Do the research
Making the decision to create a new product or enter a new market can make or break you. It can’t be taken lightly or done too quickly before knowing how and if you can do it.
“You have to make certain that you’re doing your homework upfront,” Ouellette says. “When we were first trying to determine what products we wanted to expand into, we checked with our customers to find out if some of the items we were looking at would have enough room for a new supplier. When we went to the retailers and said we’re interested in getting into the pillow business, they welcomed that idea. They said the industry does need another supplier.”
In American Textile’s case, the company had good products and an audience buying them. The company wanted to expand its business of making mattress and pillowcases by manufacturing something that wouldn’t require a huge change in the company, and pillows were a perfect fit.
“For us, the question became what product do you want to get involved in?” Ouellette says. “We are in the textile business and we make things that protect mattresses and pillows. The one thing that we required of ourselves was we didn’t want to write a plan that saw ourselves making batteries for automobiles two years from now. We wanted to make certain that whatever we did we utilized our existing core competencies the best we could.
“I would suggest that any company that wants to grow should look around and ask themselves, ‘What are similar types of products that can be manufactured or distributed?’ You have to look at who the competition is and understand what the market looks like. Is the market ready for another manufacturer or distributor of those products? You also have to be honest with yourself and ask whether you’re just going to be me-too or will you be able to provide some innovation in that category that will differentiate you from the competition?”
