Product lineup a key to growth for Kolpin Outdoors

70 percent of 2017-18 catalog’s lineup supports UTVs

Kolpin enacted a rebranding in August, becoming Kolpin Outdoors and launching a redesigned catalog of aftermarket products for the 2017-18 season. Of the accessories offered, approximately 70 percent will fit on a UTV. 

Top performers for Kolpin on the UTV side include plows, Rhino Grips, gun boots, windshields, winches and mirrors. Ryan Andreae, senior director of Product Planning and Customer Experience for Kolpin Outdoors, said the dealers in Kolpin’s network have responded well to a newly introduced full MAP policy as well. “We have extremely strong margins for the dealer network. We wanted to create value for our dealer partners,” he said. 

As part of the relaunch, Kolpin Outdoors has moved to dealer direct distribution and is working alongside its sales and customer service division Apex Product Group, which handles aftermarket products from Polaris-owned Kolpin Outdoors, Pro Armor and Trail Tech. “One of the key points of going dealer direct is we can get feedback right from our network. We hear it and we can react quickly,” said Andreae. 

By working through Apex Product Group, Kolpin Outdoors is able to establish one point of contact for dealers and bundle products together from the three separate Polaris brands. Andreae said those factors helps dealers get volume tier discounts and to maximize their profitability. 

“We have seen an uptick in dealer sign-ups to include our brand,” said Chris Juelich, director of Marketing for Kolpin Outdoors. “Our brands can handle so many different things, and our staff is educated to addressing those. In coming to work with us, dealers have a diverse portfolio of products that can address all off their different demographics, and we are going to have the ability to make it easy for the dealer to do business with us because they can blend those orders.”

For UTVs, Kolpin offers three plow options: the Switchblade, Storm Chaser and High Rise. The Switchblade is Kolpin’s newest plow-in-a-box system. It features a universal under body mount. The Switchblade is available in 60- and 72-inch widths and offers an affordable price point. “It’s a plow-in-a-box. Everything is contained in there except the winch. It’s a little bit more retail friendly, a little bit more shelf-friendly for the dealers,” said Andreae. 

The High Rise plow is Kolpin’s strongest plow. It features a heavy-duty, mid-mount, dual-pivot articulating frame, which allows the blade to lift up to 28 inches off the ground and easily stack snow. It also has a 20-inch-wide blade mount platform. 

The High Rise is available in five different blade widths ranging from 48 to 72 inches. “The High Rise is a key product that really gives the dealership an OEM-level quality in the aftermarket brands with fitment for virtually all UTVs,” said Andreae. 

Going hand-in-hand with plow sales, Kolpin now offers six different winches at a competitive price point, backed by Kolpin’s five-year warranty. The steel cable and synthetic rope winches are each available in 2,500-, 3,500- and 4,500-pound options. 

Andreae said the windshield products have seen impressive growth in recent months.

Juelich said Rhino Grips have also gained momentum as a unit volume sales leader for Kolpin Outdoors. Each Rhino Grip model has a durable flexible rubber grip that holds onto gear and a variety of mounting solutions for user customization. All the grips are sold in pairs with all required hardware and straps. The grips range from the Rhino Grip Pro, which has a capacity rating of more than 50 pounds, to the Standard, with a 10-pound capacity.

“Our most important part of the year is the back half. Right now we’re prepping for the most exciting time of year. We feel like we’re fully ready and engaged. We’ve got the right product and the right inventory,” said Juelich.

And when the accessories are attached to units on the showroom floor, dealers are bound to see their P.O. lines increase.

“When the dealers take the hour to build the machines to outfit a machine and put it on the floor, it makes all the difference in the world,” said Juelich. “You’re going to turn more machines, higher volume and higher accessories with higher margins. Sometimes people aren’t as creative as we want them to be — they need to be shown the way of all the things they can do.”