Services
Case Study 1
The Results
Yvolution, a leading Irish children’s ride-on (skateboards, scooters, balance bike) manufacturer was doing business in Japan with TRU and wanted to further expand their business. They elected to open a subsidiary. Eric Weber was hired to open the subsidiary, determine the distribution strategy, and develop the pricing and margin structure to maximize the profitability of the total enterprise’s sales in Japan.
- Retail landscape mapping.
- Competitive landscape mapping.
- Pricing and margin structure analysis
- Localization of product
- Selection of distributor or creation of your own subsidiary
- Operations of your subsidiary or managment of the distributor
- Financial analysis of the entire market opportunity with go/no go decision framworks
- Market research
- Product compliance and registration
First we did a retail map and identified the retailers, price points and competitors in the Japan market. TW Consulting principals then found a distributor/exclusive wholesaler to purchase the product FOB China and bring it into Japan. The product packaging was localized so that Japanese consumers would appreciate the brand further. Pricing was determined and set to minimize disruptions in the market between local Japan retailers and TRU. Distribution was secured at Aeon, the leading mass merchant in Japan, with a total of 6 feet of merchandising space allocated. This was a major accomplishment in a high cost of retail real estate market like Japan. Additional channels of distribution were identified and distributor/wholesaler candidates were vetted for additional expansion in the near future. Sales and profits more than tripled in 12 months. New customers beyond Aeon were added like Akachan Honpo, camera stores, and department stores.
Case Study 2
Mattel, the largest toy company in the world, was already doing business in Japan. Eric Weber was hired to further expand the business thru distributor and subsidiary sales, revise the product portfolio and reduced the ongoing excess stock situation. Initially product lines had to be pruned from the Mattel Japan product portfolio. This resulted in a more focused product line that was in alignment with the worldwide core strengths of the Mattel brands. A distributor or subsidiary model had to be decided upon to handle the distribution of a newly acquired company, Tyco Brands. Current brands had to be more Japan focused in their product strategy to better compete in the market place. Finally the factories needed to accommodate the localization of the product without producing excess or dead stock.
Sales increased from $22 million to $42 million in 3 years and profitability increased significantly. Product lines pruned resulted in sales increasing on all core brands which included Fisher Price, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Polly Pocket and Disney Preschool and Infant products. Disney increased to be the largest sales for Mattel worldwide in this category. Barbie was repositioned and localized to make her more acceptable to the Japan market which turned this business around. Inventory and dead stock were reduced and eliminated due to better minimum order quantity practices at the factory even with Japanese packaging and specialized products for the Japan market. Distributors were selected for the Tyco brands and other non core Mattel product lines like Power Wheels.