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Lowe’s and Klein Tools have announced a new partnership that will “bring a significant presence for the iconic tool brand to the electrical and tool departments at Lowe’s.”
The new partnership will allow Lowe’s to “offer the widest selection of Klein Tools products anywhere in the home improvement retail channel.”
Klein Tools products will launch at Lowe’s stores and their website starting in the second half of 2023.
There will be “premium store placements across multiple product categories.”
The initial rollout will include hand tools and electrical test and measurement tools. This will be followed by a “multi-year rollout of new product innovations.”
Lowe’s executive vice president of merchandising, Bill Boltz, commented:
The addition of Klein will help drive excitement and traffic among Pro customers looking for market-tested innovation from a brand they trust.
According to press materials, the new partnership and product offerings keeps Lowe’s “true to their commitment to be a true business partner for Pros.”
Klein Tools’ President and COO, Thomas Klein Jr, adds:
This partnership with Lowe’s enables us to serve Pros with our wide array of products, including innovative new products designed to make work on the job easier, safer and more efficient.
The new partnership effectively ends Home Depot and Klein Tools’ exclusivity arrangement of more than 13-1/2 years. Home Depot has been the “sole home improvement retailer” for Klein tools since mid-2009.
Discussion
Wow, I did not see this coming!
Lowe’s and Klein announced that they are “teaming up” to bring the “widest selection of Klein Tools anywhere in the home improvement retail channel.” In other words, this means a greater selection of Klein Tools products at Lowe’s than what you can find at Home Depot. That sounds good to me!
As Home Depot lost their exclusivity, does this mean they’ll now shop around for other brands, similar to what they did with EGO? It will be interesting to see what Home Depot’s response will be – if any. From what I have seen, no other brand offers as comprehensive a selection of electrical hand tools and accessories as Klein.
Another interesting takeaway is that there will be “premium store placement across multiple product categories.” This also seems like great news for Klein and tool users alike.