Amazon is not an authorized seller for Milwaukee tools or accessories anymore. Although you can buy Milwaukee tools on Amazon, they’re usually through third party sellers or resellers.
Even in the rare occasion that you see Milwaukee products sold and shipped by Amazon, they’re still not coming from Milwaukee directly.
Let’s talk about what we know.
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Well, Amazon used to sell Milwaukee tools directly, but that was a long time ago. That’s why I say they don’t sell to or through Amazon anymore.
I recall posting about a couple of Amazon’s Milwaukee deals at Amazon prior to the break in their relationship. I purchased Milwaukee power tool accessories and a FastBack utility knife from Amazon directly in 2011, and a hole saw set back in 2007.
In late 2012, I received an email from an online retailer saying:
Milwaukee tools decided to cut off Amazon completely from selling any of their tools.
Okay, so Milwaukee DID sell tools to Amazon, but they stopped in late 2012. Let’s examine a major potential reason why this happened.
In January 2013, Orchard Supply, a chain of home improvement stores, sued Home Depot, Milwaukee Tool, and Makita. See: Home Depot, Milwaukee, and Makita Under Fire for Anti-Competitive Practices.
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From that lawsuit:
Milwaukee and Makita both unexpectedly cut off all further supplies to Orchard at around the same time in June 2012, doing so very shortly after Home Depot had publicly announced in early June 2012 that it planned to lock up the supply of key hardware products in order to counter the competitive threat posed by Amazon and other online retailers.
And:
Orchard further understands that Home Depot has prevailed on Milwaukee and Makita to withhold their necessary supplies from other major sellers of hardware products, including the approximately four-thousand member stores of the Ace Hardware wholesale cooperative as well as other sellers of hardware products
Also (with line breaks my own):
To counter these threats to its market positions, Home Depot publicly announced in early June, 2012 that it planned to lock down the sales of core hardware products, particularly the power tools made by core suppliers of them.
Less than one week later, Makita gave notice that it would no longer sell any of its products to Orchard despite Orchard’s excellent and long history as a substantial customer of Makita.
Around two weeks later, and still in June, 2012, Milwaukee for its part gave notice that it too would refuse to make sales of any of its products to Orchard, even though Orchard had enjoyed a long, uninterrupted, and prosperous relationship with Milwaukee. All of this happened within the space of a few weeks in June, 2012.
Here’s one more (with line breaks my own):
On June 7, 2012, a key executive of Home Depot, Mr. Craig Menear, publicly announced at a convention in Atlanta that Home Depot would take appropriate measures to answer the competitive threats that now confront Home Depot.
Mr. Menear confirmed that Home Depot intended to counter these threats by entering into exclusive-supplier contracts with key suppliers, so that it would become the principal or only supplier of the single most important kind of core hardware product – professional power tools and related accessories.
This part isn’t related but is interesting:
Shortly thereafter, a third supplier of power tools, Black & Decker Dewalt, disclosed to Orchard that Home Depot had requested that it (Black & Decker Dewalt) refuse to sell its power tools and related accessories to Orchard and others, but that Black & Decker Dewalt had declined to do so, and that in retaliation Home Depot had lessened its purchases of Black & Decker Dewalt’s products and had begun to place them in disadvantageous locations in its retail outlets across the United States.
We know that Home Depot has had other exclusivity arrangements – see Home Depot & Klein’s Exclusive Retailer Agreement.
In a 2011 Marketwatch article, Home Depot’s President of online sales said:
We know we were behind folks like Amazon.com
We want to catch up and then get ahead. We certainly are not going to lose share.
In their complaint, Orchard Supply lengthily discusses the threat to market share that Amazon was posing to Home Depot, which Home Depot execs had also recently acknowledged and addressed.
Home Depot said:
Home Depot admits that it prefers that customers who visit its stores purchase from Home Depot rather than Amazon
And:
Home Depot denies that it requested that Makita or Milwaukee cease sales to Amazon. Home Depot admits that it separately discussed with Makita and Milwaukee each supplier’s decision not to sell to Plaintiff
We still don’t know exactly what happened, but let me as you a question. Which retailer would you think sells the most Milwaukee products in the USA today?
Just when Milwaukee Tool also stopped selling tools at Amazon, Orchard Supply complained of a boycott of their stores by Milwaukee and Makita that was orchestrated by Home Depot. Do you think it’s just a coincidence?
Home Depot had said they were seeking exclusive-supplier contracts with key suppliers… for professional power tools and related accessories.
It’s not clear exactly what happened, but there was a time when you could buy Milwaukee tools at Amazon, and then you couldn’t.
There’s a strong possibility Home Depot was in the middle of all this, but as far as I am aware there was no public exclusivity announcement, and the retailer denies requesting Milwaukee cease sales to Amazon.
Seeing how much Milwaukee has grown over the years, and how popular they’ve been at Home Depot both in-store and online, I don’t think either party has any regrets.
There’s a chance that Milwaukee left Amazon for other reasons, at least in part. Other tool brands left Amazon at around the same time, with at least one citing disagreements over Amazon’s refusal to agree to MAP pricing.
It seems possible that Milwaukee was eager to both leave Amazon and deepen their relationship with Home Depot. Still, we also cannot ignore the possibility that their departure from Amazon was related to whatever new arrangement they had with Home Depot.
As for Orchard Supply and their lawsuit, all of the parties reached a resolution via mediation in April 2014, and the details of that remain private. Lowe’s acquired the company and its stores, and shut it all down in 2018. See Lowe’s to close all 99 Orchard Supply Hardware locations.
Hon Cho
Keep in mind, the REALand most IMPORTANT customers of Milwaukee and other brands are the retailers that move their product. Sure, they need end consumers who buy their tools but they absolutely need the Home Depots, Lowes and Amazons of the world to get their tools to market.
Furthermore, while Amazon has amazing reach through their platform, they are a demanding retailer whom forces their suppliers to accept almost all the costs and risks of selling their products, while reserving as much of the rewards of selling for Amazon. Plus, Amazon’s less than stellar control of fakes being sold and shipped by them doesn’t sit well with brands. Milwaukee is only one of several big brands that has had on-off relationship with Amazon over the years. Birkenstock shoes, Nike and Apple are a few of the brands I’m aware of that have had issues with Amazon.
Stuart
Yep! This is true for many if not most tool brands. Retailers provide visibility and other intangible benefits, and in the case of Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ace, and other retail chains, huge sales volume. Retailers are the customer, we’re the end user.
Scott K
There’s a great podcast series called “Acquired” – in their Costco episode they discuss how Amazon squeezes suppliers to increase their profit margin whereas Costco is a fairer negotiator but they typically pass most of those savings onto customers. In Milwaukee’s eyes this dynamic could be unappealing.
Tom
When The Home Depot and Lowe’s seek retail exclusivity, they typically include Amazon as one of the retailers that are subject to exclusivity arrangements.
Mark S
Shortly thereafter, a third supplier of power tools, Black & Decker Dewalt, disclosed to Orchard that Home Depot had requested that it (Black & Decker Dewalt) refuse to sell its power tools and related accessories to Orchard and others, but that Black & Decker Dewalt had declined to do so, and that in retaliation Home Depot had lessened its purchases of Black & Decker Dewalt’s products and had begun to place them in disadvantageous locations in its retail outlets across the United States.
WHAT?!?! Red alert! Hello!
That makes sense now and to this day (in my opinion) is true. SBD tried to say “screw you” to HD and then HD did it back?!?! They tried to rule the world with exclusive sales rights and SBD didn’t like it.
Could explain the things that have come up on this very site many times over the years, about lack of sales, lack of holiday displays, smaller planograms in store, on and on all regarding SBD stuff. This is very interesting.
Stuart
I thought folks would find that part interesting – I certainly did.
Still, keep in mind that this all took place 13 years ago. Since then, Dewalt created an all-new 20V Max family for Home Depot (Atomic), and the retailer also became SBD’s exclusive retailer for Stanley and FatMax – https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/stanley-fatmax-exclusive-partnership-home-depot-2019/%3C/a%3E while other retailers then got Craftsman.
Today, Home Depot could be making decisions based on competitive strategy, or the popularity – or lack thereof – of different brands.
During Super Bowl season, my favorite supermarket has a display with pizzas, wings, and snacks, and not shaved brussel sprout and kale salads.
Home Depot also dumped EGO tools presumably when they found out the brand was courting Lowe’s. https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/home-depot-discontinues-ego-cordless-outdoor-power-tools-072020/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Home Depot is a huge retailer, and Stanley Black & Decker describes themselves as the world’s largest tool company. I like to think that they both have leverage in any negotiation. Home Depot could cut in-store visibility, but SBD could give Lowe’s – HD’s top competitor – deals juicy or exclusives enough to impact foot traffic.
Luke
If true, this just makes me want to buy less from Home Depot. Plenty of good sales on Dewalt from smaller retailers like Bombard’s/Fasteners Inc/Farm&Fleet etc
Bonnie
Assume all large retailers are like this. Everyone wants the best deal and to leverage any advantage they have.
Good argument for smaller stores, though you tend to pay more as a direct result of that lack of leverage.
Matt_T
The box stores can be competitive when they want to. Some Project Source and Glacier Bay is an excellent value.
But they’re very high on a lot of things too. I’ll use lowes website to price things and I can’t remember the local True Value ever charging me more. It’s not unusual for them to be significantly cheaper.
Just placed an order for $1,400 of wire with the local electrical supply. Lowes were north of $1,700 and the customer said Home Depot wanted $2,000!!!!
Yadda
This has been occurring in grocery chains for decades. Slotting fees, for warehouse space, Display fees or free product for extra or premium shelf space. Freeze outs or less desirable placement for those that don’t pay. Wonder why you have to bend over to get your food item from the bottom shelf? They didn’t pay enough for a premium spot. Wonder why your product was discontinued at a specific store? It might not be selling, but it may be the manufacturer was no longer making money selling to the grocer.
Will
This is enlightening, I’ve always wondered why red and neon green dominate every tool display during the sales and the yellow power tools are at the far end of the tool isle, past TTI brands, past every other brand.
William B
I’m with Luke on this. Sounds like Home Depot is doing some real damage to Consumers. And the yellow guys did the principled thing. So I’m def buying less from HD. I would rather support companies that don’t try to destroy other companies.
Stuart
Lowe’s: Craftsman V20, Craftsman Overdrive, VersaStack, TradeStack
Tractor Supply: Porter Cable
Home Depot: Dewalt Atomic, FlexVolt, Tough System
Lowe’s: Dewalt 12V Max Xtreme, 20V Max Power Detect
Soon after all of this went down, SBD announced a new line of Bostitch cordless power tools that would be exclusive to Walmart. https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/bostitch-power-tools/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Today, you can buy Dewalt Stealtsonic vacuums seemingly exclusively from Lowe’s and Amazon.
Holiday 2024:
Holiday 2023:
2021:
Don’t worry, team yellow’s still making plenty of money at HD and everywhere else.
Matt_T
It’s really hard to say what happened with amazon specifically. That could have been a legit business decision. Did Makita, or any other major tool companies, drop amazon at about the same time?
The other allegations against TTI and Home Depot are believable. Makita going along with it is baffling. I’m guessing they weren’t aware they were signing up for a threesome with them on the bottom LOL.
Robert
And Orchard went under. I missed Orchard. They were like a big Ace Hardware. Their salespeople were more knowledgeable than HD or Lowe’s, but they couldn’t match their prices. But the selection was very good in what I generally needed.
Dave
We had 3 Orchards here in my town in Northern California including one in my neighborhood. All have been gone for at least 4-5 years and it was exactly like you stated it a huge ACE hardware store! I miss them!
Saulac
Third world countries don’t have huge hardware stores, instead the huge hardware market places each with hundreds of little vendors seemingly selling the same kind of stuff. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which system promotes competition.