DEALERS RALLIED TO JOIN CORDLESS DRIVE

Dealers from the UK and around Europe gathered this week at the headquarters of the Formula One team McLaren in Woking, for Stanley Black & Decker's 'International Outdoor Showcase'.

The two day event saw the invited partners hear a series of presentations regarding the company's brands DeWalt, Cub Cadet, Wolf Garten, Black & Decker and Arnold on day one - followed by a raft of hands-on product testing and demonstrations on the second day.

The meeting was kicked off by Becky Cotsworth, the company's vice president and general manager Outdoor EMEA ANZ who welcomed the dealers, saying the company has more products in the outdoor sphere this year than any other. Their focus, she said, was in converting professional end-users across to their electric tools. To do this, she said, they needed to work with the right dealer partners.

Becky said of the event, "This is more than just a product showcase, it's an invitation to join Stanley Black & Decker on our growth journey across the outdoor industry. By working together we can seize new opportunities, deliver exceptional value to you our customers and shape the future of our industry."

Various sector managers then introduced product roadmaps across the company's brands for the next year and beyond - details of which the company only wanted to share with their dealer partners in the room. The overarching theme of it all though, was this sense of the company wishing to convert commercial users to the use of their cordless machinery.

Becky summed up the company's philosophy saying they desire to get the best products into their customers' hands and to do that they need to work with the best dealers - driving traffic into their stores through increased marketing. She invited their dealers to join them on their "electrification train", concluding that "the time is now."