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| Posted: 18 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST For those who remember back to 2004, RobotShop was the first company within North America to offer the Zuchetti Ambrogio Evolution Robot Lawn Mower. Later in 2005, Kyodo America (KA) made an alliance with Zuchetti and became the head of distribution in North America, re-branding the robot as the “LawnBott.”  LawnBott robotic mower Since then, RobotShop has been loyal and has worked closely with KA to create brand awareness on the web and serve prospective as well as existing customers. We have helped increase the product’s visibility online, increase sales, manage recalls, perform repairs under warranty and more. Up until recently, KA’s strategy was to sell the product online as well as via “mom and pop” shops. Very few of these shops offered the quality of service, visibility and technical expertise of RobotShop. Unfortunately, sales of this robotic lawn mower have been relatively low, largely because of the high price point. A product’s popularity will always be relative to its price; Henry Ford taught us this almost a century ago with the Model T. KA thinks the problem of low sales is elsewhere and they have changed their strategy accordingly: they have started working with a network of pet containment companies (virtual dog fence dealers) and restrict Internet sales in those regions. They have asked RobotShop to monitor a growing list of zip codes where we can no longer sell their mower. What is the problem with that approach you ask? On the surface it may not look like a bad idea since those companies also use perimeter wire, transmitters and receivers which are the same as the robot mower uses. These companies likely already have the necessary resources including sales staff, technicians, tools and equipment to sell and support customers locally.  KA has chosen a market geared toward dog owners The problem is that this is a short term vision to try to increase sales. We at RobotShop think that although it may be a good complementary option to selling robots online, it can never be a complete replacement. Trends show that people shop more and more online, and this will just increase in the future. With KA’s new approach, customers will not be able to find the Lawnbott online while their competition will be found on all major eCommerce web sites. Furthermore, dog fence retailers are not roboticists – even if you train them on the setup and installation of a specific robot. Technology is evolving fast and KA seems to think that robot mowers will always use the patented, sinusoidal signal based perimeter wire (a patent which is soon to expire). So it seems that KA is gambling their future in a network of brick and mortar stores and in the hands of dog fence pet retailers – to the blatant disregard of their long term partners. Here are some the questions we raised with KA when learning the news:
Here's the answer we received:
So this is a direct, purely business, zero emotion, “stone-cold” answer, right?
RobotShop is not a company like most others. We think there is a way to respect others even in business. RobotShop is here for the long run and we want to work with manufacturers who want to build lasting and prosperous business relationships in order to offer the best selection of products, service and support to our customers.  Trust is critical for lasting business relationships We hope you will understand that given KA’s current approach of increasingly restricting online sales and disregarding long-term business relationships, we have chosen to no longer represent them and will stop selling and supporting the Lawnbott Brand. This is unfortunately the second time we have had to drop a robot mower manufacturer, the first being Friendly Robotics, largely because of product quality issues and severe lack of support from the manufacturer. But don't worry! We are seeing the emergence of several new manufacturers with new technology. Big names are starting to make their presence known in the robot lawn mower market and include brands like Honda, John Deere and Bosh. Stay tuned to RobotShop to get the best robot mowers and the best service. All LawnBott products are currently on sale and will be removed from RobotShop web sites once inventory is sold. As always, we will support all of our customers who bought (and intend to purchase) from us until the end of the product’s warranty period. We are asking the community what you think about KA's strategy? Is it good, bad or incomplete? What are your thoughts about the way they treat their long-term partners? Mario Tremblay        |
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