Husqvarna to restructure consumer brands

[longleaf]

Biggest problem we have here is we have 4 dealers in this county of different brands. I haven’t seen any of them that can fix a saw and their parts are outrageous. Maybe that’s why people are buying throw down saws like poulan.

 

[Stump Shot]

Well this is a subject that sure is in need of being dealt with, at least if what goes on here at a local level is any indication of the greater whole of the country. Both Stihl and Husqvarna dealers are bad in this respect here and in my opinion the first thing that should happen is their servicing dealer status revoked, until such a time as it can be remedied into a functional service center. Could go on all day about the horror stories coming from these two shops and the angst coming from the afflicted. I know a fella that works at the local Ace Hardware that is a selling dealer and not a servicing one for Husqvarna, they have to tell folks to go to the other side of the county for repairs as the local guy can't get it done. The local Echo dealer is quite the opposite has an ample staff employed and will work on any brand even OPE that he doesn't deal in. His parking lot at any given time during the day has cars, lots of them in the parking lot, the other two may have a car each or non at all. I think it's pretty safe to say which business model is more successful. How to motivate these folks out of their greed for money and paying an actual technician a real wage better than working at McDonald's(and no I'm not kidding here) is going to be a monumental task, they just don't care. Going to take a heavy hand to turn things around dot dot dot

 

[GCJenks204]

I wonder if any of those results are a result of the changes within Jonsered and Redmax. I am not one to read massive financial reports but I might have to look for that one. Would be interesting to see how they define those four segments and what is included in each. Based on the sizes of the bars on that graph I would have to guess that all Husqvarna branded product whether consumer or pro would be in the top group, it would likely also include Jonsered and Redmax. The Consumer Products division must be the off brand stuff they sell to Sears etc nothing with their own names.

What about Husqvarna motorcycles, where does this fall in the group of products or is it a different company all together?

Damn, I might just need to do more reading about a company I barely care about...

 

[Lightning Performance]

This immediate area does not have Husky service centers. The big boxes all sell Poulan and Husky. Stihlerships are everywhere.

 

[Lightning Performance]

I wonder if any of those results are a result of the changes within Jonsered and Redmax. I am not one to read massive financial reports but I might have to look for that one. Would be interesting to see how they define those four segments and what is included in each. Based on the sizes of the bars on that graph I would have to guess that all Husqvarna branded product whether consumer or pro would be in the top group, it would likely also include Jonsered and Redmax. The Consumer Products division must be the off brand stuff they sell to Sears etc nothing with their own names.

What about Husqvarna motorcycles, where does this fall in the group of products or is it a different company all together?

Damn, I might just need to do more reading about a company I barely care about...

Pretty sure the bikes are a different division of the company.

 

[GCJenks204]

Pretty sure the bikes are a different division of the company.

I would think though they would then have a bar on this graph. For this type of reporting it either has to be part of the Husqvarna tab or has completely separate ownership / trades under a different symbol. This is a publicly traded company and that graph is very simplified for the diversity of products sold by the conglomeration. Let's not forget sewing machines etc...

 

[Stump Shot]

A very easy partial solution to this problem would be to let qualified small engine repair shops across the country become official repair places for Husqvarna. Let the dealer deal and the mechanic repair.
Also the certified mechanic at these dealerships shouldn't be the owner him/herself.

 

[GCJenks204]

A very easy partial solution to this problem would be to let qualified small engine repair shops across the country become official repair places for Husqvarna. Let the dealer deal and the mechanic repair.
Also the certified mechanic at these dealerships shouldn't be the owner him/herself.

Steve, while I think that would be a great business oppurtunity for some it does sound like a 3rd Party Repair Centre model that Jon said they were going to abandon. I think it would be very good for the company to entice existing and new selling dealers to also be servicing dealers.

 

[Stump Shot]

Steve, while I think that would be a great business oppurtunity for some it does sound like a 3rd Party Repair Centre model that Jon said they were going to abandon. I think it would be very good for the company to entice existing and new selling dealers to also be servicing dealers.

Going to be a rough haul, not everyone is good at business and when emphasis is placed on square footage, location and how fancified the place looks, well... that's all you have is window dressing. Make no mistake Husqvarna got there themselves and if they can't look inward just outward for help it's not going to be as successful as it could be.

 

[GCJenks204]

Going to be a rough haul, not everyone is good at business and when emphasis is placed on square footage, location and how fancified the place looks, well... that's all you have is window dressing. Make no mistake Husqvarna got there themselves and if they can't look inward just outward for help it's not going to be as successful as it could be.

If they are willing to hire a team of guys in the position Jon interviewed for it would indicate to me that they now “have a clue”.

Would be interesting to get @Spike60 to comment on all this.

 

[Stump Shot]

If they are willing to hire a team of guys in the position Jon interviewed for it would indicate to me that they now “have a clue”.

Would be interesting to get @Spike60 to comment on all this.

Corporations being what they are have a much harder time to react to external forces being applied to them than a small company. I would think that after killing off long time brands like McCulloch and Jonsered, giving them to Poulan and Redmax was their getting a clue moment and that was years ago already. I really think they need to reinvent themselves to some extent to get a harmonious outcome and get everyone making money again. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

[mikefunaro]

I would think though they would then have a bar on this graph. For this type of reporting it either has to be part of the Husqvarna tab or has completely separate ownership / trades under a different symbol. This is a publicly traded company and that graph is very simplified for the diversity of products sold by the conglomeration. Let's not forget sewing machines etc...

the husqvarna motorcycles are owned by KTM of Austria now.

I believe that Husqvarna Group is only Husqvarna/Gardena/consumer brand holdings and that the vacuums and sewing machines were spun off years ago into electrolux.

 

[A100HVA]

A very easy partial solution to this problem would be to let qualified small engine repair shops across the country become official repair places for Husqvarna. Let the dealer deal and the mechanic repair.
Also the certified mechanic at these dealerships shouldn't be the owner him/herself.

I think that parts supply should be sold to dealers who stock & sell their product. not just parts dealers who does not stock product. being a one man band, could you elaborate on the certified mechanic?

 

[Stump Shot]

I think that parts supply should be sold to dealers who stock & sell their product. not just parts dealers who does not stock product. being a one man band, could you elaborate on the certified mechanic?

A dealer can keep his dealership in check by certifying himself and still not do any repairs. I suspect this is happening from what I can tell.
I would make an exemption for one man bands, if it was up to me. Which it isn't.
Possible solutions are endless, will real change happen without restructuring?

 

[Stump Shot]

A dealer can keep his dealership in check by certifying himself and still not do any repairs. I suspect this is happening from what I can tell.
I would make an exemption for one man bands, if it was up to me. Which it isn't.
Possible solutions are endless, will real change happen without restructuring?

This is about a dealer having a non qualified mechanic actually doing the work. I've seen it go from delivering landscape materials one day and promoted to mechanic the next when one quit.
It shows and doesn't take folks long to figure this out and give that dealer a bad reputation around town.

 

[fearofpavement]

Other than trying to retain a recognized brand, I'm not sure what reason there is to maintain both the Husky and Jonsered lines as the products are so nearly identical. General Motors and some of the other big car makers recognized this as not being effective and pulled the plug on some of their long time car lines. Used to be you could buy the same car labeled as a Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, etc. Maybe different grills and tail lights but most of these were essentially the same vehicle with most parts interchanging between them.
I think what Husky and Jonsered have going is the same. A Jonsered was never seen in this area until TSC started selling them. And now, those that switched over from Husky are hung out to dry as TSC went back to Husky. Having had both, I found very few differences between the two. The newer Homelites (at least the saws) are horrid in my opinion and they should put that line to sleep. Poulans are probably the best "cheap" saw and could maybe be retained but I'm thinking the Chinese eBay saws must be putting a hurt on that line...
I have watched Husqvarna start its long slide and not completely sure it's reversible. It'll probably stay around but not sure they'll ever get their name back as "top quality" equipment. Think Troy-Bilt for you older guys that remember when that name indicated a premium product. Now it's just another piece of OPE in the lineup at the big box store.

 

[mikefunaro]

I'm just going to post this graph from the bloomberg article here. I didn't mean to mislead anyone. Husqvarna itself did not lose money as a whole, nor is it in the crapper, the husqvarna brand is actually more profitable than it was last year. Instead it seems like its the consumer (non husqvarna, non jonsered, non redmax??) brands that are losing money and will be consolidated.

 

[mikefunaro]

I'm actually somewhat surprised how small the consumer segment was/is vs the husqvarna brand. You'd think that there would be some volume there with all the box stores but I suppose not.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Husky has too many brands and too many lines going to do a good job with everything. I have personally known a number of people who bought their consumer line and got burned badly on warranty issues. Especially the mowers and tillers as it seems like nobody really knows how or where they are supposed to be repaired under warranty, naturally the saw dealers won't touch them. My mom knows darn near nothing about OPE and Husqvarna is a swear word to her. In fact, she gave me a less than a year old Husky self propelled mower that probably just needs a carburetor. They couldn't get anybody to fix it or tell them where to take it, Lowe's was kind enough to basically give them a new Troy Bilt to replace it. They also have a Husky rider that just sits in their barn, one thing after another kept breaking on it. I told her I don't want it.

 

[GCJenks204]

I'm actually somewhat surprised how small the consumer segment was/is vs the husqvarna brand. You'd think that there would be some volume there with all the box stores but I suppose not.

This goes back to some of what I was saying. Without definitions as to what comprises those groups it really is hard to discuss the future. Pure guessing on our parts.