Hi!
You might just need to think a little outside the "Forum-Universe" or what I call "niche users (using "niche" products)". When you enter a place like the FOG you'll find users that for a large part are using Festool products, machines and accessories likewise, for years. They know the brand, all of their tools (also those sadly not available in their countries) and they are more knowledgeable/informed then quite a lot of dealers on the tools themselves and how to use them. (For a large part this is because this kind of information is easily accessible through the internet nowadays, before that you would get your distributors/dealers catalog and not even know a certain brand also made/makes certain products solely in/for other regions)
Now if you look at the big picture this type of user, no matter if commercial or private is a minority. And the group is even smaller if you divide them by the countries they are living in. For a company like Festool it's impossible to focus on their needs if they want to stay profitable. A lot of good reasons were voiced already and I guess the most important, yet most simple is return on investment. If you look at the cost of launching a product: Sales evaluation, possibly needed "design" changes, licensing/certification fees, product testing, marketing... To cover all this you need a certain number of sales to reach your break even point and then more sales for it being profitable. To gain this information you have specialists analyzing the possible target markets on expected competition, run surveys with/on your potential customers and established dealers and then you make a decision. It might not always be the right one, especially not from the point of view as a customer who wants a not available tool, but it is how it is.
Then there is a big difference between your home market and those abroad. What might work out in your home market is, even with slow sales and other obstacles, to have certain "niche" products available for just a few. But making them available abroad (including all consequences this would have: Staff training, holding spare parts available...) can easily turn into a large money pit.
"Niche" product does not necessarily mean that it's a slow seller or a tool that is only asked for by few and rarely used per se - but it can mean that in a certain country this type of product(s) lies within the core competency of another manufacturer and the market is kinda "owned" by them and a takeover not deemed possible. Only to give one example.
And if you look at another German power tool company (who manufacture a lot of their stuff in the Asian region) this also works vice versa. They have quite a couple of products that were "engineered"/planned in Germany but aren't sold here because of the afore mentioned reasons/business standpoints and - if you want them - must be imported through the US or Asia.
Sometimes of course it can also be regulations, laws or missing permits that cause products not being released in certain countries - not necessarily being solely monetarily reasons/ budget focussed.
Kind regards,
Oliver
