Page 11 - OPE JULY 2020

than happy with it. Anything that gets the Husky name out there is good!”
As with Husqvarna dealers, not all STIHL SHOPs signed up for the brand’s buy online collect in-store programme.
Ingrid de Graaf at STIHL SHOP Levin says: “It’s a really hard one because we know retail is all about convenience these days but, with our kind of product, face to face contact is still the easiest way get the person into the right product and also to explain how to use it and get it run up.”
However STIHL SHOP Te Rapa’s Peter Banks is a convert: “We definitely got a lot
of new customers through it. We got a lot of existing customers, too. But it just gives us another tool, which is great. And yeah, it was great that STIHL New Zealand got it up just in time for us!”
Marty Leach says the business STIHL SHOP Napier has seen through the STIHL online programme was “very much appreciated”, after a quiet first couple of weeks.
A positive experience? “Definitely,” says Marty. “We were all a little bit sceptical to start with, but it was perhaps a little bit prophetic that this was set up when it was set up.”
Isaac Russell at STIHL SHOP Nelson
is among the firmest and most vocal believers in STIHL’s e-commerce initiative. “We signed up to it and we certainly were pro it, being online shoppers ourselves. I mean, without it, life would have been very difficult.
“So it was definitely a beneficial asset, 100 percent. In this day and age, you’re a
have seen those people anyway because they might be online shoppers. And that’s a massive part of consumerism these days – people don’t always want to go into shops.
“If you’re not in it then you’re missing out, in our opinion. There’s a market for online and you can’t complain if you’re not signed up and you’re not getting a piece
The State of Play
of quiet months in what’s traditionally been a quiet period for the outdoor power channel with business coming back again in September, when the weather picks up.
Jamie Rogers at The Mower Shop is less certain: “Unfortunately, only time will tell. People are cautious this year. I don’t think we’ll see the full effects [of Covid-19 on the market] for another month or two.”
Having been “Pleasantly surprised with the last couple of months,” Matthew Nelson at Action Equipment Te Puke
is also preparing to “wait and see what happens.”
Grateful that Taupo has been so busy recently, Brad Graham at Tomo’s Saws & Mowers is hopeful that, come spring, people will still want to spend money.
Still, he adds, in terms of predictions: “Did anyone predict they were going to shut the country for four weeks? I guarantee no-one would have, no-one would have put 10 dollars on that!”
To return to the opening paragraphs – which of Nick Tuffley’s stages are we at? Surrounded as we are by global-scale uncertainties, you tell me... n
INDUSTRY
Did anyone predict they were going to shut the country for four weeks? I guarantee no-one would have, no-one
would have put 10 dollars on that!
fool if you don’t right? If you can’t be found online, then I think you’re missing the beat there a little bit.
“It’s just moving with the times. Some probably have the perception that if they’re online, then people won’t come into the store. Well, potentially, but you may never
of it. It’s an easy sale if people are actively looking for your products online.”
Looking ahead – is there a consensus?
Looking out there, Ingrid de Graaf at STIHL SHOP Levin is expecting a couple
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JULY 2020 NZ OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT 011
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