Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Hi All, have heard a lot of you wondering about the market share each snowthrower company has, found this site below which shows the numbers for snowthrowers and a lot of other things (snowthrowers is toward the bottom of the page)

http://www.ammagazine.com/FILES/HTML/PDF/0402marketprofile.pdf

Looks like MTD, Toro, AYP, Ariens, and Murray dominate the sales overall.   Surprised to see a company like Simplicity at only 1%, but shows why you don't hear much about them and others on this board.  Anyhow hope you find the site useful.

How can Ariens sell all these snowblowers through HD and only have an 8% market share?  I have to go back and check how current that data is.

Yea 2001.
Still neat to look at. Man, Murray took a beating.

I have to commend you ScotiaMan, I looked on every search engine for this kind of data and found diddly squat.  Very, very impressive.  If you don't mind, I'd like to hear how you came to find it.

Also, its amazing Murray corp was so poorly managed, considering in 1996 they had 33% market share in their respective categories.  The numbers are 2001, and I believe Ariens was in full swing with Home Depot at the time (based on this PDF I found at the Ariens site, dated Winter 2000).  However, Ariens does sell a more expensive machines so 8% sounds right - notice Honda must be lumped in the "other" category.  8% of 600,000 units is about 50,000 units - so that's not such a bad number, depending on their number of employees.

Two things struck me as quite interesting - 1) Snow thrower sales have dropped by 100,000 units in the last five years (1996 - 2001), and over 1.7 million electric knives were sold.  I can't believe they can move that many electric knives when I don't know a soul with one, yet there are six people I know with snow blowers.

Lastly, with Toro and MTD holding such huge percentages of the snow thrower business (3x and 4x Ariens market share respectively), they must be making decent machines or we'd be hearing a lot more complaints about them.

Once again ScotiaMan, nice investigating!

--SnowRemover

I think Toro sells a tonof their single stage models which really helps them out big with their market share.  And rightfully so, my brother has the Toro 3650 and for the size of that machine and what it can do it's just an awesome machine that can take a lot of abuse and is very reliable.   The MTD # is not surprising either as they sell a ton of thier low priced models.  In stumbled over the site while browsing for info on tv's!

Snowremover,

My household has an electric knife that gets used regularly....If it breaks my wife says she will buy another post haste.

Now you know someone!!!

                                                                                   Dan

SnowRemover wrote:
This cracked me up when I read it   I think i can explain why...Electric knives are "token" wedding/bridal shower gifts.  Between our wedding gifts and my wife's shower, we got 4.  Now have this vision of this elaborate gift table at a wedding(very "ralph-lauren") and sitting on top of is a toro snowcommander,  and an ariens 722ec, each with a bow on top :)

terrapin24h wrote:
What if that snowblower was painted in tuxedo black, with white augers.  Sweet!

--SnowRemover

Dantheman wrote:
1.699 million to go and I'll know everyone with an electric knife.

--SnowRemover

PS: Dan - are they rechargeable batteries in these knives or do you plug them in the socket? 

LOL, I have one that gets used three times a year, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Otherwise it collects dust.

Marshall wrote:

you only use the snowblower on those 3 days???

Yea, I put the turkey through it and point the chute toward the table.

Some of those Murray, AYP and MTD come from Sears/Craftsman.  They seem to juggle The mix of their inventories/models with these compaines in different volumes through the years.  (I guess due to bids and timed contracts etc.)    Probably a lot of you out there who could qualify this statement better than I.   

Two points I would like to make with that.  #1 I think it would be interesting to see how many total are sold under the craftsman badge)  #2 I would love to see lets say an Ariens,rebadged as a Craftsman, sitting beside lets say the MTD.  Their numbers would jump.  (nothing against any of these brands, Murray is not an Ariens, but It is not an MTD either, and Mtd has value for the price etc)     

However you get a lot of "Tim the tool man Taylors" shopping at Sears, for tools.  Sears has a high percentage of good stuff in their tools category. A lot of them are the ones buying the Sears snow blowers when they need one.  They don't have time to go full guns researching snowthrowers, as their specialty may be wood power tools, or very good backyard auto mechanics. Their interest is quality tools, so put the Ariens on the floor.   IMO It will get a decent share of sales even at the relative higher price.   

 

Agreed, Home Depot proves your point.

The one thing I was thinking as I was reading was how much the snowblower maket in general has changed in the last several years. Even since that study ended.

Alot more people that I feel would have never bought a snowblower before, have gotten them in the last five years. It might just be my perception, but many friends and neighbors that I thought liked to shovel and would never own such a "luxury" have snowblowers now.

It would be real nice to see what the criteria was. One big thing, it was units sold not the dollar value. The total dollar value is much more important, I think. I feel that is the true "market share". Also were they just "residential units". Other headings were for "commercial" products. Snowblowers were not split out  "commercial" and "residential".

robmints wrote:
Rob - hate to break this to you, but its called "getting old".  Until this year, I was a shoveling man.  15" of heavy packing snow - all the better my work out.  Then, this fall, I felt a muscle spasm when I was picking up some 20lb object.  I knew, based on my father's history of back problems, that I was heading in the same direction and didn't want to be on my back for a week because I liked to shovel.

"Welcome to middle age. ", is what my wife said.

--SnowShoveler

terrapin24h wrote:
Sounds excellent, whats your point? :-)

nibbler wrote:
LOL

What's his point?  .  Could be getting equal time with a  "GROOM REGISTRY."

What an Idea.  If someone would have given me engraved wrenches,  a lot of em wouldn't have ended up in my buddies toolboxes,  or jogged their memory to return something once in a while. 

Had a work buddy ask me what I wanted for a wedding gift.  I told him I needed a good set of drill bits..  Which I did, but it was a joke.  He kept asking, and I stuck with the same thing.  Well long story, but that is what I got.  Drill bits tied to a bottle of good wine.  My wife needed the wine right away when she opened that gift.  

Best gift we got IMO. 

Still have em.They are my good ones that I keep tucked away from my everyday stuff.

When I need the right one I know I have one. 

Definately a gift to remember ya by and it keeps on giving.