Flex Tools Going On-Line?

I rarely shop Lowes over H-Depot but did yesterday and a lot of the “Flex Tools” are on clearance. I was told by the staff there that Flex will be mostly on-line only and available through retailer like Amazon. I was surprised I didn’t see any info here (unless I missed it). But you can get some great deals if you rock that brand.

Same thing happened here.  I usually go to HD because that is closer to me.  I ended up at a Lowes on the way home and the Flex was cleared out.  Not sure what is happing because Flex was suppose to be the Lowes Professional brand.  My guess is either Lowes or Chervon didn’t back the brand and just letting it go.  When it goes online, it’s much easier getting lost among all the other brands.  So who knows and will be interesting to see what happens.

The manager was nearby so I asked are Flex tools being eliminated? I was told “Flex is being clearance in low sales volume stores, but will remain in higher selling stores for the time being. But the Lowes on-line sales will remain along with on-line retailers”. So I guess if your area is one that are removing them you can get some great deals.  I’m not invested in that platform, but have seen Flex being sold on Amazon, Acme Tool, and Ohio Power Tools.

Interesting, good to know.  I know you are in the burbs of Chicago.  We went to the Lake in the Hills store and that is where we saw inventory low.

It seems that Flex is leaving Lowe’s (toolguyd.com).  Personally, I never saw the mass appeal to having the brand there.  I mean, I’ve heard great things about the Flex cordless platform, but it lacks the established reputation of a brand like DeWalt, or even Bosch, and it doesn’t have the name recognition of Craftsman.  Then you have the 24v conundrum: is it really that much better than 20v?  If so, should I buy into this seemingly upstart brand Flex, or stick with the “tried and true” Kobalt?  Well, it appears as though anyone who chose the former might be regretting their decision…

 

Lowe’s already carries the aforementioned DeWalt, Bosch, Craftsman, and Kobalt platforms, along with MetaboHPT.  Stanley, Black and Decker (SBD) are going to push their brands for all they’re worth, and while it seems that DeWalt has a comfortable niche as the “everywhere” pro brand, SBD would really like to see Craftsman as the premium “Lowe’s brand”.  After all, while Home Depot sells DeWalt tools, TTI (Milwaukee, Ridgid, Ryobi) seems to have a stranglehold on their shelf space.  I consider Bosch and MetaboHPT to have a philosophy akin to that of Makita at HD: “we’re here, we’re great brands, buy us if you want but we’re not going anywhere.”  Flex seemed to take a different approach: “we’re new, but we’re the best Lowe’s sells”, and it seems to have backfired for both Flex/Chervon and Lowe’s itself.  

 

Just looking at the brands I’ve already mentioned, it’s clear that Lowe’s is inundated with niche “pro” tools.  [“niche” being determined by the relative number of users compared to the likes of DeWalt and Milwaukee]

 

Lowe’s:

DeWalt – professional

MetaboHPT – niche pro

Bosch – niche pro

Flex (gone) – niche pro

Craftsman – niche pro?/prosumer/DIY

Skil (gone) – prosumer/DIY

Kobalt – prosumer/DIY

 

Home Depot:

Milwaukee – professional

DeWalt – professional

Makita – niche pro

Ridgid – niche pro/prosumer

Ryobi – budget prosumer/DIY

 

Anyway, there were some great deals to be had on Flex, but a store I went into a couple of weeks ago had only bare tools left.  It seems that people [naturally] made an end-run on everything that included batteries.  I know that if I were invested in Flex, I’d have bought every last battery I could find for 50%+ off and only bought whichever tools I needed to round out my collection.