Chervon Holdings, headquartered in China, owns EGO, Flex, Skil, and Devon tool brands. In the USA, EGO, Flex, and Skil have retail exclusivity at Lowe’s – among big box stores – and are also available at independent dealers.
The company’s latest financial report is out, and it reflects that the brands had a pretty bad year.
EGO has branched out into new product categories, such as battery-powered mini dirt bikes.
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EGO says that, according to a “highly esteemed ratings organization,” they have been rated the top rated battery platform, with 45 positive reviews among the 58 “most sought-after garden tools of the year.”
They also claim to be the number 1 “DC OPE brand” at Amazon, according to a Slackline analysis.
A quick attempt to verify this shows that, at the time of this posting, EGO takes #3 and #4 spots in Amazon’s “leaf blower” bestseller’s list, as well as #12 and #47.
EGO is a mature brand in the cordless outdoor power tool space, and a good one at that.
Home Depot announced in 2020 that they were discontinuing carrying EGO cordless outdoor power tools, with Lowe’s and EGO quickly announcing an exclusive partnership.
My local Lowe’s store had a display of EGO cordless outdoor products for their Spring 2024 sales event.
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Chervon launched their Flex brand of cordless power tools in 2021, aimed at competing with top-shelf professional brands such as Dewalt and Milwaukee.
Lowe’s discontinued most of those original tools at the start of this year, with store associates reporting they were told to pull them off the shelves. You can still find those tools at online dealers.
We asked Lowe’s for more information, but they never replied.
Lowe’s was supposed to run Flex holiday tool promotions through 1/31/24, but they ended them early.
Lowe’s still carries some Flex cordless power tools.
My Lowe’s stores gave “Gift Zone” promotional space to Flex Stack Pack modular tool boxes for the holiday season.
When talking with a product manager about their second wave of products, I was assured that the tool boxes would be stocked at Lowe’s stores and not just during the holiday season.
However, Lowe’s has since purged Flex’s Stack Pack modular tool box system from their stores. All that’s left is a box of organizers on a storage shelf inaccessible to customers.
The retailer gave permanent shelf space to ToughBuilt’s StackTech tool boxes, Kobalt CaseStack, and Craftsman modular tool box systems, as well as end-cap and PRO department space to Klein ModBox.
Skil tools, aimed at DIYers and homeowbers, are also available at Lowe’s. As with EGO and Flex, Skil tools are also available at online dealers.
Chervon acquired the Skil brand from Bosch in 2016.
Objectively speaking, Chervon is a strong company. They’re an OEM that designs and develops for other tool brands, most notably Lowe’s Kobalt 24V Max cordless power tool line.
EGO is a mature cordless outdoor power tool line. Flex has some interesting products. Skil is extremely underrated.
That all said, here’s a slide from Chervon’s latest financial performance report, showing a 31% drop in sales revenue. Their year-end total was $1.375 billion.
The company reported a net loss for the year ending 12/31/2023.
Chervon attributes this to:
primarily due to more conservative inventory policies adopted by our key customers caused by macroeconomic uncertainties and unfavorable weather in key geographic regions.
Here’s the breakdown:
Revenue from our outdoor power equipment (“OPE”) segment decreased by 33.7% from US$1,223.5 million in 2022 to US$811.4 million in 2023,
while revenue from our power tools segment decreased by 27.3% from US$754.9 million in 2022 to US$548.5 million in 2023.
Revenue from our Original Brand Manufacturing (“OBM”) business decreased by 27.2% from US$1,381.8 million in 2022 to US$1,006.3 million in 2023, and accounted for 73.2% of our total revenue in 2023 (2022: 69.5%).
To summarize:
- Outdoor power tools: $811.4 million
- Cordless power tools: $548.5 million
- Other: $14.8 million (included in a separate part of the filing)
- Chervon-owned brands: $1.006 billion
The cordless OPE and power tool brand numbers also include tools made for other brands, such as Kobalt, and it’s my understanding that Chervon’s OBM business is their own.
Here’s how they define the segments:
Power tools: sales of power tools and power tool accessories for consumer, professional and industrial users. The products are available under the FLEX, DEVON, SKIL and X-TRON brands and through our ODM business.
OPE: sales of outdoor tools and outdoor tool accessories for premium or professional and mass-market users. The products are available under the EGO and SKIL brands and through our ODM business.
Others: sales of parts and components to a home appliances business
These numbers are for Chervon globally, and include Flex tools and offerings outside the USA, and their Devon brand in China.
Here’s what they say about sales revenue in North America:
Our revenue generated from North America decreased by 37.3% from US$1,499.9 million in 2022 to US$940.2 million in 2023.
$940.2 million out of $1.3747 billion means North America contributed 68.4% of their sales revenue this year.
This is what Chervon says about their major customers:
For the year ended December 31, 2023, the Group’s largest customer and five largest customers accounted for approximately 34.5% and 59.3% (2022: 49.8% and 70.5%) respectively of the Group’s total revenue
Chervon total revenue was $1.3747 for 2023. A 34.5% share of that, contributed by their largest customer, would be $474 million.
They reported revenue of $940.2 million in North America for 2023. $474 million is 50.4% of that.
For 2022, their largest customer contributed 49.8% of $1.989 billion, or $991 million. With $1.500 billion of that being revenue from North America in 2022, the contribution from their largest customer can be extrapolated as being 66% of their North American sales revenue in 2022.
According to my math, Chervon’s largest customer went from contributing $991 million in revenue in 2022 to contributing $474 million in revenue in 2023.
Again, Chervon attributes this to:
more conservative inventory policies adopted by our key customers caused by macroeconomic uncertainties and unfavorable weather in key geographic regions
For comparison, let’s look at TTI’s financial performance in 2023. TTI owns Milwaukee Tool and manages Ridgid and Ryobi cordless power tool and outdoor equipment products at Home Depot.
For 2023, TTI reported earnings of $13.731 billion, an increase of 3.6%. Their major customer accounted for around 44% of the group’s total revenue. Their revenue in North America was $10.513 billion in 2023.
TTI adds:
During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Group’s largest customer contributed total revenue of US$6,046,986,000 (2022: US$6,333,127,000), of which US$6,016,567,000 (2022: US$6,293,896,000) was under the Power Equipment segment and US$30,419,000 (2022: US$39,231,000) was under the Floorcare & Cleaning segment. There is no other customer contributing more than 10% of total revenue.
If we presume that Home Depot is TTI’s top customer, and Lowe’s is Chervon Holding’s top customer, this would mean that Home Depot contributed around $6.05 billion to TTI’s bottom line, and Lowe’s contributed around $474 million to Chervon’s bottom line in 2023.
Compared to 2022, TTI’s top customer contributed 4.52% less revenue in 2023, and Chervon’s top customer contributed 52.2% less revenue in 2023.
There are a lot of presumptions and extrapolations, so we’ll summarize the relevant figures.
Chervon Holdings (EGO, Flex, Skil, OEM, Others)
- 2023 Revenue: $1.375 billion
- 2023 Revenue from North America: $940 million
- 2023 Revenue from largest customer: 34.5% of total, $474 million*
- Compared to North America revenue: 50.5%*
- 2022 Revenue: $1.989 billion
- 2022 Revenue from North America: $1.500 billion
- 2022 Revenue from largest customer: 49.8% of total, $991 million*
- Compared to North America revenue: 66.0%*
* Extrapolated
TTI (Milwaukee, Ryobi, Ridgid at Home Depot, Others)
- 2023 Revenue: $13.73 billion
- 2023 Revenue from North America: $10.5 billion
- 2023 Revenue from largest customer: 44%, $6.05 billion
- 2023 Revenue from largest customer (tools**): $6.02 billion
- Compared to North America revenue**: 57.3%*
- 2022 Revenue: $13.25 billion
- 2022 Revenue from North America: $10.2 billion
- 2022 Revenue from largest customer: 47.8%, $6.33 billion
- 2023 Revenue from largest customer (tools**): $6.29 billion
- Compared to North America revenue**: 61.7%*
* Extrapolated
** Power equipment segment, excluding floorcare and cleaning
TTI’s sales to Home Depot also include Milwaukee and Empire hand tools, safety gear, lighting, and other such products.
It could be presumed that cordless power tools, equipment, and accessories contribute the bulk of TTI’s sales to their largest retail customer, with majority overlap between what Chervon’s EGO, Flex, and Skil brands can offer their largest retailer customer.
Even so, the purpose of the comparison is intended to examine whether there is an industry-wide headwinds, as Home Depot and Lowe’s, considered to be TTI and Chervon’s top customers, respectively, tend to be impacted by the same external factors.
For example, unfavorable weather conditions would measurably impact outdoor power equipment sales across different brands and retailers.
The same is true about “macroeconomic uncertainties.”
Home Depot reported 2023 (ending 1/29/23) net sales of $153 billion, and Lowe’s reported 2023 (ending 2/2/24) net sales of $86.4 billion.
From Chervon’s numbers, EGO, Flex, and Skil didn’t have the best year.
The question is WHY?
Looking at Chervon’s total revenue between 2022 and 2023, there was a total decrease of ~$614 million. Comparing their revenue in North America, there was a decrease of ~$560 million.
If we extrapolate based on Chervon’s percentage disclosures, their top retail customer revenue contribution decreased by around $517 million. Revenue from their top retail customer was around 52.2% lower in 2023 compared to 2022. This is not a small or insignificant amount.
more conservative inventory policies adopted by our key customers
We don’t see parallels in TTI’s dealings with their top retail customer.
Are other Lowe’s tool suppliers and partners facing the same headwinds? That’s hard to say. Are competing retailers and tool brands facing the same? Judging from TTI’s sales figures, most notably those presumed to be attributed to Home Depot, it doesn’t look like they are.
As an aside, Lowe’s Executive Vice President of Merchandising is Bill Boltz, who was CEO of Chervon North America before joining Lowe’s in 2018.
EGO left Home Depot and went to Lowe’s, and then Flex launched as a Lowe’s exclusive. Skil cordless power tools and outdoor equipment are also available at Lowe’s. Chervon has been a long-time OEM for Kobalt’s 24V Max cordless power tools.
Lowe’s and Chervon should have a very strong and amicable relationship.
Here’s what I found at my local Home Depot store last week – multiple bays and floor stands with Ryobi and Milwaukee cordless outdoor power tools and equipment. That doesn’t look like a “conservative inventory policy” to me.
Lowe’s – unless you can suggest an alternative presumption for Chervon’s biggest customer – has tightened their purse strings.
Outside of the official explanation in Chervon’s financial disclosures meant for investors, we don’t know why.
Are Lowe’s customers not interested in EGO, Flex, or Skil brands? Chervon cited “unfavorable weather” as a reason for this year’s sales performance, suggesting their cordless OPE segment was also affected.
Here’s what they say about 2024 prospects:
We believe our proprietary brands continue to outperform the industry in terms of end-user demand (sell-through), demonstrating resilience in both advantageous and challenging conditions. As the market and economic condition improves, we expect a corresponding recovery and growth in our financial performance in 2024 and years to come.
I wouldn’t agree that Flex or Skil are “outperforming the industry in terms of end-user demand,” but EGO has been a strong seller. Flex and Skil need growth and market share.
Looking at our reporting on Lowe’s Black Friday 2023 tool deals, there was an EGO leaf blower, EGO work light, and… that was it. That’s all of the Chervon brands that were featured in their Black Friday sales flyers. Where was Flex? Skil?
Lowe’s had some deals in-store, and others online, but from what I saw, the retailer didn’t give much visibility to Chervon brands or products.
It seemed that Lowe’s had not spent much to stock or promote Flex tools.
Chervon has a highly talented development team, and a history of producing exceptional cordless power tools and equipment.
The cordless outdoor power tools segment is growing rapidly, but also getting much more crowded.
Lowe’s seems to have taken on an “oh well, we tried” attitude about Flex. Skil is… sold some places but never given much attention by retailers.
It’s difficult to pinpoint the root causes of Chervon’s financial performance, but in my opinion, their tools aren’t the problem.
A lot of brands have a bad year every so often. The next question is – what will they do differently in 2024?
Maybe they can partner with another retailer or brand? Skil did just that, with Amazon launching a new line of “Denali by Skil” cordless power tools towards the end of 2022.
Skil tool boxes recently popped up at wholesale clubs.
In my opinion, Lowe’s plays a big part in this, and they’re at the heart of things. What might they do differently in 2024?
My concern is that Chervon’s challenges are external factors that won’t blow over. Things like unfavorable weather or macroeconomic market conditions can be impactful, but tend to be short-term.
Observations about Lowe’s promotional arrangements and marketing, Chervon’s financial disclosures, and reasonable presumptions about the company’s top retail partner all suggest that the honeymoon period between Chervon and Lowe’s is over.
If Lowe’s is less interested in Chervon brands, why? Is this more about Flex than EGO or Skil?
Does this speak about consumer and tool users’ interests or brand preferences?
I’m sure that EGO, Flex, and Skil can continue to grow, even with less commitment and sales to Lowe’s, but at what pace? Retail visibility is highly impactful.
Around 10 years ago, Chervon launched a line of Hammerhead cordless power tools, such as the Switch. The Hammerhead Switch was an innovative tool that could “hammer nails and drive screws.” It was a right angle impact driver and an “auto hammer,” all in one.
Lowe’s had plenty of unsold tools at the end of the holiday season, and that might have been the last time I saw Chervon’s Hammerhead tool brand in stores.
You can still find Hammerhead tools at Amazon. Chervon’s acquisition of Skil made great sense, but good tools will always have a hard time selling themselves. I think that’s what’s happening here.
I see Lowe’s as a passive retailer, but in-store presence and visibility are still important for their partner brands.
What happened to Porter Cable after they left Lowe’s? Bosch’s cordless lines don’t have a big box retail home other than Lowe’s – how are they doing these days?
I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised.
$940 million in sales from North America in 2023 is a lot of money, with $474 million of that coming from Chervon’s biggest customer (presumably Lowe’s). TTI had sales of $10.5 billion in North America, with 6.02 billion coming from their biggest customer (presumably Home Depot), with another ~$30 million in vacuums and floorcare products.
Stanley Black & Decker’s Dewalt, Craftsman, Irwin, and Lenox brands might be in the way of Chervon being Lowe’s close parallel to TTI, but they’re largely the same.
Something’s going on here. Did Lowe’s reduce their spending based on prior sales figures? Maybe. Did Lowe’s do anything to boost interest or sales? Or did they set their eyes on the next shiny brand to partner with?
What a mess.
Steve S.
Interesting, wonder if the Covid bump is wearing off completely now for some of these brands. What were ToughBuilt’s latest yearly or quarterly numbers now that they have that Lowe’s placement?
Stuart
From what I’ve seen, the pandemic’s influence on the tool market peaked in 2020. It maybe extended into 2021, but its effects on tool brands and home improvement retailers seem to have been long-diluted.
Jronman
I would count Menards as a big box store and they sell Bosch and Metabo hpt for their “pro” brands.
Stuart
I suppose so, but they’re not a nationwide retailer.
I’ve never heard from anyone that just bought Bosch tools at Menards.
Brad
Being a “National Retailer” is a pretty low bar to hurdle. It’s a good metric for bean counting but that’s just about it in today’s shopping economy.
I’d take Sutherlands or Menards over Home Depot or Lowes any day of the week for wood or general hand tools. I do run to Home Depot for the random pipe fittings that I need around the house and only because it’s closer to the house than any of the decent pluming stores.
The race to the bottom of the corporate bottom line has hurt Lowes pretty badly. Around Kansas City Lowes it’s a very distant last place after HD, Menards, Sutherlands, and Westlake, While Westlakes has been a rising star around here.
xrh07
but we’re talking about power tools. And Metabo HPT/Bosch are not doing well at Menards because Home Depot eats their lunch with a better brand selection and there’s going to be a Home Depot in most places where there’s a Menards. Home Depot is also a much better online shopping service (ship to home, ship to store- pickup)
I prefer Menards for building supplies, but I’m not going there for hand tools or power tools. And I’m definitely not going to use their website or deal with the potential restocking fees they seem to throw back at you so their whole online experience as a customer is just plain dreadful vs Home Depot. They slap processing fees on lots of online orders and aren’t anywhere near as generous as HD for free shipping or returns either.
Berg
At least the Menards near me also carries a large number of Skil tools in store.
Also, I’ve never seen it from any official source like Chervon or Menards themselves, but when I’ve looked for who makes the cordless power tools for the in-house Masterforce brand everything I’ve found says they’re made by Chervon as well.
JMJR
When it came time to replace my old lawnmower a few years ago, I considered battery options from EGO, Ryobi 40v and Dewalt, as well as a Honda gas mower.
While EGO OPE was highly rated, they had way too many offerings that made it hard to figure out what was best for me and they weren’t that established yet.
Currently EGO sells 15 different lawn mowers, 8 blowers, 9 trimmers, 7 chain saws and 5 hedge trimmers.
Do they really need to offer hand held blowers with outputs (CFM) of 765, 670, 650, 615, 580, 575, 530 and 480?
If you’re aiming your OPE at homeowners, just offer “good”, “better” and “best” options. They have three snow blowers and three snow throwers, that’s plenty of selection.
mike
Agree with you they have just way too many options.
Im sure some are past model year options but good, better, best (pro) should be all we need.
Mowers need a push version, a self propelled, and upgraded self pro (the twin blade version)
Too many options dulls all your options.
Brad
The options confused me at first, but eventually I figured out their model numbering. That shouldn’t have been necessary. I went with the XP, which was the obvious choice as the newest and most powerful model with the biggest included battery. If I had been looking for something more modestly priced, it would have been much more difficult decision.
Lance
Agreed 100%!
Ego is falling into the same trap as Makita – not discontinuing old models when new ones come out, just so they can brag about how many products they offer on their battery platform.
Think about the logistical nightmare this causes! I would agree they need a “good better best” approach for consumer tools, as well as a Professional option available through online dealers. That’s it. That means four mowers at any given time, four blowers, string trimmers etc, and only three of them need stocking at retail locations… the rest are drop-shipped from a Chervon warehouse.
Most homeowners are going to own 4-5 OPE tools max. Nobody cares about the “XX Tools on a single battery” nonsense.
mizzourob
As to Chevron and Lowe’s, one issue sees that no one knows the complete list of their cordless tools. You have to really fuss with the Lowe’s website to find that line. There are some tools hidden in paint, plumbing, ope, and elsewhere. Some are online only and someone has to ‘know’ they exist to order them which hurts overall sales compared to Ryobi or Ridgid. There used to be a Kobalt tools website but that got scrapped a few years ago. A little investment here would go a long way to growing market share.
As for Bosch, the best source seems to be Menard’s.
Mark M.
Lowes is at the center of this mess, you’ve got that part right. And I say that as kind of a Lowes fan b/c our local stores have better lumber and irrigation offerings than HD. There’s an interesting research project lurking in all of that data, related to consumer adoption of multiple tool systems. N=1, but for me I’m in 3 cordless platforms and my OCD won’t let me get into more, even if some (Flex) seem better than what I’ve got. The whole walled garden thing. Assuming saturation is a real thing, I don’t think it’s an unsolvable problem, but Lowes clearly isn’t doing much to help their partner brands.
Jared
Lowes has long seemed confused in their strategies – apparently eager to give up on brands that aren’t overnight successes.
Especially with power tools, that seems like a recipe for problems. Often people are leery of investing in new battery lines if they aren’t sure the brand will be around long term – I bet even more so when it’s a “premium” or “pro” level brand like Flex, or a brand with very expensive high-capacity batteries like EGO.
David
Both of my local Lowes stores have a huge selection of the Flex organizers but clearanced the toughbilt stuff. In any case Lowes is mess of a company and a terrible partner for their brands. Their promotions are terrible, and they barely advertise them. I tried to buy a tool there last month. It was locked up and no one could figure out how to get it out so I left and bought something at HD. The Bosch tool display is made up of old tools that they don’t even sell anymore. If a new tool comes out it’s at HD right away. I wanted the new Triple Hammer, had to buy it on Amazon and it eventually made its way to Lowes shelves almost a year later.
Steve L
My view
If you want to sell quality tools through a big box with nationwide distribution, Home Depot is #1
Lowe’s is #2 but trails HD by a large margin.
Walmart has a large presence but sells value, not premium
Chervon should make a serious attempt to rejoin HD.
J
The whole Lowes situation has seemed weird to me for awhile. Shortly after the whole Stack Pack thing went down, Flex Tools started being sold under an official page on Amazon in addition to Lowes. (Meaning either Lowes breached their exclusivity contract, or the contract ended for online sales) Not to read to much between the lines or anything, but it’s no secret that Lowes has not been doing well vs Home Depot, and all retail stores have been struggling vs Amazon. Most decent contractors where I live don’t go to either stores for lumber due to poor quality/price vs actual lumber yards.
Flex tools was clearly an attempt to shake things up and get some kind of eventual direct competitor to Milwaukee and DeWalt that only they carry. However, as everyone knows, the strength in these brands at this point, isn’t how good their tools are, but how wide their product line is. For being a newer brand in North America (construction tools, not automotive or shop vacs), Flex has done quite well despite PR mishaps. But they are now at the point where the lack of width in their tool offerings is showing and will take some time to fill out. I’m assuming that Lowes really wasn’t ready or even able to support this part of the plan given their already long apparent financial struggles, so they likely started replacing products with things they think would sell more in the short term to try and slow the post COVID sales decline as much as possible. Regardless of what happens to Ego or Flex.
MM
I’ve been thinking about jumping into Flex for a couple of years now. What has been holding me back has been a lack of good promotions. It’s not hard to find deals on Milwaukee or Dewalt tools. Maybe you have to be a little patient for the tool you want to go on sale or for there to be a “buy more save more” sort of promo that you can use on it, but the deals are there. And various times of the year there are very good deals, like Black Friday. I have not seen this for Flex. Two years ago in the holiday season they were offering a free 5ah standard cell battery with the purchase of some tool kits. Okay, not bad, but it’s a standard battery when one of Flex’s big claims to fame is their pouch cells. The batteries the kits came with were standard cells too. It seemed a bit odd to buy into a new tool system only to pick yesterday’s battery technology. This past year there were a handful of deals with the stacked lithium packs but the best one was only up for a couple of days at Ohio Power Tool and was not well advertised. Lowe’s had some decent deals, and I was actually planning on buying two or possibly three tools this past January, but that didn’t happen when they ended the promotion early.
NoDak Farming
Interestingly enough, my closest Lowe’s has recently doubled their Flex tool display area. They now have one full aisle in the cordless tool area. (Along one side of the aisle. Not both sides) My closest Acme Tools store has always had a Flex tools display on the wall. But now some corded “Skil” saws have crept in. And a few less cordless Flex tools are displayed.
In 2021 I read that Flex has planned “a multi-year rollout of more than 100 FLEX platform-compatible tools.” And “there’s an ambitious roadmap involving 100+ FLEX tools”. I wasn’t able to count 100 different tools on Flex’s website today. But there’s still new releases. They now have an ac-to-dc adapter that can be used with a couple of their saws. They don’t seem to be slowing down.
We all have read commenters saying Flex should have known better than to try to take on Milwaukee. Flex should have known better than to partner with Lowe’s. Flex should have known there are too many tool brands already. From everything I’ve seen, Flex never got the message because they seem to be plowing ahead with their original plan. I guess time will tell…
Jesse
Ego was discontinued from Home Depot in 2010? The article you link to says 2020.
Garrick Moe
i was just wondering about that..did i just lose a decade of my life? I swear it was just a few years ago.
Stuart
Sorry – 2020.
Tucker
Anecdotally I see mostly Ego or Ryobi mowers and trimmers in our neighborhood. Can’t think of anyone who has had anything bad to say about their Ego stuff.
I would have likely gone Ego if I didn’t already have multiple tool brands in the house – I ended up with the M18
Matt
I’ll say something bad about them. The batteries are completely unreliable, but I didn’t figure that out until I was a few $K into Ego. I wish I chose Ryobi 40V.
The batteries are only about 50% as efficient in the cold (which is not good with my snow shovel), high output batteries like 10Ah overheat and thermal shutdown with high CFM blowers, and the goofy self draining feature means they’re only half charged when you need them.
Steve
I’ll agree – their batteries are unreliable. They are also cumbersome to use, due to the ridiculous self-draining design.
If you’re going to use them, you better plan ahead and charge them the day before, or a few hours before you do, or they may not last long and run weakly.
On the other hand, I have Bosch and Milwaukee lithium batteries that have remained charged for more than a year and they still functioned, fine. Maybe they were down to 80-90%, I don’t know, but they certainly worked.
The next time I need to purchase, I will be looking for another platform other than EGO.
Mopar4wd
Not from personal experience bur friends and family that have bought 40V Ryobi have all had multiple batteries die and get replaced under warranty. I belong to some Ryobi groups on FB and there seems to be far more complaints about their 40v batteries then 18V. I have had 18V Ryobi stuff for over a decade now and have found it great value but the 40V I have steered clear of.
Dave
I bought a $400 EGO mower from Lowe’s. When I got it home, the battery was not in the box. Box was mostly sealed.
Went back to Lowe’s and they told me they take the batteries out of the box and you have to ask for the battery when you buy the mower.
Wut?
I was begrudgingly given a battery after I asked for it.
Got the battery home and it would not charge. Immediately called EGO support and they confirmed the battery was indeed dead. And a year and half old. Wut?
Jumped through all the hoops to confirm sales date and warranty info and was told they would send me a new battery in about 10 days.
Three and a half weeks later and I still had not received a new battery even though EGO assured me it would ship after a second call.
I took the “brand new” year and a half old battery and mower back to Lowe’s for a full refund.
Doesn’t surprise me that EGO and Lowe’s are not doing well together. I wont buy anything EGO from Lowe’s again.
Brad
That’s really weird. I bought my Ego mower about two years ago, and the battery was definitely in the box. I wonder if that was a local manager’s bright idea.
Nathan
So is Lowe’s the only place to buy ego? I swear it seems it online in some places but maybe that was a few years ago
The ego ope stuff is highly rated in many places.
I think most people pass on flex power tools as being prosumer category. Also I think fewer people shop Lowe’s for power tools these days. I know I don’t.
Rog
You can get it at smaller chain retailers like Ace as well
TomD
Ego is all over the local Ace.
Andy
I’ve bought most of my Ego stuff from Acme tools, and one thing from Amazon when all other stores were out of stock.
To echo the other comments, the local Ace stores have a ton of Ego in store.
Garrick Moe
I use Ego but haven’t bought any more of their products at Lowes since that move was made. I went from HD to Amazon. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but the two Lowes near me are just depressing. I did actually TRY to buy an edger back in ’21 but waited about 15 minutes for someone to come unlock the cage. They never came and I gave up and left. This location had rampant theft starting in ’20, so I wasn’t annoyed with it being locked up, but just the lack of staff to come assist.
TomD
Around here we go to Home Depot for power tools, Menards for hardware and lumber, Ace for emergencies (closest), and Lowe’s only reluctantly. It just always seems overpriced and rapidly shifting.
They do stock some very specific stuff nobody else around does (Rockwool, for example).
Rog
Stuart, I think you mean 2020 instead of 2010 for the ended HD/Ego partnership.
Stuart
Yep – thanks! Fixed it.
Paul
Speaking specifically about cordless tool platforms: the major ones that Home Depot carries have years, and sometimes decades of stability with their batteries.
When you buy a milwaukee, rigid, or Ryobi, you can feel certain the platform will be supported with new batteries for many years to come. Personally, this is a huge deal for me. I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on cordless tools only for the OEM to stop producing batteries. The tools will soon be useless.
Compare that with the cordless platforms at Lowe’s. They seem to cycle through various brands every 2-3 years. They’re often “house brands” unavailable anywhere else.
Once these batteries are discontinued, your tools will soon become useless.
There’s no way I’d buy into one of these systems sold at Lowe’s. There are too many well-established platforms out there.
I’m just guessing here, but there are probably others out there who stay away from the Lowe’s offerings for the same reason.
Andy
I wonder if part of the downturn in sales might also be attributed to strong sales in past years.
I bought all of my Ego OPE over the last 2 years and don’t need anything else for the next few years. I realize I’m not moving the needle on their overall sales, but I wonder how many others are in a similar boat to me.
Stuart
For every person who bought all the cordless OPE they could ever need 2 years ago, how many new homeowners or users converting over from gas or corded electric are shopping for cordless OPE today?
PW
I got lured into buying an EGO OPE product (leafblower) a couple years ago with a too-good-to-pass-up BF sale.
I’ve been satisfied with it, although not completely blown away with the battery quality. I could be pursuaded to buy more EGO.
However, their products are expensive, and I haven’t had a dire need. So I’ve been waiting a couple years now for a sale on the items I’m interested in, with no joy. I even went to my local Lowe’s during their spring sales, and couldn’t find anything EGO of note on promo, during what I would assume is prime OPE season.
Lowes, in my opinion, isn’t doing a lot to promote and push Chervon’s brands the last couple years. It feels like they had a big push when introduced, and then Lowe’s just lost interest.
It’s at the point where I assume any Lowe’s-centric brand is on borrowed time before Lowe’s gets bored and moves on.
Brad
sales could be down due to house purchases are down from prices & interest rates.
I’m all in on EGO OPE myself.
They just recently released what, 4 new items? I think there lack of bringing more products out is also stagnating their sales. Once you have your core items, the consumer is fairly set.
off the top of my head, they’re missing:
tiller, scarifier, dethatcher
NoDak Farming
The above image of the leaf blowers triggered my curiosity. I had to check out the Mueller company. I’m always willing to discover a new-to-me tool company. After clicking on Mueller’s Amazon store, I saw that they are a kitchenware company. And they do offer a leaf blower.
And Ego, as somebody else pointed out, sells a mess of different leaf blowers. It gets more ridiculous when you start seeing some as bare tools, and other choices where you get to decide how big of a battery you’d like in a combo. At Ego’s Amazon store I added up last months sales of bare leaf blowers, and kitted out leaf blowers. They sold no less than 10,800 units last month. Ego is also offering a $600 cordless mower kit. They’ve apparently sold 6000 of those last month. And all of this is just on Amazon. In one country.
If Amazon can be trusted with their reporting on units sold last month, then Ego’s gross dollar sales of cordless mowers has me completely impressed. But it does make a person wonder where the money is going, considering the financial report. As Stuart wrote, the tools aren’t the problem. My offhand guess is that they might be doubling down on research and development. And maybe Chervon should start offering Flex cordless tools on Amazon. Go with what works.
Stuart
Many factors can contribute to a profit or loss, but in the post I mainly focused on sales, or total revenue.
Compared to 2022, the company’s total sales revenue dropped by $614 million.
Their largest supplier in 2023 contributed $517 million less than their largest supplier in 2022. It’s reasonable to assume this is the same supplier, which we presume to be Lowe’s.
If so, it means Lowe’s cut their purchase orders by $517 million, which is more than 84% of the difference in sales revenue between 2022 and 2023.
There could be other factors, but this looks to be a hugely significant one.
NoDak Farming
Thanks. I guess you mention those numbers in the article. But this puts it much more succinctly.
Not that I’m invested in Chervon, but I sure hope they can unlock themselves from Lowe’s eventually.
Stuart
Did Lowe’s spend less because of lower customer interest and spending on Chervon brands? Untethering from Lowe’s won’t easily change that.
EGO, I think, is strong and resilient.
How can Flex and Skil grow?
“Amazon Brand – Denali by SKIL” – this seems like a good strategy, but Amazon’s published sales numbers are unimpressive.
What’s next for Skil? What’s next for Flex?
Lowe’s seems to have given greater emphasis to some of Flex’s newer and lower priced compact options. The compact tools are very different from the “turbo” modes and competition-smashing performance advertised for the first wave of tools.
Consider the phone market. In most cases, there’s Apple, Samsung, and… everyone else.
In mirrorless cameras, there’s Canon, Sony, and… everyone else. Maybe Nikon still has a chance at growth, as they just acquired a video tech company.
It has emerged that there’s Dewalt, Milwaukee, and… everyone else.
Flex isn’t competing with Dewalt and Milwaukee, they’re competing with Ridgid, Bosch, Makita, Metabo HPT, and others.
I think there’s a chance of further growth, but it’s just a matter of how much spending it will take to get there.
Dominic S
Lowe’s is the issue. They are too disorganized to compete with HD and it’s been that way for far too long. Ever try to use Lowe’s website? Good lord.
Michael F
At this point if you partner as a Lowes exclusive brand then you seem destined for failure. I do wonder how much macroeconomic headwinds have to play here. I have a Lowes and a Home Depot around similar distances from my house. The Lowe’s is mostly empty every time I go. The Home Depot is packed, but only with obvious tradesmen, not regular consumers or homeowners. How much sales is coming as a business expense vs consumers? With inflation and stagnating wages I know my family has tightened our budget and I assume many others have done the same. TTI enjoys the fact that Milwaukee is probably the number 1 brand of the trades right now. Ryobi also is the budget brand and can still attract the consumers that do need something and want the cheapest option at a local big box.
Outside of those factors, Home Depot also seems to run promotions and sales constantly. In an inflationary environment that’s probably very welcome to consumers and businesses alike.
eddiesky
I bought my EGO products online, and as reconditioned and mostly without batteries, since one item I did get as new, had 2 in the kit. Been happy but here is my take: its the economy. And that EGO has SO many variants that I think they shot their feet.
E.g. I have a 42″ deck riding mower that is gas. I would love to replace with a zero-turn EGO or other cordless model. Problem is, I got mine used about 9 years ago and it was $500. To get a new EGO zero turn ($4499), I could pay a lawn service to cut my yard for atleast two years for that.
BTW-Mowing currently only costs me $40/yr in fuel (varies with gas prices) which looking at kWh costs… need to research that too. Unless I had solar panels on my shed ($800 + inverter/wiring, battery storage)..my ROI will not be positive.
But FWIW, I have rid my home of Greenworx products for EGO.
KG21unth
Interesting breakdown and insights, Stuart. Thanks for posting.
Agree with most of the commentary in this thread – Home Depot gets it. Lowe’s doesnt. Did not know that the Lowe’s exec merchant came from Chervon. On further digging on LI, noticed Home Depot (SVP Merchandising) and Sears experience as well. Further down the rabbit hole, noticed a few Home Depot buyers have joined Lowe’s in the past few years.
EGO is a strong brand. I remember it came out in the mid 2013(14?) and it took a while to become the leading brand in outdoor tools. Home Depot had played a big role there in making that happen. I guess they didnt like being second potato to TTI over at THD and decided to replicate the TTI model at Lowe’s.
Key takeaways – 1) Distribution and the ability (insight, execution, coverage) of the distributor plays a big role in establishing brands. Physical distribution. Have not heard of a strong brand emerging purely from online play (Amazon). 2) This post is an analysis of Lowe’s but what screams out loudly is just how effective The Home Depot and TTI are and 3) Most importantly – It takes time to build brands. Lowes schizophrenic support of Flex and Skil etc will not help establish these brands.
THD is just a more effective retailer who gets product and strategy. This industryis so big that its OK to be a Fredo Corleone and be a fumbling/bumbling number 2 and still be a decent business. That will disguise all the poor execution and missteps that this article thoughtfully sheds a light on.
Scott F
+1 to everything you said, especially #2 on the list.
Joe H
It’s unfortunate for any company that has to attempt to sell through Lowe’s since they are one of the few nationwide changes.
Side note: I still want EGO to release a cordless 4 wheel wheelbarrow with a low flat deck that raises up and maybe a hand powered or battery powered winch to help pull things onto the deck. With removable sides to the deck that can contain loose material if needed. And a dump feature. This would probably result in 2 models, a simple low deck 4 wheel wheelbarrow and the deluxe with the winch and raisable deck and such.
Joellikestools
I have had good experiences with Kobalt 24v. I consider it Lowes version Ridgid, but occasionally at Ryobi prices. I don’t use them much but they are very inexpensive for the quality. I picked up a impact wrench and circular saw for 69$ each which beat Ryobi prices. Skil/ Denali look like good competition for Ryobi, but with much less visibility. I wonder if paid promotion over Amazon alphabet soup tools would help.
NoDak Farming
I’ve often thought to comment that I’d like to see Mac’s Hardware carry Flex. I’m not sure how many people across the nation have access to those stores. But I think it would be a good fit & opportunity for Flex to be presented in front of more people. It seems like they should be able to get into some other store chains. There’s TSC, Runnings, Northern Tool & Supply and I others that I’m not even familiar with. Ace hardware likes to carry expensive brands of products. And Flex wouldn’t be out of place n those stores either I don’t think. Chervon might be happy if Ace carried Flex like they do Ego.
Tom
I was recently in my local Woodcraft and I found a display of Flex tools. Caught me off guard but seems cheaper than Festool in that situation. When I upgraded my Ryobi blower and trimmer I went with the Kobalt 40v because it offered the largest battery, 4amp, over Skil and Ego. I bought the blower first, then the weed trimmer, so each has their own battery and charger. After a year I am happy with them. My push mower is gas and in good shape, so that won’t change any time soon. In my neighborhood there are more Ryobi mowers, a couple of Ego, and a Kobalt.
John
What sealed the deal for me and made me an almost exclusively Milwaukee buyer was the website and shopping experience. Home Depot has made deliveries faster than Amazon to my location, and the website is very intuitive. They also do far more sales than Lowe’s. It has always felt to that outside of DeWalt, Lowe’s is always hocking some third tier quality tools compared to HD. I hate paying the high price of Milwaukee, but between the 12/18v lines they make basically everything I could ever need. Between home and my work shop, I’ve probably dropped $20k exclusively in Milwaukee tools. And I started with DeWalt and have a decent selection. DW seems great, the sales/promos are just never really as compelling.