Consumer 3D printers find another huge retail outlet as Makerbot and HomeDepot team up to sell Replicators and Digitizers.
MakerBot and The Home Depot® announce a collaboration to bring MakerBot® Replicator® Desktop 3D Printers to customers on homedepot.com/makerbot and in 12 Home Depot stores in California, Illinois and New York beginning July 14, 2014. This is the first time The Home Depot has offered 3D printers for sale in its stores and will be a pilot program for MakerBot and The Home Depot.
MakerBot was founded in 2009 and specializes in desktop 3D printers and scanners. MakerBot is a leader in the desktop 3D printer market with more than 50,000 MakerBot 3D Printers out in the world. MakerBot sets itself apart by offering an entire MakerBot 3D Ecosystem that makes 3d printing easy and accessible for everyone. The MakerBot 3D Ecosystem includes its 3D printers and scanners, its website Thingiverse.com, the world’s largest 3D
printing design community for discovering, creating, and sharing of 3D printable files, as well as software, apps, partnerships with leading companies, MakerBot Learning training programs, and its own retail stores in New York, Boston and Greenwich, Connecticut. MakerBot’s products include the award-winning MakerBot Replicator line of 3D printers which includes the MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printer, the MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printer, the MakerBot Replicator Z18 3D Printer, the MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer and the MakerBot Digitizer™ Desktop 3D Scanner.
MakerBot 3D Printing and Scanning products will be showcased inside The Home Depot stores in specially designed kiosks that will encourage visitors to experience the wonder of 3D printing firsthand. Trained MakerBot retail staff will provide continual 3D printing demonstrations and offer 3D printed keepsakes for interested customers to take home with them, as well as help with purchase decisions.
The Home Depot stores (12) to offer the MakerBot Replicator 3D printing products and hands on demonstrations will be:
MakerBot is a global leader in the desktop 3D printing industry, and The Home Depot is the world’s largest home
improvement specialty retailer. By joining forces to showcase the power and versatility of 3D printing in a DIY retail environment, the companies hope to educate customers, who range from builders, architects and contractors to designers, landscapers and general consumers, on the benefits of 3D printing technology. MakerBot 3D printing is used for fast, inexpensive production of replacement parts, product prototypes, architectural designs, art projects, collectibles and many other items.
“We are thrilled to partner with The Home Depot to help bring MakerBot 3D printing technology to The Home Depot customers,” noted Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot. “Imagine a world where you can 3D print replacement parts and use 3D printing as an integral part of design and building work. Every day we see the magic of 3D printing becoming a reality with our customers; now The Home Depot can also see that magic. We can’t wait to see what The Home Depot customers make with our products.”
“We are continually looking to bring the latest innovation to our customers and are excited to offer MakerBot 3D Printing products in select stores and on homedepot.com. MakerBot 3D printers are yet another great technology that can serve particular needs of specific customers,” said Joe Downey, Merchant, The Home Depot.
Source: Makerbot