INNOVATION (July 1st, 2010)
Are you an innovator? Most of us would say that we are not. That’s a shame – and inaccurate. The reality is that most people are hard-wired innovators but don’t recognize it in themselves.
To succeed, companies need a continuous stream of low-level innovation that seeps through all levels of the business. Innovation is in Tusco’s DNA. From simply repositioning materials to improve output or to make a job easier to do to modifying a piece of equipment to perform a new task or an old task better to coming up with a radically better way to merchandise products, Tusco is a hotbed of innovation.
New ideas don’t always work. Time recently highlighted the 50 Worst Inventions. From New Coke to asbestos, they pummel ideas that flopped. That’s a bit misleading. The act of innovating isn’t about always succeeding; it’s about trying to find a better way. Sometimes that new path leads down a blind alley but sometimes it takes you to a new and better place. Failure is no reason to stop innovating; it’s simply an inevitable part of the process.
We won’t develop a cure for the common cold at Tusco but that doesn’t mean that we don’t innovate daily. As expert problem-solvers, we develop creative solutions that matter to our clients, that drive costs out of processes, that improve value, that streamline production, that sell more products for our clients.
THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER (June 1st, 2010)
Do you remember this Aesop’s fable? The grasshopper spent the warm months singing away while the industrious ant worked to store up food for winter. When winter arrives, the grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, and upon asking the ant for food, was only rebuffed for its idleness. The story is used to teach the virtues of hard work and saving. Some versions of the fable state a moral at the end, e.g., "Idleness brings want." See Proverbs 6:6-9.
Tusco never stands idle. Even in slower times, we explore ways to improve ourselves, ready for the next wave of work from clients new and old. Today, we have lots of work and are bettering ourselves, too.
Still, we know that seasons come and go. Times of want may follow times of plenty. That’s why we invest in our operations and store up resources during the best times to weather cyclical downturns but also to better serve our clients during times of their greatest needs.
FAILURE (May 17th, 2010)
What do Henry Ford, Miles Davis, Thomas Edison, Confucius, Robert Louis Stevenson, Horace, Bill Cosby, Robert Kennedy, Sir Laurence Olivier, Thomas Watson, Beverly Sills, Douglas McArthur, Winston Churchill, Malcolm Forbes, John Barrymore and Charles Kettering have in common?
An enlightened view of what "failure" is.
If you want to innovate, you will first need to let go of your notion of what failure is. As Soichiro Honda (yes, that Honda) says, "Success is 99% failure." Failure isn’t the opposite of success; it’s the precursor to success.
Our business thrives on innovation. New materials, new approaches, new ideas – many of them fail to gain traction. Still, we must push the envelope, look for new and better ways to make the best impression with shoppers for our brand clients, find better ways to effectively work to meet our clients’ needs.
Paradoxically, if we are not failing, we are not trying hard enough, we are not being creative enough and we are not moving forward fast enough. Failure only hurts us if we miss the chance to learn from our mistakes. Don’t fear failure. You only fall on your face if you’re moving. Prefer the pain of failure over the disease of complacency. We can learn from and build on our missteps.
SURGING RETAIL SALES (May 1st, 2010)
News reports continue to trumpet the return of the American consumer to the store. Automotive has seen a major spike in the past few months but so have many product categories. The Wall Street Journal highlighted these facts a couple weeks ago in an article and again today (May 3). Consumer behavior is vital to the U.S. economy: about 70% of gross domestic product, the broad measure of U.S. economic activity, consists of consumer spending.
In-store marketing is vital to consumer behavior. That’s in part why we have seen such an uptick in activity from clients new and old. They are scrambling to greet the shopper with new fixtures, new messages, new and improved products. Some have waited too long and will miss this upswing while others have been aggressive in their preparations.
Stores are where more people learn about products than any other source. Confirmation of this fact comes from a new Nielsen Bases study that shows how stores top TV, print, word-of-mouth and the Internet. Getting the word out means getting the product properly displayed where it’s most often seen and purchased: in-store.
BUSINESS BUILDING (April 15th, 2010)
I spent a day last month visiting stores with a client route salesperson. We met store managers, took inventory, stocked shelves, discussed his retail accounts and talked business in general. I relish the opportunity to spend time in stores with thoughtful and successful clients.
The experience reinforced for me the pivotal role that POP displays play in selling product. In one convenience store, for instance, his display was moved nine feet from his preferred location close to the coffee to the back of the store. The product didn’t change, the pricing didn’t change, the competitive offerings didn’t change and the store patrons didn’t change. Yet, his volume dropped 80%. Helping him win a favorable location in each store is part of our job.
Getting it right in the store is THE crucial element for most products because most shoppers make most buying decisions in the aisle: 70% of purchases are influenced by what they see in the store.
As manufacturers, we sometimes get wrapped up in how we engineer displays, purchase materials, plan production and deliver on time. These are important but we must never lose sight of the fact that we are strategic and tactically critical cogs in the process our clients – brands and retailers – use to build their businesses.
Take note and take pride: Tusco knows displays.
ONE DOWN, THREE TO GO (April 1st, 2010)
The first quarter of 2010 has come and gone. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, two-thirds of the 8.4 million jobs lost during the recession have come from manufacturing, construction and business services and may be gone for a long time; they only see 40% of the lost manufacturing jobs returning by 2013. Yet, in a recent survey, 60% of NAM members have seen an upturn. NAM predicts a robust manufacturing rebound in 2011-12.
Hope remains for manufacturing in the US. Higher energy costs will make importing relatively more expensive. When interest rates eventually rise, maintaining long supply chains will grow more costly as well. Having cost-effective, nimble and reliable suppliers right here will be seen as a competitive advantage for brand marketers and retailers who want to be cost-effective, nimble and reliable for their customers, too.
More than 80% of businesses report that some portion of their supply chain is now based overseas -- but fewer than half of business leaders say that international sourcing produces a positive return-on-investment, according to a new Grant Thornton survey. That only half of executives see positive returns from globalized supply chains springs from the increased risk factors they bring; experts note that factors like quality control and currency stability are far easier to handle when your suppliers are in your own back yard. Learn more through the link to the Industry Week article here.
SPRING (March 17th, 200)
March brings warmer weather, Daylight Savings Time and the first shoots of spring in the yard here in Ohio. At retail, it also brings out March Madness (NCAA basketball), St Patrick’s Day and Easter/Passover promotions. For brand marketers and retailers alike, the calendar is less about months and more about the promotions they use to encourage consumption in various ways throughout the year.
This time of the year, the Easter Bunny rules at the mall. Home and garden shows also draw millions of Americans to stores. Green brew can be found in most watering holes in honor of St Patrick. And candy, candy, candy! Though consumption has declined somewhat, Easter remains one of the Big Four – along with Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Day – of annual candy-buying (and consuming) occasions.
These seasonal celebrations come and go. Summer follows spring just as Labor Day sales follow Back to School sales in August. One constant in all of these promotions is the store. As the Wooster professor mentions in the Easter Bunny article linked above, malls have become a place where people come together to share a common experience. Since 94% of all retail purchases by Americans are still made in stores, making just the right impression is the difference between a product making it into the shopper’s basket – plastic grass optional – or not.
TIMES A-CHANGING (March 1st, 2010)
Bob Dylan famously wrote, "The Times They Are A-Changing" back in the 1960’s but no one then predicted how change would accelerate over the intervening decades. Change went into overdrive in 2009 as many industries faced cataclysmic challenges. The advertising industry is no different. According to BrandWeek, US advertising declined by 9% in 2009 from an only-dismal 2008.
Change came to Tusco in 2009 too as we rationalized some processes, upgraded capabilities and focused on core competencies. We disposed of older equipment and changed our work flow to reduce muda ( Japanese for "waste") in a Lean environment. Of course, change is nothing new for a successful producer of custom store fixtures and permanent POP displays: we rapidly evolve to meet the changing needs of our clients. Brand marketers bring new products to market and, with them, come new merchandising needs. New clothing line = new fixtures. New jewelry products = new displays. New retail environment = new in-store equipment. We’re in the change business.
The only people who like change are panhandlers and babies with wet diapers. But change is as essential to a business as clients and suppliers. At Tusco, we will always embrace change and the challenges it entails because our future arises from change.
MOST VALUABLE (February 5th, 2010)
Recent analysis of 2,000,000+ grocery shoppers by Concept Shopping shows that the top ten percent of a store's customers visit the store more than twice a week, spend over $39 per visit, and represent nearly 40 percent of the store's total sales. The study also found that these most valuable shoppers tend to remain very loyal to the store, with 95 percent continuing to shop there throughout the year.
Serving those most loyal shoppers pays dividends. Stores are striving to understand their shoppers better than ever so they can fashion the shopping experience to serve those most valuable customers. One recent learning has been the emotional response that women typically feel toward conventional, rectangular, steel endcaps. According to Dr Michelle Adams, Frito-Lay’s director of consumer strategy and insights, it’s equivalent to the response one feels toward a hot stove. “Hands off!” is not what anyone wants. Knowing this, marketers are turning to friendlier designs to round corners and lessen the negative emotional response of prospective buyers.
We help our clients generate positive emotional responses from their shoppers. In doing so, we shape our products and services to meet the needs of our most loyal clients. We apply engineering, psychology, design, manufacturing and distribution knowhow to help our clients connect with their shoppers. That’s how Tusco creates value.
TAKING A BATH (February 1st, 2010)
One of our clients – a bath enclosure manufacturer – recently sent us an unsolicited compliment that read, in part, "everything went as smoothly as possible and we were very pleased with the Tusco team performance. We appreciated the level of communication and commitment to details. Very, very happy." Such feedback is gratifying on several levels.
First, we satisfied our client. When we do this, chances are good that we’ll get the chance to do it again.
Second, it tells us that we’re doing something right. This doesn’t mean that we do it flawlessly for we must always seek opportunities to continuously improve what we do. But it tells us that the client feels good about the value we provided.
Third, it encourages us to find other potential clients who have similar challenges to creatively overcome. In this case, our client retrofitted about 250 stores, spending a fraction – perhaps 25% – of what it would have cost to completely replace their fixtures for their newest product offerings. Especially in tough times, helping our clients spend their dollars wisely makes us heroes.
This leaves us scratching our heads and scouring our prospect lists as we ask, "Who else wants to save a lot of money by spending a little with us?"
SHOPPER MARKETING (January 15th 2010)
You cannot spit in marketing circles anywhere in the world these days without someone using the term. Wikipedia defines shopper marketing as “brand marketing in the retail environment” and includes display, packaging, category management, coupons, and marketing research.
I eat Campbell’s soup for lunch several times a week. On my most recent shopping trip to Buehler’s, I found it on sale and stocked up. The gravity-fed display worked well in presenting, rotating and promoting the products. As I went through the checkout line, the cashier handed me coupons for my next Campbell’s soup purchases, too. The display, packaging, price promotion, coupons – that’s all shopper marketing.
At Tusco, we spend a great deal of time thinking about how shoppers shop, how buyers buy and how retailers merchandise. We quiz our clients to learn about their precise goals for the display, what products go on it, where it will be used, how it will get to the store, who is likely to install it, and who will maintain/stock it.
A great-looking display is worthless – if it never gets successfully installed because a part was damaged or the clerk couldn’t figure out how to do it. That’s why we welcome calls from the field but it’s also why we insure that every unit leaves our facility with every part necessary, sufficient packaging to protect it, clear assembly instructions (as needed) and our toll-free number in case a problem arises.
Shopper marketing will continue to be a very big deal because 70% of all retail purchase decisions are made in the store and, according to Nielsen, 68% of those decisions are unplanned. If you don’t get it right there, nothing else you do will matter.
Tusco helps our clients get it right in-store.
THE AUGHTS (January 1th, 2010)
Have you seen, heard or thought about what to call 2010? Is it "twenty-ten" or "2000 and ten" or something else? The discussion reminds me that we never established a cultural norm for what to call the decade now ending.
We had the „50‟s, „60‟s, „70‟s, „80‟s, „90‟s and then…nothing. The "Zeroes?" No. The "Aughts?" I think not. Regardless of what they were, we ought to learn from them.
As a nation, we ought to have saved more and lived less on credit. (Need to remind Congress on that last point.) We ought to have purchased lower-priced homes and cars, less fast food and grown more of our own food, and fretted less. We ought to have tightened airport security and taken more seriously the threat of militant Islam. We ought to have bought Google and Apple stock and sold AIG and Citi. We ought to have taken better care of ourselves and our neighbors.
What‟s past is past. How ought we live and work and act in 2010 and the Teens to follow?
I believe that we‟ll see a solid business rebound but a more conservative, once-bitten-twice-shy approach to many things in our lives. I believe that inflation will become a problem within a year, that we‟ll see gas over $4 a gallon by 2011 and Democrats will retain smaller majorities in both houses.
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