SERVICE DEALER'S MOST READ 2019 STORIES

Throughout 2019 the Service Dealer Weekly Update was delivered to our dealer subscribers every Friday lunchtime, featuring all the news and developments from this fascinating industry.

In the first Update of the new year we like to look back to see which stories caught the interest of our dealer readers the most over the past 12 months.

As ever the items which earned the most click-throughs are a mixture of the surprising, unusual, dramatic, celebratory and disappointing. 

So without further ado, here in ascending order are the 10 most read stories from the Service Dealer Weekly Update, throughout 2019:

10.

STIHL ANNOUNCE DIRECT ONLINE SALES CHANNEL - 1st February 2019

STIHL Great Britain announced plans to launch a pilot direct online sales channel for its range of consumer cordless garden power tools from late February 2019.

9.

DOE BUYS BARTRAM MOWERS - 30th August 2019

On 29th August Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd completed the purchase of Bartram Mowers and as part of the deal, also acquired Bartram’s established lawnmowersdirect e-commerce platform.

8.

DEALER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS UNVEILED - 25th October 2019

Service Dealer revealed the dealerships who made the cut and were our finalists in each of the core 2019 Dealer Of The Year categories.

7.

LEGAL ROW BREAKS OUT BETWEEN JCB AND MANITOU - 1st March 2019

JCB was granted a preliminary injunction by a French court against Manitou which ordered the company to stop producing telehandlers featuring a patented JCB productivity device - but Manitou hit back against "misleading" statement.

6.

BRIGGS & STRATTON ORDERED TO PAY $28.8M DAMAGES - 25th January 2019

In the latest development in a nearly decade-old patent lawsuit, Briggs & Stratton Corp. was once again ordered to pay damages to a subsidiary of The Toro Co.

5.

JT FRISKNEY CLOSES DOORS AFTER 110 YEARS TRADING - 18th October 2019

MD of the long-established Lincolnshire agricultural and domestic machinery dealership, Eric Young, described the decision to close as the hardest he has ever had to make.

4.

DEALER OF THE YEAR WINNERS 2019 ANNOUNCED - 22nd November 2019

Details of all the winners of the 2019 Dealer Of The Year awards, who were presented with their honours at the prestigious awards ceremony.

3.

DEALER TARGETED BY THIEVES YET AGAIN - 4th January 2019

Ringwood-based Penn Lawn Mowers, who suffered two break-ins and multiple credit-card frauds in 2017, were broken into again by thieves over the Christmas 2018 break.

2.

MARK ROCHFORD LEAVES ROCHFORD GARDEN MACHINERY - 1st February 2019

Mark Rochford left the company that bears his family name, leaving the business with no family members remaining following its sale to AL-KO Gardentech in summer 2018.

1.

SIGNIFICANT COMMERCIAL CHANGES ANNOUNCED BY STIHL GB - 5th April 2019

On the morning of Friday 5th April 2019, STIHL informed its dealers of a number of significant changes and announced plans for a new STIHL Approved Dealer contract.