Grill manufacturers … how to count how many


 
Mark Foreman

Mark Foreman

TVWBB Wizard
Read on the internet that Weber continues to have a big market share in the grill market. Love it. I prefer Webers and have for 35 years plus.

However, there has been comments here on the decline of the Weber market share. With that being said, I started to try to figure out how many grills (gas, charcoal, pellet, electric, solar??, as seen on TV) are on the market. I gave up at 75 I was totally surprised at how many were available.

You now can choose between stick burners, charcoal, pellet, LP, NG, electric, portable, as seen on TV, part of another cooker, and solar not to mention recipe options in slow cooker, instapot, oven, etc.

SO, for the newbie or us old guys… how, in todays world, would you choose a ”grill”.

Thoughts??
 
For many things, I would Google search “best xxx in 2022”.

Realize that most of the sites are biased or shilling for someone.

If something shows up on a few sites, I search “xxx reviews”.

And then search YouTube for reviews- those are usually pretty telling.

Then search for a used model or buying new from a retailer with a decent return policy.

However, if it’s something I don’t know too much about, and Costco sells it, I would buy from Costco because I know they are particular about what they sell and if it passes their review process, it’s probably a good bet.

Fwiw

And…joining a forum that deals with any particular product will really give you an education most of the time.
 
John_NJ said:
For many things, I would Google search “best xxx in 2022”.

Realize that most of the sites are biased or shilling for someone.

If something shows up on a few sites, I search “xxx reviews”.

And then search YouTube for reviews- those are usually pretty telling.

Then search for a used model or buying new from a retailer with a decent return policy.

However, if it’s something I don’t know too much about, and Costco sells it, I would buy from Costco because I know they are particular about what they sell and if it passes their review process, it’s probably a good bet.

Fwiw

And…joining a forum that deals with any particular product will really give you an education most of the time.
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Costco, Sam's, Amazon, all have liberal return policies, and there are others such as Target and Walmart that do as well. It's all about customer experience. I think, if everything else was the same, I would choose to buy from Amazon because the expense of returning an item like a grill may mean that they would just tell me to keep it and refund my money, as has happened here recently.

But in choosing a grill, one needs to define what their needs are and try to find something suitable, then do their due diligence. Some people are more visual and like video reviews...I like to read.
 
I like Amazon and they have a pretty good return policy.

No one comes close to Costco from what I hear though.

Home Depot used to have a great return policy. In October there were people who would return the lawn mower they bought in May and used all summer.
 
Ed P said:
Costco, Sam's, Amazon, all have liberal return policies, and there are others such as Target and Walmart that do as well. It's all about customer experience. I think, if everything else was the same, I would choose to buy from Amazon because the expense of returning an item like a grill may mean that they would just tell me to keep it and refund my money, as has happened here recently.

But in choosing a grill, one needs to define what their needs are and try to find something suitable, then do their due diligence. Some people are more visual and like video reviews...I like to read.
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Around here, Amazon takes returns in Kohls and Whole Foods, so the stories about people buying a gasoline generator and being told to dispose of it instead of returning it are fewer now I think, but not sure.
 
I've read several stories about this, that retailers don't make enough on most products to handle the returns profitably, and because of supply chain issues their inventory levels need to be held high enough that there is just no room to store return products, so the thought being passed around is to just cut the losses and refund the money without accepting a physical return. Of course, the abuse potential is always there.

Many of the returns go on a pallet and the pallet is sold as a lot. Entrepeneurs then buy the pallets and resell the products through the usual outlets (FBMP. eBay, etc).
 
I tend to over research just about everything I buy.

Spring of 2021 I joined a bunch of grilling and meat smoking forums to lurk and see what others were talking about. On the vendor related sites ( like this one ) some were "fans" and some showed up to complain. It was interesting to see the mix of what people were buying, what they were happy with, and what some of the complaints were. Basically every time I saw an interesting product I looked for and joined the forums.

And then I'd checkout reviews, and videos.

All that said, nothing beats hands-on use.

I used my pellet for a few years and finally decided it wasn't for me.
I really wanted to love the WSM 22, but the setup and clean up was a huge PIA ( for me ) and when I did a side-by-side rib cookoff, the BGE won.

I learned about 13 bar cookboxes in older Genesis 1/2/3; x000s compared to my silver B but and after cooking roti on the 13 bar I was sold. In this case my purchase price was free.95 yet reading about it pushed me to finding one and trying it.

And, not lying at all, I think I looked at the floor sample summit E6 at least 10 times. My local weber and BGE dealer is on my way to costco and I frequently stop in to check out napoleon grills, weber grills, pizza ovens and outdoor furniture. The tipping point was when they put a close out price on it the week weber raised the MSRP.

All that said, I'm betting if stores had a weekend "rental" where the rental would apply to purchase they could sell some kick-A high end grills as long as the rental included some expert advice. Possibly not feasible with delivery and setup costs but wow, that would be a great way to try something high end with less risk.
 
DanHoo said:
All that said, I'm betting if stores had a weekend "rental" where the rental would apply to purchase they could sell some kick-A high end grills as long as the rental included some expert advice. Possibly not feasible with delivery and setup costs but wow, that would be a great way to try something high end with less risk.
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Unfortunately the market is mass consumer, not niche high end. Basically the market is a pyramid shape. The junk at the bottom will last 3-5 years, the mid range will last 5-15 years and the high end is filled with overpriced junk and high quality products.

Unless you’re like a forum member here, deeper into the woods, an enthusiast per se, most people are buying the product de jour with little research or experience.

The people on the forum are the mavens and influencers. There’s substantial experience here that most can discern between junk or quality.

Companies just don’t have the resources to do try and buy’s. It’s the crazies that’ll spend over $1k blind without having used that grill they’re buying. They just take the leap of faith.

And those that spend the $3k and up, god bless them. They have more stomach than I do or they must be mad in love with their purchase.
 
I doubt there are legitimately 75 separate grill manufacturers or more out there. I'm sure that a lot of grills are just labeled with different names depending on who markets them by a much smaller group of manufacturers. I could be wrong but I don't think that I am in this instance.
 
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