That’s right, Craftsman tools are coming to all of Costco’s USA stores. The selection will be limited and will vary by location, but we expect to see a mix of hand tools, 19.2V C3 cordless power tools, and Nextec 12V compact cordless power tools. It has been reported that tool storage products will be available there as well.
Craftsman tools will be appearing at Costco locations as early as this Saturday.
It’s been more than 18 months since Sears announced that select Craftsman tools will be sold at Ace Hardware locations. It looks like that experiment must have paid off.
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Our prediction that Craftsman would be split from Sears as a spinoff has not come true, yet. But if Sears continues to externalize the [Craftsman] brand, we may turn out to be right.
As part of a special arrangement, Sears will be bundling a few Craftsman tools in “unique combinations” for Costco. Our thoughts are that they may also change product numbers as well, similar to what happened when Craftsman tools appeared on Amazon.
It is reported that Sears has a 35% share in the hand tool market, followed by Home Depot (15%) and Lowes (13%), but lags behind in power tools (17% vs. 26% and 20%) respectively. Many business reports in the past few months have suggested Sears may be struggling to keep its head over water. Increasing exposure of the Craftsman brand in different retail markets may be just what they need to bounce back.
Sears Holdings drills into Costco clubs with Craftsman tool offerings, hopes to tap new customers via Chicago Tribune
rob
Like you Stuart I have often thought that Sears Holdings may spinoff Craftsman, Kenmore, and Diehard brands. Or keep those brands and try to sell off the Sears, KMart, Orchard Supply stores. Then again I think Sears has had the OSH stores for sale quite a while now. Having been into some of the OSH Stores I really like them very clean and simple layouts.
Stuart
There definitely is a bit of potential in there if they spinoff Craftsman, but I’m not certain about Kenmore or Diehard. While not too familiar with those brands’ products, I always thought that the Kenmore appliances were made by other leading manufacturers.
In any case, this may signal that more changes are ahead. I would be curious to see the sales numbers for their online store vs. the retail stores. Sears tried to turn their online store into more of a marketplace by allowing 3rd party sellers, but I’m not sure that’s going to work out for them in the long run.