Why Is Ryobi Only Sold At Home Depot?

You can't go to Home Depot without seeing the best power tool brands on display. While the home improvement specialty retailer doesn't sell STIHL Tools, there's no shortage of power tool brands available at the store. There are even brands that are exclusive to the company, such as Ryobi. If you haven't noticed yet, Ryobi power tools and products are only sold at Home Depot, even though the Japanese manufacturing conglomerate is not, in any way, owned by the retailer. In fact, Ryobi's international license is with Techtronic Industries (TTI), which is also not related to Home Depot. Despite this, you won't find Ryobi-branded products being sold at other retailers and hardware stores.

So why does Home Depot have exclusive selling rights to Ryobi? While the retailer doesn't own or manufacture Ryobi products, it has an agreement with TTI over the sale of Ryobi tools. It's worth noting that TTI also doesn't technically own Ryobi. It only has a license to the brand's name and production outside of Ryobi's home country, Japan. As a multinational corporation, TTI struck different deals for the distribution and sale of Ryobi products across the globe. And it just so happened that in North America, it partnered with Home Depot for the retail sale of Ryobi tools.

You may be wondering why, even though Home Depot actually owns several brands, including the Husky power tool line, it has chosen to partner with a third party to get exclusive selling rights to Ryobi products. To answer this, you need to map out how and why the retailer got a hold of the brand. Ryobi started its line of power tools in Japan in 1968, and it took over three decades before it licensed its brand internationally through TTI in 2000. In the same year, Home Depot entered a deal with TTI to be the exclusive partner of Ryobi in North America, a very strategic move considering Ryobi was poised to rival Black & Decker in the consumer-grade power tool market.

Ryobi has since become a go-to choice for DIYers, especially since it has a massive portfolio of cordless hand tools and equipment. It notably beat all other brands in terms of market performance in 2021, based on OpenBrand data. This, of course, helped Home Depot secure the lead in the retailer competition. As Ryobi continues to improve and reinvent its products, it goes without saying that Home Depot will continue to benefit from the sale of its ever-growing lineup. The retailer's vice president of merchandising, Jim Recore, recognized this when he said (via Home Depot): "We're proud to have RYOBI as an exclusive partner of The Home Depot. Their dedication and innovation to the battery-powered space continues to bring our customers exciting, new products to help with any project."