The encyclopedia · Sales & Retail · Strategic decision · 1926–2026
Stihl refuses big-box stores and sells only through service dealers
Stihl sells only through trained specialist dealers who service what they sell — never big-box retail — and has led chainsaw sales worldwide since 1971.
Andreas Stihl AG & Co. KG
The solution
Andreas Stihl built the first electric chainsaw in 1926 around the idea that 'the saw must go to the tree'. Today the group employs 20,000+ people, holds about 2,800 patents and turned over about €5.5bn in 2025.
Its Mittelstand method: no big-box chains. Machines reach customers only through specialist dealers — 50,000+ in over 160 countries — who are trained to sell and repair, keeping the product working for decades.
The US operation, the group's largest plant, sources 61% of materials locally and generates about €2bn of sales; consumers pay more than for do-it-yourself-store models but get advice and service, and Stihl has been the world's best-selling chainsaw since 1971.
Why it worked
- Dealers' service income ties them to the brand for decades.
- Exclusivity protects price and margins from big-box discounting.
- In-house production and development keep quality and patents in one hand.
- The service promise justifies a premium price to professionals.
What can be applied
Premium goods rot on mass-retail shelves where nobody can serve them: constrain distribution to channels that can deliver the experience, and let margin defend the network.
Aftermath
Stihl is shifting to battery power — targeting 80% of sales by 2035 — while keeping the dealer network, and investing in the US (Virginia Beach) as its main growth engine.
Sources
- Technologiesprung: Familienkonzern vermeldet Durchbruch
- Andreas Stihl: Sein Weg vom Ein-Mann-Betrieb zum "Vater der Motorsägen"
- Frustriert von Deutschland – Stihl legt Fokus für Investitionen auf USA
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