In both of these cases, large consumer companies (Playtex and Revlon) had brands (Playtex Gloves and Flex Shampoo) that had not seen top-line growth in over 10 years. Playtex Gloves were under assault from low price, Asian imports and Flex was a case study in poor marketing management similar (except in scale) to New Coke. After years of success, Flex, a “value” brand was re-launched as a “premium” brand and soon saw its number 1 market share fade to the bottom-end of the top 10 brands. Continue reading Two Turnarounds That Were 10 Years in the Making
Category Archives: Business Planning
Taking a Retailer from Worst to Best
The Situation
For many years, Duane Reade was the leading drug chain in the New York City metropolitan market. Some of Duane Reade’s stores were the highest volume per door drug stores in the entire country because of their high traffic locations. Yet Duane Reade in the mid 2000’s was hemorrhaging top-line sales due to the encroachment of competitors and their relatively poor customer shopping experience. Continue reading Taking a Retailer from Worst to Best
Do Facts Matter in the Public Sector Debate on Taxes & Spending?
Whiling away the last days of August, waiting for my clients and would-be client to come back from their vacations, I saw a Face Book cry-out from one of my closest (and most successful Wall-Street) friends. It went like this: “We need to cut taxes both personal and corporate, cut our massive government spending to a reasonable level to spur growth to levels where we can start to feel that things are on the right track.” Continue reading Do Facts Matter in the Public Sector Debate on Taxes & Spending?
Ernst & Young on Growth – If a Company Needs Growth It Needs a Plan
For years, E&Y has been surveying corporations around the world on many subjects including a recent thread on what it takes to grow a company in today’s markets. This year’s report was especially sobering in a couple of ways. One such sobering thought was that after 2-3 years of “recovery” one would think that growth on a company level would be getting easier. However, the E&Y survey confirmed that growth for most companies it is actually getting more difficult to achieve. Continue reading Ernst & Young on Growth – If a Company Needs Growth It Needs a Plan
When Things Get Desperate – Consider a Price Increase
It may seem counter-intuitive to think that a company has an opportunity to increase its prices when it is in distress. Yet, we have found in many; maybe even in most cases that distressed clients have pricing power with their customers. Continue reading When Things Get Desperate – Consider a Price Increase