Manufacturers selling direct. What's your view?

It would be great to get some feedback from our readers on this contentious issue.

It's obvious why we're asking this today. STIHL has released a statement saying that for certain battery products, they shall be opening a new consumer facing web-store, which will be selling direct to the end-user.

As with other manufacturers who have a direct retail site, the local dealer will receive commission on any sale, with on-going aftersale support the responsibility of that dealer.

Dealers will of course have opinions on this, which we'd like to reflect in Service Dealer. I would suspect that this practice could be taken one of two ways.

Firstly, there's the way the manufacturer presumably hopes the dealer will react. A customer who may not even realise there is a specialist outdoor powered machinery dealer locally, looks online for a product they've seen advertised. They buy direct from the manufacturer. The dealer receives a commission. They then also have a customer who they might not otherwise have captured, coming into their store in the future for service work and ancillary products - possibly future purchases.

All very positive.

A second reaction might be for some dealers to worry that this is the thin end of the wedge. Perhaps they might feel this is the beginning of specialists being cut out of the selling process? Also I know some dealers have issues over servicing machinery which they haven't sold themselves. This would come into play with customers who'd bought direct from a manufacturer.

So reaction two is less than ideal from the point of view of the manufacturer - but one which some dealers will nevertheless hold.

Or am I being too obviously black and white here? Are there other, more middle ground views at play? Service Dealer's job is to reflect the views of our dealer readers - and the best way to do that is to hear from you direct.

It'd be great to hear a range of opinions today. What do you think about this move from STIHL? Does it come as a surprise? Is it an obvious development?

Please leave your thoughts below this article. We may look to publish a selection in a future edition of Service Dealer.