-10x more Shields in the hands of consumers than there are G43's. Yet the sales totals for the G43 vs Shield are INVERSE of the number of guns produced.
And, copying what I had stated in the comments on the SSD press-release about the Perun:
"We have Phantom and Phantom LC sales data that goes back to the launch of the S&W M&P. The sad truth is that if you combine the total sales of our holsters sold for M&P Full Size, M&P .45, M&P Compact, M&P .45 Compact AND all of the corresponding light compatible variants, that total is still LESS than, for example, the HK VP-9 (which has been on the market for a fraction of the time, and is just ONE model)."
Everyone talks down to me like I'm an idiot because I didn't launch my brand new holster line (which took almost two solid years to design and test) with models for their favorite pet pistol, even though they didn't buy the last four holster models I produced for that same exact gun.
Well, here's your chance to shine, M&P fans: In a few weeks, you'll have a Perun for the Shield. I predict sales will be mediocre, at best. I predict that immediate feedback will be that you instead want it for a Shield with TLR-6. Or that you don't know why I bothered making a strong-side holster for a sub compact pistol because you prefer to carry it AIWB (even though sales of the VG2 say otherwise). Or that you wish I had produced it in FDE to match your FDE frame pistol.
I would love it if you guys would prove me wrong. But I suspect I will instead end up revisiting this same conversation, and copy-and-pasting these same comments into a new thread when we launch the updated Eidolon.
The "shake the holster upside down while it's off your body" test proves nothing, since the holster isn't designed to retain the weapon that way. It is designed to retain the pistol while being worn on a belt. Determining retention by shaking the holster is akin to buying a new set of tires for your car and dragging them, unmounted, across your driveway by hand to see if they have "enough traction." In fact, in nearly 100% of the adjustment requests where we are asked to increase the retention on a holster, we end up seeing those holsters back within a week to be loosened back to their original retention. This is because if we make the holster tight enough to retain a loaded gun inverted off the body, once you put it ON, the retention is almost too tight to draw.
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