Distribution
Getting crafty
How a little creativity kept the Catan brothers and their company on top
By Megan Tackett
Smart Business Akron/Canton | September 2008
If brothers and co-CEOs Dave and Mike
Catan were going to keep their company
competitive, they were going to have to get creative. The craft industry was changing. The market was more competitive, and
craft retailers demanded a more sophisticated distribution process to cater to customers’ growing needs.
The Catan brothers were up for the challenge. They have witnessed the craft business explode into a $32 billion industry in
the past decade, and through maintaining
flexibility and innovation, they managed to
keep Darice Inc. the No. 1 arts and crafts
distributor in the United States.
A new 750,000-square-foot distribution
center made the entire company more efficient, enabling better customer satisfaction. Radio frequency technology made
paperless order processing possible, for
instance, which significantly reduced both
processing time and paper waste.
But the real secret to the Catans’ success is the company’s innovation center.
Mike and Dave realized that in order to
keep Darice excelling beyond the competition, they needed to invest in product innovation. That meant
investing in employees’ creativity, which meant investing in
creating a place that fostered
such creativity.
Thus, the innovation center
was born. The center has two
functions: to inspire confidence and creativity in employees as a workplace and in customers as a showplace for new,
finished products.
So far, the center has been
well worth the investment.
Since its completion in August
of last year, research and development at Darice is a booming
part of the business. The creative services department more
than tripled in size, growing from a modest five-person staff to 16. The growth attracted the attention of David
LoPriore, who relocated to Cleveland
from New York City to act as executive
director of creative development.
The Catans did more than simply grow Darice internally; they
broke down traditional barriers
by forging partnerships with
small creative companies that
had great products but lacked
production and marketing distribution capacities. Now, Darice is
not only one of the few craft distribution companies that can
boast developing new, original
product lines, but it is also marketing products that it would otherwise never have had access to
without the licensing agreements
that the Catans furnished.
HOW TO REACH: Darice Inc., (440) 238-9150 or
www.darice.com
