STIHL GROUPSETS ITS EYES ON THE EASTERN AFRICAN REGION
By Steven Mulanda
When Andreas STIHL realized in the 1920s that people working in the woods and forests mainly used axes and muscle power, he became preoccupied with one thought: “There must be a way to make working in the forest easier.” The thought grew into an idea, and that idea spawned an invention… Since the company was founded more than 90 years ago, the name STIHL has stood for outstanding innovation, high quality products and comprehensive service.
Having stamped global authority in chainsaws and STIHL innovations, the company saw fit to diversify its modus operandi into provision of reliable equipment and accessories. The result is an overestimated € 5 billion Euros turnover and exporting their products each year to prime destinations across the world.
Today, STIHL is represented in more than 160 countries and STIHL products make work easier all over the world in professional forestry and agriculture, in landscape and gardening, on construction sites, cleaning, amongst other categories and for the discerning private and home user as well.
With production locations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Brazil, the United States, China and the Philippines, and 43 sales and marketing subsidiaries throughout the world, STIHL offers an international manufacturing and distribution network for optimal delivery service and proximity to customers.
In a nutshell, the key products they have in the agricultural sector are the Tillers and Water Pumps which are used in farming and are gasoline power-driven. Other products in the agriculture sector includes Sprayers, Mist Blowers, Tea Pruner’s, Earth Augers among others.
For landscaping and gardening they have the Hedge Trimmers, Brushcutters for clearing and trimming as the key drivers. For construction, they have the Cut-off Saw and Concrete Cutter for cutting of concrete and aluminium beams. Another exciting range of products the firm has is in the cleaning category consisting of High-Pressure Cleaners for washing cars, buildings and pavements and wet and dry Vacuum Cleaners.
STIHL continues to be a family business and its shares have not been configured. The firm’s products are sold exclusively through its network of specialist approved dealers and importers globally.
Launch of STIHL East Africa
Due to the growing demand for STIHL products and the need to serve the market better, the East Africa branch was upgraded to a fully-fledged Sales Subsidiary in August 2022. Their offices are based at the Red Commercial Complex along Mombasa Road in Nairobi. This new strategic direction guarantees a broader and diverse products portfolio and enhanced access through a well-supported robust dealership network.
“Initially we were operating as STIHL Marketing East Africa as a marketing subsidiary. That means we were supporting the STIHL brand in terms of marketing and product support. However, at that time we were not controlling distribution as that was being taken care of by the designated Importer at that time. The transition from a marketing subsidiary to a sales subsidiary was an exciting journey that motivated us to invest in supporting infrastructure such as our hub office and warehousing that was required to support our new role as a sales subsidiary,’’ said John Wachira STIHL East Africa Sales Manager.
At the Red Commercial Complex, STIHL East Africa has a state-of-the-art showroom where they showcase arrays of products in the different categories as well as a service center for training their dealers. Currently, they have 27 dealers all over Kenya and 6 in the Eastern Africa region where end users can interact and/or purchase STIHL products, accessories, spare parts, repairs, and servicing facilities.
STIHL East Africa`s plan is to increase its dealership footprint across Eastern Africa consistent with its strategy to establish reliable dealerships that will provide sales and after-sales back up and support to its clientele. Currently STIHL East Africa has representation through a dealer network in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. Plans are underway to increase the Point of Sales /POS in Tanzania, Uganda and other Eastern Africa market that includes and not limited to South Sudan, Burundi, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
“The concept of launching a dealer is not just to launch a shop but have in store customer experience consistent with our brand promise. From external branding, in store branding, display infrastructure and product displays – all this is designed to catch the eye of the customer and provides an enabling environment where customers can interact with our product offering and make informed decisions. We seek to integrate sales, service, and after-sales support at the point of sales consistent with our dealership philosophy,” Wachira explained.
The company also ensures that dealers have the knowledge and capacity they require to undertake pre-delivery inspection of finished goods as the start of a positive customer experience. STIHL products also come with warranty – manufacturer’s defect of up to 6 months but they have the required support at POS should any customer have an issue with their power tool. The firm endeavors to create a strong brand by establishing a strong connection and collaboration with dealers and end customers which is what STIHL is all about -empowering growth! This is to create brand visibility and recruit dealers as business partners to deliver a positive partner experience and thus creating value for the shareholders and stakeholders.
“STIHL is also involved in in-field activities and actively participates in fairs and exhibitions such as the Naivasha Horticultural fair, ASK,ATC events among others. Our desire is to engage our consumers and showcase our products to existing and potential customers, albeit the sales and delivery being executed by our Authorized dealers. We have visited many flower farms showing them our products and doing demos as an example. Some of our products that are very popular with flower farms includes the Mist Blower, the heavy-Duty Grass Cutter FS460 and the PPES,” Wachira stated.
The company has also developed a modern training digital platform – STIHL academy, where a lot of knowledge is uploaded for both the internal staff and the external stakeholders such as dealers. Through this platform, STIHL can disseminate customized themes on sales and technical aspects targeting dealers and dealers get to log in and access virtual content. Occasionally, dealers converge for in-person training that also provides an opportunity to share challenges and opportunities in the supply chain. All the training STIHL undertakes aims at enhancing the level of service excellence at the POS.
Customer focus is another element the company has embraced over time and its one of their brand pillars.
“We look at the benefit from the angle of safety and most of our products have safety features installed on them. We have a Mantra ‘Work Easier And Do More’. STIHL is a good employer, we train our staff, remunerate our employees well, give opportunities for local talent to thrive and allow people to give their best’,” he added.
As they celebrate their first anniversary in the East African market, STIHL East Africa has developed a robust national campaign dubbed ‘LIGI YA POWER’ where they have invested over Kshs 30 million in support of this campaign. The competitions will take place in different parts of the country where customers will get a chance to showcase their prowess in using the different STIHL products through mini regional competitions. Products used in the competition include chainsaws, high pressure cleaners, brushcutters and hedge trimmers. The competitions are running throughout the country with the best teams rewarded and recognized at the 1st anniversary celebrations on 25thAugust, 2023.
But it hasn’t been all rosy for the company. Wachira recalls the numerous challenges that they have had to contend with, and the fighting spirit inspired by the founder that kept them moving. ‘’We usually trade in € Euros and from January to now the Euro has gained more than 13 percent against the local currency. This has led to an increase in material cost and importation costs. We are mulling at adjusting our prices by up to 7.5percent on some of our product lines in Kenya to cushion against these currency shocks. However, our commitment is unwavering in terms of quality, availability of spare parts, backup and support,” he said.
The outlook for the future looks very promising for STIHL EAST AFRICA as the company expands its wings outside of Kenya and increases its product offering to match the evolving customer needs and wants.
