What if Festool got into "Mono-Brand-Stores" and selling online - directly.

[leakyroof]

My local Sherman Williams has put up Festool displays but has told me that only one store per district will be stocking.  My closest stocking dealer is 45 minutes away in Williamsport, Pa.  Hermance has been at machinery seller and manufacturer since the initial logging days in the 1800's.  They stock most items and have a large display and customer try out area.

. And Paint Stores that participate  will be through Festool Paint division from what I’m told. So, narrow focus of Festool products will be stocked or ordered, Sanders, Vacs, and almost exclusively Granat Abrasives stocked or displayed. Accessories seem to be Nozzles and Vac Attachments or Pads for the Sanders from what I’ve seen.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

I honestly don't believe that the realistic economics of establishing "factory" stores will meet normal business planning metrics. It's hard enough for even general woodworking brick and mortar stores to stay in business with reasonable profits these days and folks are not going to travel long distances to go to them for the most part. I could see a few additional locations beyond their national facility in the US for more visible presence, training and other things, but a major network of stores I don't see happening. I don't envision them selling direct online, either. That would also undermine the many Festool dealers/partners who have really stepped up and established both full stocking and well appointed displays/demonstration areas within their footprints. Many Festool dealers, who do not have retail locations, still maintain a very high level of stocking, customer service and other considerations. My Festool Pusher (you know who you are, um...Bob) has been to my shop multiple times, loaned me tools to, um...try...and even held a demonstration day for friends in my shop a number of years ago. No other brand and representative of a brand has gone that far for me at any time since I've been enjoying woodworking for over 20 years.

 

[DeformedTree]

One thing which has never been clear to me is where Festool's market is headed. I enjoy the tools mostly. But annual price hikes seem extremely reliant on remaining a boutique company. I could see them come out with a line that is cheaper and maybe that would make sense having two tiers to choose from. This is a simple example but look at the new 500 domino tenons for the new connector system and ask yourself why are those assortments priced so much lower than the other standard sizes? It seems to me they have some ironing out to do if they are to break into the contractor market or more general wood working markets. I think when the Pro sander was offered at $90 it got many of us thinking why not incorporate this in some meaningful way into the brand and not simply as a promotional strategy?

I believe the entire company has 20 engineers and only 2 designers. That tells you something about how they are organized and what oversights and limitations might be built into that type of corporate structure.

If we stick to the Apple Store/sales analogy this would be doomed to fail. The reason Apple did so well over a 20 year run is they ditched the cheap stuff and decided to focus what they make. It was expensive, but when compared to closes things on spec, it was priced pretty well in general.  Making cheaper (price) products just hurts any company.  If people buy it at the price, then there is no reason to change the price point.  Really Festools issues are not price, I'd say most of their stuff makes sense for what you are getting.  You don't want them to start going crazy on cost cutting, this is what leads to other companies demises, they chase getting cost out, so the quality goes down, they start outsourcing, they start manufacturing in lower wage and such countries, which then means less in-country jobs.  Before long you have products that only cost a bit less, but are poorly made, il-thought out just so it hits the price point the big box store demands, and then people still buy the tool next to it on the shelf that was 5 dollars less.

The problem is more that "plan".  I don't think you will see any large scale adoption on job sites. Few people have heard of Festool.  Maybe they watched a home improvement show and noticed a weird tool in the background and caught the name on the side, but not much more than this.  With an incomplete line of tools in N.A. compared to their global assortment of stuff, it makes it hard for someone to want to buy in.  "Hey I can get this neat router table system that I can swap tools out for....oh wait, it's modular with just one module...".  The inch/imperial change over also complicates it more, and probably increases that NAINA problem even more.  As I mentioned in a different thread, I discovered Festool a couple years ago and started plotting buying a bunch of stuff.  But with the removal of metric tools, and then the continual removal of the tools I was interested in, there becomes less to look for.  If Milwaukee or Dewalt suddenly decides to go into the festool market space Festool is going to be in a world of hurt.  No one buys tools from those companies and thinks "hmm, wonder if they will just suddenly abandon all of this, and the N.A. market, or only sell a subset of the tools they make in the US but sell everything every place else".  Just think if Festools big red rival who currently has just one retailer in the US suddenly expanded to have more tools to make them a full replacement to Festool. You know they would be expensive, but people would go for it as they would see a company investing in the market, not announcing discontinuing of tools continually.

People will complain about price, but if a product is nice, well made, well thought out and they don't have a fear of it being abandoned, folks generally have no issue spending the money.

 

[forestmount]

I honestly don't believe that the realistic economics of establishing "factory" stores will meet normal business planning metrics. It's hard enough for even general woodworking brick and mortar stores to stay in business with reasonable profits these days and folks are not going to travel long distances to go to them for the most part. I could see a few additional locations beyond their national facility in the US for more visible presence, training and other things, but a major network of stores I don't see happening. I don't envision them selling direct online, either. That would also undermine the many Festool dealers/partners who have really stepped up and established both full stocking and well appointed displays/demonstration areas within their footprints. Many Festool dealers, who do not have retail locations, still maintain a very high level of stocking, customer service and other considerations. My Festool Pusher (you know who you are, um...Bob) has been to my shop multiple times, loaned me tools to, um...try...and even held a demonstration day for friends in my shop a number of years ago. No other brand and representative of a brand has gone that far for me at any time since I've been enjoying woodworking for over 20 years.

Festool already sell online here in Australia, however when you purchase you nominate a dealer. I believe the product and logistics all happen at the Festool distribution centre but the nominated dealer still gets a cut of the profits.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[RDMuller]

SOunds nice in concept in high population densities. But many areas would have hundreds of miles to travel to get to a store. These stores would be very expensive to set up and run. 

 

[Cheese]

The reality is Festool is a name known by almost no one.  Not many people in construction trades have heard of them and you can find plenty of people that do a lot of woodworking that have never heard of them. 

How can you say that???  I'm sure that ever since Festool "Imperialized" their track saws & routers, every trades person and wood worker in the US has purchased the items. [poke]

 

[six-point socket II]

Hi!

Thanks for all the replies so far!

It's really interesting to read & follow.

I'm actually very happy to read that most of you who replied have found either extraordinaire dealers that go above and beyond or found dealers that simply meet your needs and tool/accessories and consumable requirements in full with no need for change!

That is really awesome and supports my personal perception that Festool dealers are at least one step ahead (make that 3 or more for quite a couple of them!) of their competitors. Another one of my perceptions is, that if those dealers carry other brands, they are ahead of competitors with those, too.

Kind regards,
Oliver