Interview: OPE+ talks with Stihl CEO Chris Keffer
“There are a lot of people in here,” said Chris Keffer, president and CEO of Stihl USA. Keffer and I sat in a cozy corner of the Stihl’s large display space at Equip Expo in Louisville. I met him there one year ago when he was just a few months into his leadership role at Stihl, and I was enjoying my first Equip show. Like he did last year, Keffer gave me a few minutes to discuss the company and his work.
Meanwhile, Stihl had a lot of new product news to share. Expanded fleet of AZA battery-powered stand-on zero-turn mowers. New battery-powered backpack blowers. Growing lineup of walk-behind mowers – both gas and battery. A new charging hub, and more. We share more product details here.
Here is what I was curious about:
OPE+
How is Stihl’s ecommerce initiative progressing? When you and I spoke last year, you had mixed reactions about ecommerce and the dealers acceptance of it.
Chris Keffer:
Last year, we were dabbling. Today, it’s progressing well. We’ve invested a lot in content; we need to provide data and information to help people make choices. We turned on the ship-to-home capability, and we’re on plan for where we need to be. This is not us selling directly to consumers; our dealers are involved, if they want to be. We provide a platform for those dealers who want to be there. Ecommerce won’t cover the need for service, but we give our dealers an opportunity to communicate.
OPE+
With wheeled goods, Stihl is now asking more of its dealers, space wise. Where Stihl was always primarily on wall space with handheld products, now it’s expanding into floor space. I’ve heard this come up in conversations with dealers. How is that going for you and for dealers? And can some smaller Ace Hardware stores, for example, display zero-turns in store?
Keffer:
It’s varied. I’d say we launched into a difficult market. It’s been challenging. Some dealers love it. I would say the industry has seen a slow down with higher interest rates. People are holding onto products longer and that hurts sell through. It’s a mixed bag. We’re a bit behind where we thought we would be.
OPE+
And how about Stihl’s push (pun intended) into walk-behind mowers? It’s not new for you in the world, but it is newer for the U.S. market.
Keffer:
We want people to know we’re in the mower business. We’re new to it on the gas side in America. And we think we have a real opportunity. We have a factory dedicated to it in Austria.
OPE+
The robot mowers Stihl showed last spring. These are still ground-wire units, not vision-based or satellite models. That can have advantages, but it’s also older technology. How are they being received?
Keffer:
We just launched a higher grass height mower, trying to address the needs in Florida. It’s going okay overall. My opinion, this market loves stripes, and they want to see tripes on the lawn. Robotic mowers should be programmed to do that. Part of the reason why it’s more accepted in Europe is the smaller yard sizes. Here, lawn service work is more economically viable. And many homeowners choose to hire a service.
OPE+
At Equip Expo this year, it seems to be less about batteries, and more about chargers. Are commercial buyers taking on the charging packages of products? How is electrification working for commercial users?
Keffer:
It’s very possible that pro users will have this many batteries to get their work done (he points to a wall of charging batteries near us; we are sitting by the charging display). Necessity is driving problem-solving solutions. Our people do a lot of work to learn the problems people are having and then they find a solution.
We still have work to do to prove to user that battery tools are as capable as gas. The gap is closing rapidly. Some products are not there yet, but even chain saws and zero turn mowers are proving the power of batteries. Just like with EVs, the challenge is getting the energy source back into the tank quickly.
And a bigger battery pack is not always better. Ergonomics are important. The Stihl AR 3000 L battery (he picks it up, it weighs about 20 lbs. and retails for $1,300); this is not light, but it’s a solution for backpack blowers. That’s where energy density and speed of recharge is so important.
OPE+
I’m curious about Stihl’s naming convention for batteries. Why doesn’t Stihl more clearly indicate volts and amp hours in its battery naming, like other tool makers do?
Keffer:
In the “AP” batteries, the P stands for professional. It’s not intuitive to anyone outside the Stihl world. I do think we have an opportunity to tell the story about why our batteries work better. Amp hours are more easily understood because so many manufacturers have been talking about it. Watt hours are more difficult
But we have to convey what’s important to the pro users. Like durability and cycle life. If you’re in Florida and working 200 days a year, they’re going to put a lot of cycles in using and charging. We focus on the capability of what a tool and battery can do together. Is this going to work for me? Is it going to solve my problems? So we focus the messaging on that, and not on V and Ah. For consumers, we will communicate like “on a single charge.” We give them context and we find that’s very effective.
OPE+
What’s ahead in the near future?
Keffer:
Definitely more battery stuff. Also part of our plan is to rationalize a little bit. We can’t just keep adding things without maybe taking things away. We understand the reality of dealerships and their business. What can we do to help them do business better? We need to innovate, and that means subtraction sometimes, too. It’s like anything, even your closet. We just moved and it’s about subtraction big time. We need to be clear about what our offer is, category management for dealers. Still, we need to innovate on both the battery side and on the gas side.