Stanley CEO on Craftsman and Omnichannel
Stanley Black and Decker, a company whose very name hammers on the trend of industry consolidation, says its recent acquisitions of Irwin, Lennox, and – not least – Craftsman are proceeding on schedule.
“There's a lot of really good things going on relative to Craftsman,” CEO James Loree told analysts. But he couldn’t give a lot of color (analyst speak for “information”) for competitive reasons. Stanley acquired Craftsman from Sears in a complicated deal that closed in March.
Still, Loree did offer the following Craftsman acquisition updates:
• The launch outside of Sears for the craftsman brand will be mid-2018.
• Stanley, he said, is “hard at work developing commercial strategies” for the Craftsman brand, and customer discussions are continuing.
• Plans call for a “complete comprehensive product line that spans all categories.”
• It’s safe to expect about $100 million a year in incremental revenue growth for the foreseeable future, thanks to the addition of Craftsman.
• Craftsman “gets us into gas,” Loree said, pointing to the lack of a gas engine lawn equipment power initiative prior to Craftsman.
Loree also responded to a question on a much broader topic for the entire tool industry: the coexistence of e-retailers and home centers. Loree responded: “We would be foolish to think that it’s not going to a substantial part of market in the years to come. It already is a substantial part of the market.” He said that traditional home centers are already powerful forces in the e-commerce space. “Maybe it all gravitates towards omni-channel at some point,” he added.
