What does "recommended" really mean at a knife shop?

If a customer has never heard of SG2 steel, we can explain it.

We can compare it with other knives and let them hold it for themselves.

We ask about their budget, what they'll use the knife for, what they're currently using, and how much maintenance they're comfortable with.

And then we can say:

And bring out ARARE.

In other words, in a physical store, we can help fill in the gaps in a customer's knowledge.

We can also choose which knives to compare.

And perhaps most importantly:

That's quite a lot of power.

We genuinely think highly of ARARE, and it's popular with our customers too. We also keep a reasonably good stock of it, so we're happy to recommend it.

But if we simply put it on a shelf and stare silently at the customer, they probably won't discover what makes it special.

That would also be a pretty terrifying shopping experience, so we generally try talking to people.

Let's put the differences between shopping in-store and online into perspective.

These are general tendencies. Of course, you can still contact us for advice when shopping online.

Of course, customers can ask questions online, and even in a store we can't explain absolutely everything.

But whether we can join the conversation while someone is choosing a knife makes a difference.

And I think it's a pretty significant one.

Of course, this doesn't mean we can sell anything just by talking about it.

Imagine someone walks in already knowing they want a Shun or a Ryusen.

Simply saying that isn't going to convince them to buy it.

Because they aren't simply looking for any knife in that price range.

Someone who wants a Shun has a reason for wanting a Shun.

Someone who wants a Ryusen has a reason for wanting a Ryusen.

Maybe they love the brand. Maybe it's the design. Maybe they've read the reviews, or a friend recommended it.

If we ignore those reasons and just say,

“This one performs well too,”

we're missing the point.

If performance were the only thing that mattered, we probably wouldn't need so many different brands and designs in the first place.

As we've discussed in earlier articles, a knife's value isn't determined by performance alone.

The more I think about it, the more that seems true.

Showing someone the sharpest knife.

Showing them the most expensive knife.

Showing them the best value for money.

Showing them our bestseller.

I don't think any of those quite captures it.

Of course, any one of them could be the right answer in some situations.

But the same knife isn't going to be the right answer for everyone.

Consider how the conversation changes depending on what a customer values.

This isn't meant to suggest that any one preference leads to one objectively correct knife.

This isn't a chart that says, “If you want X, you must buy Y.”

Even people with similar needs may have very different priorities.

So we ask what the person is really looking for.

We consider what they already know—and what they don't.

We compare knives, including ones they hadn't thought to consider.

Until we can say:

That's the point we're trying to reach.

I think that's much closer to what we mean by a recommendation.

At least when it comes to kitchen knives, that's how I see it.

Take the term “SG2,” for example.

SG2 is SG2, no matter who's reading the label.

But suppose someone wants a knife that:

For that person, those three characters—SG2—suddenly mean something.

SG2 is a stainless powder metallurgy steel known for its potential for good edge retention, thanks in part to its hardness and wear resistance. It's also relatively straightforward to care for day to day.

Of course, actual cutting performance and ease of sharpening also depend on heat treatment and edge geometry—not just the name of the steel.

Even so, SG2 could be a very appealing option for this customer.

Now imagine someone who enjoys sharpening regularly and even appreciates the patina that develops on carbon steel. They may feel very differently about that same SG2 knife.

The steel hasn't changed.

We take the information printed on a product page and turn it into something like:

That's the translation.

Perhaps that's what we've been doing in our stores all along.

Seen that way, recommending a knife isn't so much about choosing a product for someone. It's about:

Or at least, that's how it feels to me.

We're there to help interpret the information, but the final choice belongs to the customer.

Rather than pushing what we think is the right answer, we want to give people more options they can genuinely feel good about.

Maybe that's what good customer service should look like.

And that's when I ran into a bit of a problem.

We haven't been doing nearly enough of this online, even though it's what we do every day in our stores.

A knife like Kagekiyo does well online because people who already know why they want it can find it easily.

But a knife like ARARE often becomes appealing only after someone works through their priorities and realizes:

Without someone to guide them through that process, they may never discover it.

Instead of simply repeating the steel name from a product listing, we can talk about:

In other words, we can bring the conversations we have in our stores into our online writing.

Of course, a blog isn't the same as a face-to-face conversation.

We don't know each reader's budget, how they cook, or what they like.

But we can still share how to think through those questions, and what might be worth paying attention to.

Maybe that will help someone find a knife they would otherwise have overlooked because they were only looking at things like:

“It's a famous brand.”

“It has lots of reviews.”

“The specs look impressive.”

There might be a knife beyond those familiar choices that's a better fit.

And if that leads to more people buying ARARE, we'd be delighted.

Of course, it doesn't have to be ARARE.

Okay, we'd actually mind a little. But for the sake of this article, let's pretend we wouldn't.