1Why is Makita outselling Black Decker 8 to 1 in an account

1.Why is Makita outselling Black & Decker 8 to 1 in an account which gives them equal shelf space?

Solution

Makita is outselling B&D due to B&D’s poor branding association with tradesman customers. These customers are responsible for their own tools at job sites and strive for quality. B&D is perceived as a very weak brand in this market, while Makita is superior.

There are two reasons behind this decision of Makita of outselling Black and Decker 8 to 1 in an account which gives them equal shelf space:

A. Perception of Quality - Makita and Milwauke have positioned themselves as a premium product in the profession power tool segment. B&D, as a result of its market leadership with 50% market share in consumer market segment, is considered a inferior brand to Makita and Milwauke as tradesman believe that the brand is more geared towards amateur than professional. The consumer and professional market segment are differentiated by skillset of the users of the tool - consumer segment is considered an amature segment requiring low performance tools whereas professional segment requires highest performance tools.

B. Colour fo the product: Another related issue is the color of the product. Charcoal gray & Black is generally associated with the consumer brands as most consumer brands including Craftsman, Skil, Wen, Private Label are sold in this color where as almost all the professional grade tools are sold in non charcoal gray/black color. Tradesman are sub-consiously associating BD brand with consumer brand and hence are inclined to choose Makita over B&D.