Side view

14 September 2005

Retail therapy

I like to be organised, though confess I don’t often succeed. However, this year I have made a special effort, and have turned my thoughts early towards Christmas shopping. My first port of call, of course, had to be the shops of the crane manufacturers, as featured on their websites.

The Wal-Mart (or should I say Bloomingdales) of crane manufacturer shops has to be Manitowoc.

There are a staggering 66 items in the accessories/gifts department, including hardhat decals, pens, mugs, flags, bags, key tags, golf paraphernalia, watches, lighters and – my favourite – temporary tattoos, including the Born to Lift ones (35c a pop) first seen at Conexpo 99.

None can match Manitowoc’s range of clothing either. There are 17 different baseball caps, six polo shirts, and seven jackets ranging from denim to leather. There are also a couple of hooded sweatshirts, or ‘hoodies’, that the UK press has deemed synonymous with youth crime.

Manitowoc’s clothing department also has 16 types of T-shirts (price $14.95), including a rather nice retro Speedcrane one. I was very taken with the Radical Rigger ones, which I had not seen before. However, I was disappointed not to see my old mate Crane Man featured in the product line. The good news, though, is that you can find him in the bargain basement clearance section, going for $6.67 (what a snip!), but there were only two left when I last checked so you had better hurry. The fact that there were 261 other items in this ‘close out’ clearance section shows just how seriously Manitowoc takes this brand promotion stuff, refreshing its range even quicker than it updates its crane product line.

Always highly popular are the crane models. New from Manitowoc’s shop is the 1:50 scale 18000 model, just released this month in time for Christmas – price $680 (plus an extra $95 for a boom extension kit). The upperworks are made of brass, and the crawler assembly and Max-ER attachment are die-cast. The colour is Manitowoc red (of course), with All Erection branding.

Also available from Manitowoc’s shop are 1:50 models of the 555 ($250), the GMK 7550 ($450), the GMK 3055 ($150) and the RT 870 ($110).

Freddy bears and cheese-heads

It took me some minutes to find the Liebherr shop, but I got there in the end (via ‘Services’). There are 23 items of clothing, ranging from caps to fleeces and jackets. And there are 54 scale models from across the Liebherr range, including five tower cranes, six mobiles (prices ranging from u38 for the LTM 1045/1 to u200 for the LTM 1300/1), two crawlers (including the LR 1750 at u439) and one mobile harbour crane.

The accessories section is comparatively light – backpack, torch, mug, umbrella – but it does feature (for just u6.99) the only branded teddy bear that I came across (named Freddy bear, presumably, but it doesn’t say).

Over at Tadano Faun ‘Fan Shop’ there are the usual pens, penknives, keyrings, caps and T-shirts (including ‘Crane of the Year ATF 160G-5’ and yours for just u7.50), plus some more unusual items, such as crane jewellery in silver, and elegant silver-plated executive toys and desk accessories. Scale 1:50 models available include the ATF 100-5 (u106.80) and the ATF 45-3 (u89).

By contrast, Terex doesn’t seem to go in for promoting this sort of stuff much. There is a ‘Shop’ button on the terex-cranes.com homepage, but the focus is exclusively on the serious business of scale models. Available are 1:50 models of the AC 200-1 (u94), the AC 30 (u42) and the AC 35 (u73 - a bargain, considering there was one on ebay the other day for more than u100).

I drew a blank at Kobelco, and at leading loader crane producers Palfinger and Hiab, but over at Sennebogen’s shop there are 28 items, led by three scale models – the star of which is the 5500 Star-Lifter (u130). The usual shirts, jackets, pens, umbrella, backpacks, and desk accessories are all there. However, there are some nice touches of Sennebogen quirkiness. I am not sure how much demand there will be for the Sennebogen manicure set, but how about a Bavarian lidded beer tankard (for which you will also need your Sennebogen bottle opener), and a cheese set (contents: Cream cheese bowl, serving plate, cheese knife, cream cheese spoon, and cheese guide).

With so many cheese-heads as employees (that’s supporters of the local American football team Green Bay Packers to the uninitiated), shouldn’t Manitowoc follow Sennebogen’s lead here? After all, a cheeseboard is the only thing missing from its shop.