Page 10 - OPE MARCH 2019

MARKETPLACE
Chainsaws
The changing
architecture
of chainsaws
The battle between battery and petrol and large and small brand names continues in the chainsaw category.
Jess Brunette reports.
noticeable growth has come from cordless. And, while this is off an admittedly
smaller base than petrol models, the incremental inroads this tech continues to make can’t be ignored.
Indeed, Jamie Teague notes more and more consumers are understanding
the benefits of cordless electric over
petrol products like reduced noise and maintenance as well as technological gains like year on year increases in power and running times.
Shifting to Husqvarna, General Manager Colin Stimpson confirms that 2018 was a better year for chainsaws sales than 2017 with steady growth showing across the market overall.
He also confirms that battery is the main growth area and that this is mainly thanks to demand from Husqvarna’s consumer, rather than professional, customers.
Does cordless complement petrol?
On the other hand, STIHL’s Jochen Speer
has found the overall market to be “quite flat” in the past 12 months.
Despite this, Jochen says, chainsaw sales have in fact done very well and remain the company’s “hero product” and a large part of its business.
Unsurprisingly, STIHL is also seeing the biggest developments in its cordless models and is seeing good growth in professional sectors like arboriculture alongside the increased uptake in general consumers.
Jochen Speer says he has also noted that consumers are tending to purchase cordless units in addition to their existing petrol models rather than as replacements.
This comes as good news for those in the channel that suggested cordless had the potential to cannibalise petrol sales rather than growing the market.
Of course petrol remains STIHL’s bread and butter and while this market is stable, Jochen explains that substandard products are still a threat in this category.
“One issue for the New Zealand chainsaw
REPORTING THAT THE
company’s chainsaw sales have
been “solid and steady” over the last 12 months and have increased on
numbers in the last couple of years, Makita Sales Manager Jamie Teague says, like pretty much all the players in this category (and many in the wider channel), the most
010 NZOUTDOORPOWEREQUIPMENT MARCH2019
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