CONSUMER PRODUCTS MARKETING (Mighty handle™)
The consumer products group at InkCycle represents several innovative products created by local inventors. Because of our relationships with big box retailers such as Walmart, Staples and HSN, we leverage these brands to expand their reach deeper into consumer markets.
Mighty Handle is one of those products that has benefited from my user experience and packaging expertise. Packaging was immediately revamped to be more retail-friendly. We also performed marketing research that indicated a change in the product design was needed to encourage even more Mighty Handle evangelists. That design was sold into outlets such as Walmart, and HSN chose to pick up the re-designed product on national levels.
Responsible for:
- Locating retail outlets to sell the product. InkCycle produces the product in the USA and it was being sold exclusively online when we purchased the company in 2013.
- Attended and presented product at Walmart’s annual “Made in the USA” summit where it was accepted by the buyer and began shipping into stores a few months later.
- Rebrand the product for national sales.
- Create retail packaging that sells the product and meets the requirements for various big box vendors.
- Complete sales and marketing paperwork involving the product including working within HSN Partner Portal, C&S Wholesale Grocer, A&P stores, Kroger-Fred Meyer, reuseit.com, SuperValu Group and Walmart’s Retail Link.
- Manage social media accounts, photography for packaging, packaging layout and design, sales sheets and materials and all point-of-sale support materials for retailers.
Results:
- Escalating sales at Walmart to over $10,000 per week. Previous to introduction in Retail Link, the Mighty Handle sold less than $10,000 a quarter in sales.
- Numerous online and social media mentions providing support for the products.
- New product configuration for HSN (Home Shopping Network) netted sales of over 350 products in a 7 minute airing. This is against an HSN expected sales number of 100 products in that time frame.