Hustler Mowers Being Sold at Lowes and Home Depot

davbell22602 said:
Here's a link to the article

Hustler Mowers at Home Depot and Lowe's | Green Industry Pros
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I agree with what this guy said when he said (I talked to them about my concerns when they first started building the low-end equipment and introduced BigDog (another mower brand), the dealer shares. Anytime any company starts integrating cheap equipment into their commercial stuff, it's a sign. I saw the same thing with Snapper.) I think the only thing there doing is hurting themselves by producing the low end stuff. same as John Deere, Echo and Cub Cadet did, look at there reputation.
 
Ric said:
I agree with what this guy said when he said (I talked to them about my concerns when they first started building the low-end equipment and introduced BigDog (another mower brand), the dealer shares. Anytime any company starts integrating cheap equipment into their commercial stuff, it's a sign. I saw the same thing with Snapper.) I think the only thing there doing is hurting themselves by producing the low end stuff. same as John Deere, Echo and Cub Cadet did, look at there reputation.
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They are just trying to appeal to the residential market of homeowners wanting to feel like they have commercial equipment like the professionals do. I don't think it hurts their reputation just by expanding their market. The more they have their name out there on equipment ( giving that it is of good quality) the better for them on getting their brand out there. However, for the most part the mowing equipment the sell at the big box stores is not even close in comparison to what commercial grade equipment has except for a few key features. All in all they are just trying to make as much money as they can. I would do the same thing.
 
I wanted to toss in Troybilt. They are living off their former rototillers bullet proof reputation. I have one of their newer snow blowers built by MTD and it's not any different than the MTDs MTD brands with their own name.
I do think there is a problem with introducing an economy line. The company should give it a separate name line XXXX by Hustler. If they sell a ton of them and make money in the home user market they need to make sure they don't start watering down the commercial equipment thinking they could make more if they saved some on the heavier duty stuff.
 
Hustler will probably lose some dealers over selling them at Lowes and Home Depot. Who wants to be dealer of a product when a customer can buy it cheaper at the retail store?
 
davbell22602 said:
Hustler will probably lose some dealers over selling them at Lowes and Home Depot. Who wants to be dealer of a product when a customer can buy it cheaper at the retail store?
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Well toro still has dealers... Home depot only has like 3 models of push mower and 2 tractors vs the dealer who usually has the whole line + all commercial equipment. Hustler just like toro has a massive commercial following and will not lose those sales. All they are doing is spreading the market they probably will need to be built cheap people are not .going to lowes to spend 5000 plus dollars they go there to buy the cheapest best quality they can without pissing off the wife. I think its a great business move.
 
exotion said:
Well toro still has dealers... Home depot only has like 3 models of push mower and 2 tractors vs the dealer who usually has the whole line + all commercial equipment. Hustler just like toro has a massive commercial following and will not lose those sales. All they are doing is spreading the market they probably will need to be built cheap people are not .going to lowes to spend 5000 plus dollars they go there to buy the cheapest best quality they can without pissing off the wife. I think its a great business move.
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Completely disagree. Not all consumers know that the there be difference in quality and what the dealer has compared to the retail store. Customer #1 just bought it Lowes and home depot and doesnt care about the high priced dealer. Customer #1 2-4 years later needs parts. He goes to Lowes and Home depot finds the parts he needs to fix it himself. Again the high priced dealer screwed out of sale of new mower plus parts sale. It might be 5-10 years before customer #1 visits hustler dealer to parts or service that Lowes and Home depot doesnt have and offer.
 
davbell22602 said:
Completely disagree. Not all consumers know that the there be difference in quality and what the dealer has compared to the retail store. Customer #1 just bought it Lowes and home depot and doesnt care about the high priced dealer. Customer #1 2-4 years later needs parts. He goes to Lowes and Home depot finds the parts he needs to fix it himself. Again the high priced dealer screwed out of sale of new mower plus parts sale. It might be 5-10 years before customer #1 visits hustler dealer to parts or service that Lowes and Home depot doesnt have and offer.
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Consummer #1 would never have went to a dealer anyway. Dealer wouldnt lose sale consumer #1 would still buy from home depot only they would buy a different brand therefore hustler loses sale....
 
Ric said:
...I think the only thing there doing is hurting themselves by producing the low end stuff. same as John Deere, Echo and Cub Cadet did, look at there reputation.
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Honda, Toro, and Echo all have equipment at Home Depot. That doesn't mean they can't have a good reputation.
 
davbell22602 said:
Completely disagree. Not all consumers know that the there be difference in quality and what the dealer has compared to the retail store. Customer #1 just bought it Lowes and home depot and doesnt care about the high priced dealer. Customer #1 2-4 years later needs parts. He goes to Lowes and Home depot finds the parts he needs to fix it himself. Again the high priced dealer screwed out of sale of new mower plus parts sale. It might be 5-10 years before customer #1 visits hustler dealer to parts or service that Lowes and Home depot doesnt have and offer.
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Also my home depot and lowes don't even carry a lot of parts. All I can ever find there are air filters spark plugs belts and blades. Even that is a limited supply and they only carry these for the few mowers they offer and every year they change models....
 
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