New Stihl online policy

[Stihl dealer in Scotland]

Thank you GardenKit. People want to have their cake and eat it. You want to buy cheap online then when something goes wrong you want to take it to your local dealer and have it repaired quick smart. If we don't have the part in stock you are unhappy at having to wait.

 

It may surprise you to know but I have invested a lot of time, effort and money over the years to run a successful dealership and I am not about to let it be flushed down the toilet by some online company hell bent on getting "the sale" at any cost.

 

If I pack it in who will do your warranty then?. Are you going to box it up and send it a couple of hundred miles back to where you bought it?. Imagine the down time!

[Dean Lofthouse]

No it wouldn't, I used to be a dewalt dealer and sometimes had to make less than that. I did however make money on warranty repairs and non warranty repairs. Actually selling the machines was never worth it. Horse for courses though., you should never expect to make large profit margins on every product you sell.

Online sales or Internet sales or non face to face sales whatever you wish to call it is going to be the future, like or lump it, you cannot change the inevitable. Either adapt or get out of the business as I did. I saw it coming over 13 years ago and there were dewalt dealers and im sure other dealers whinging then.

The whinging of dealers will never stop, same as it doesn't stop in the tree surgery business or any other business. That's life.

I think the reason you got my back up was the way you take it one step further and thought it acceptable to set traps and report other dealers

 

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[kevinjohnsonmbe]

If I told you that some online sellers were making as little as £30.00 on a sale of this size would it surprise you?

 

 

Would it surprise you if I said I'd rather open the box myself and save £30?

 

Perhaps there's a 'natural' divide between 'professional' users (with set-up, tuning & maintenance ability) and 'occasional / home users who might benefit from £30 spent on set-up!

 

Let those that want to buy from a shop carry on. Preventing, by policy, those that prefer to buy online from doing so seems crazy to me (and seems pretty unanimous in this forum.).

 

Wouldn't you be better expressing the apparent customer base resentment of the policy rather than telling tales on other dealers?

 

Either way (if you actually are North of the border) you're far enough away not to affect me and I don't pass my pennies to a company that doesn't provide the service I need so it's of little relevance.

 

Best of luck - it seems a safe bet the market share is set to fall.

[bobh]

There is a lot of wild speculation flying around here, and the smaller dealers who play by the rules are getting an undeserved slating.

This Scottish guy is playing by the rules and its understandable that he is annoyed by the actions of those who do not. After all 'rules is rules'. (not so sure that I condone the telling of tales though)

 

Stihl are trying to bring some sense back into the professional retailing of their equipment for the long term good of all, but unfortunately the control of the market by the handful of discount merchants set on national domination is not helping Stihl's cause.

 

The same thing is happening with many other brands of machinery, and those manufacturers are also trying new policies.

 

Now, I am not trying to defend Stihl, as I am not a Stihl dealer and have ceased to sell their product even as a sub dealer, doing several loyal customers out of the chance to buy locally from me.

I have not stopped selling in response to Stihl's policy, but in response to the price war by the few discount merchants intent on ruining the kind of local service that many users rely on. It is just impossible for me to compete if I wish to run an efficient business. So I am out.

 

This was the announcement in the trade press in january which puts Stihl proposed policy in a slightly clearer light than we have seen so far on this thread.

 

STIHL GB has announced a new e-commerce solution that will enable its Approved Dealers to serve customers via a high quality online platform. From April 2014, Approved Dealers can add online sales to their STIHL and VIKING offer.

 

Many products will be available to order online for delivery to the customer’s place of work or home, while those which STIHL deems to require a detailed or personal handover such as chain saws and metal tool brush cutters will be available to ‘click and collect’.

 

Announcing the development, Robin Lennie, Managing Director of STIHL GB said: “The new STIHL e-commerce concept will ensure all our customers – both valued Approved Dealers and end users, can enjoy the benefits of online sales, whilst critically retaining the high service standards expected of our brands.”

 

STIHL continues to rely exclusively on the servicing dealer, but this latest change reflects the latest legal requirements within the EU as well as growing significance of the Internet for the power tool segment. The expanded online business will supplement the dealer’s local presence enabling customers to buy STIHL and VIKING at a time and place to best suit their needs.

 

Ensuring that the high service standards of the STIHL Group are retained, Approved Dealers can sign-up for an official STIHL Online Partner Store – a customised online store with technical and marketing support provided by STIHL, or will be able to retail products online through their own websites using an approved ‘shop-in-shop’ formula.

 

STIHL will work closely with its Approved STIHL and VIKING Dealer network to ensure that every dealership has the tools and support needed to take advantage of the opportunities this programme presents, providing guidelines for shop-in-shop concepts and access to specialist online marketing support.

 

The STIHL GB team says it will work closely with its Approved Dealers over forthcoming months to ensure a positive and professional experience is maintained for every customer.

Hi Barrie

Interesting article will be good to see what the details actually are. If this turnaround by stihl means that dealers can once again offer parts online then I'm happy,

We have no stihl dealership here meaning I was struggling with parts for my stihl machines and had been contemplating selling them in favour of husqvarna.

 

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[Chris Sheppard]

If I told you that some online sellers were making as little as £30.00 on a sale of this size would it surprise you?

 

No, not at all.

 

Had a conversation with my local Husky dealer a few years ago and he said similar. The way they used to look at it was if you looked after the pro guys with really good prices on saws, they'd keep coming back to you for spares/oils/bars/chains etc and to be fair, it seemed to work.

 

Surely that's no different to the online guys selling the saws cheap - people will keep going back to them for everything else.

 

On the whole, a pro user will be an easy sale in comparision to a domestic user who will want to ask lots of questions and take up a lot of the delaers time before maybe even goign away to think about it - pro user will come in, pick a saw up, pay and leave.

[Tom D]

Any business that fails to adapt to changes in the market only has itself to blame when things go wrong. The internet has been around for years, if you aren't prepared to sell on line you can hardly complain when others do. Loads of small shops have closed down, loads of small farms have packed in, and loads of tree surgeons have given up too, its natural selection, you need to adapt and survive or die. Its that simple.

 

You can look at the past through rose tinted spectacles if you like, but you need to face facts Arkwright, the days of the likes of me wasting half a day driving to your little shop to pay £100 over the odds for a saw are gone.

 

 

G g g g ger ger ger ger get with the program ger ger ger granville.

[Stihl dealer in Scotland]

Fair enough Tom D. As long as you realise that your warranty claim goes to the very back of the queue. You look after those that look after you.

[Ian C]

You also need to ask yourself why do people use online shopping? Me for example, I have an account with fr jones I have had for a few years, is it solely about price......? No its about everything, I get good prices that are better than an agricultural dealer 5 miles away, I can do it on a night time after work, it turns up next day Whilst im at work and not wasting time going to a shop. Why dont you stop moaning and do the same? Move with the times or slowly sink........remember woolworths!

 

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[Dean Lofthouse]

Fair enough Tom D. As long as you realise that your warranty claim goes to the very back of the queue. You look after those that look after you.

 

Treat everybody the same, whether they spend a £1 or a £100 you are obviously a very poor businessman.

 

That person who spends a pound may come back to you and buy a top of the range Honda mower in time to come

[harrythecat178]

Interesting discussion, let me put in my piece. We are Stihl directly supplied dealers. We adhere to the Stihl policy, we only sell online used products. We try to offer a fair discount on new Stihl products with extra discount for regular customers who are professional users. We also offer priority service to those customers with minor repairs often done on the spot, and can sometimes offer a loan machine if the machine is under warranty and the owner is stuck. We stock a good selection of fast moving spares and a keep good range of saw models. No, we are not the cheapest but we are competitive compared to online prices.

As long as we can make a fair profit on sales of new product to maintain our business, we think we can continue to increase sales by offering a good service. This is what Stihl wants, dealers that offer a quality service , they cannot dictate or even comment on the price a dealer sells at.

To sum up, in my opinion if as a local supplier you offer a good deal with good service backup and items ex stock then your local customers will come to you, you don't have to worry about what is happening on the internet.