A couple of days ago, Bloomberg reported that Sears is looking to license the Craftsman brand name to third party companies.
In the past year and a half, Sears has entered agreements to sell a limited number of Craftsman tools at Ace Hardware and Costco stores. Licensing is different, and to our understand this would essentially mean that other brands and stores would pay a fee for the right to slap the Craftsman brand onto their own products.
Isn’t this what Snap-on did 2-3 years ago, resulting in “cordless” work lights that require cords and dozens of other low-cost imported tools and accessories? And Sears thinks that this will help the company in the long run?
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In my opinion, Sears should just spin off the Craftsman brand entirely as an independent entity, allowing it to remain profitable and hopefully immune to the potential downward spiral that many analysis predict to be in Sears’ near future.
Mike
Lovely news. Although it’s been a while since I’ve even looked at Craftsman cordless tools, their hand tools have tended to be a first choice for me. Sad to see what used to be a premium brand fast sliding down the tubes.
Something that has struck me is just how much of the Craftsman power tool portfolio is really sourced externally. My combination saw is really a Steel City saw, and Craftsman sells no accessories or parts for it. My prior table saw from them was a Ryobi, I discovered after the fact. Decent pricing, but no real “special” there to drive me to shop there.
My own experience with Sears is that their stores are not very clean, many haven’t had a refurb in decades, and sales folks seem to be pretty much dumped on by managers. Some good eggs still there, but lots of young folks who have no product knowledge. Quite a dive from when I was (much) younger, and the Sears tool salesmen really were excellently trained and motivated.
Tom
I gave up on Sears a long time ago. The quality of the craftsman tools is dropping but the prices aren’t. I’d rather buy tools from Lowes or Ace and have the ability to buy supplies and other stuff for my projects at the same time. Those businesses will be around. And if I’m OK with a cheap import, I’d rather buy from Harbor Freight. At least I’m cutting out the middle man,.
fred
As far as I can tell – Sears always outsourced to OEMs . There were even websites that provided some lists of who made what for Sears based on the part numbers.
Years ago the big news – was when Sears dumped Emerson as their supplier for many of their stationary power tools. Emerson turned around and sarted putting their Ridgid (plumbing tool brand name) on tools that they them marketed via Home Depot.
This is a very competitive business environment – and K-Mart/Sears seems to be struggling to stay in play and compete – with HD and Lowes (closing some stores) and maybe even HF . To me they always seemed to appeal to homeowners – not contractors – but I have no data on who their target really is.
Stuart
Yes, Sears commissions OEMs to produce Craftsman tools for them, but that’s different from a licensing agreement since the tools are usually designated as Sears/Craftsman exclusives. Under a potential licensing agreement, Craftsman-branded products not explicitly designed by or for Craftsman could pop up at other retailers.
Stuart
Thus far it is reported that Sears is looking for a firm to handle the potential licensing, and that no concrete arrangements have been made yet. Of course, this also isn’t something that Sears would openly discuss anyways.
lametec
If the Chinafication of Craftsman continues, it won’t make a difference to me whether they start selling licensed “cordless” lamps and other junk.
The sole reason for me buying Craftsman tools is that they’re a good value on a USA made product. If I want China made tools, I’ll go to Harbor Freight and get twice as many tools for my dollar.
Scott
The tool industry is a “race to the middle” right now with upper tier brands like Milwaukee now branding everything (including screwdrivers), and stores like Harbor Freight and Menards with house brands that are improving in quality.
Snap on and the other pro brands will probably remain as such, but the homeowner and basic contractor stuff is really all becoming homogenous, which is good and bad. HF actually has some decent offerings now, but Craftsman’s quality continues to suffer. (again, race to the middle where the profit is best).
Sears is a dinosaur in a modern age. Department stores were around before malls, and had every department covered (tools, appliances, clothing, furniture, etc.). With the modern shopping centers, big box home centers, and the internet, there really is no efficiency to going to Sears.
JCPenney used to be very similar to Sears (along with others), but dropped most of their departments.
Sears needs to identify it’s niche, and needs to find it fast. Being a jack of all trades and master of none isn’t working for Sears.
Lou
Another once-proud American brand selling out for a quick profit and guaranteed brand destruction. Think “Schwinn Bicycles” – once the finest on the market, made in Chicago. Now absolute garbage, made in China, sold at Walmart.
Kevin
the reality is Sears is dieing, and this is essentially estate planning, making sure the children Craftsman, Diehard, and Kenmore live on after the death of their parent. If Sears goes down, the brands wont go down with the ship, and whoever buys the Sears name wont get the Sears brands.
I have no issue with it, it’s tough out there and with so many companies BKing, it’s better to manage the decline of Sears and have a soft landing then just crash and burn.
Rich S.
Sears fell behind. Blame it on management and corporate culture. They were great in the heyday of home catalogs, but have simply not adapted well to the modern era of retailing. Credit for trying stuff, but they were too much the lumbering dinosaur.
Expect the Craftsman name to get trashed within a few years. Sadly.
SRams
I’ve always been a big fan of Craftsman Mechanics tools, I grew up with them, but I never took their power tools very serioulsy. They always felt cheap and a lot like Ryobi.
Robin
Wonder if we will see even more gimmicky tools if this happens..
Mike
To SRams point about how the hand tools felt, the main reason they felt like Ryobi is that’s who made a lot of them. That and Emerson…
I’m all for Sears making a soft landing, but it’s sad to see. Especially when you consider the catalog business — really if they had the imagination, they could have easily taken that on line like Amazon has done and been a major retail player. Rather, they kept doing what they did, got into a leveraged buyout and quit investing in stores, and here we are today. I recall reading not so long ago how Sears spends something like 1/3 of what their major competitors do on store remodels / resets.
I wish the employees well, but have to admit it’s been eons since I really looked at Sears as my first choice in tools. I bought my table saw from them a year ago, because it was a Steel City granite top saw and it was cheaper there. But they don’t carry any accessories, do not understand how it works, and really don’t sell it or other high end tools effectively.
Ken
We have a Sears Hardware Store in my area. Pretty decent selection actually BUT many of the mechanics hand tools are locked up even the inexpensive ones.
I needed something pretty lame like a single 3/8″ socket and an extension once. I had to wait 10 minutes for a really rude manager to finally show up. She could not have been less interested in my sale.
All stores suffer from shoplifting but this store is so locked down it’s too hard to shop there. I’d like to buy Craftsman hand tools because so many are made in the USA but they make it too difficult @ my local store. My latest method..shop on Ebay for new Craftsman mechanics tools…You might be surprised what you find.
If Sears licenses out Craftsman I think we can all see it will be the end of any American made mechanics tools for the masses.