• Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Special Offers
Business Intelligence Info
  • Business Intelligence
    • BI News and Info
    • Big Data
    • Mobile and Cloud
    • Self-Service BI
  • CRM
    • CRM News and Info
    • InfusionSoft
    • Microsoft Dynamics CRM
    • NetSuite
    • OnContact
    • Salesforce
    • Workbooks
  • Data Mining
    • Pentaho
    • Sisense
    • Tableau
    • TIBCO Spotfire
  • Data Warehousing
    • DWH News and Info
    • IBM DB2
    • Microsoft SQL Server
    • Oracle
    • Teradata
  • Predictive Analytics
    • FICO
    • KNIME
    • Mathematica
    • Matlab
    • Minitab
    • RapidMiner
    • Revolution
    • SAP
    • SAS/SPSS
  • Humor

C.O. Bigelow’s Secret Formula: How a 180-Year Old Family-Run Business Stays Relevant, Profitable

January 9, 2019   NetSuite

Posted by Kristin Swenson, Wholesale Distribution Industry Marketing Lead

Asked how he deals with that simultaneously nebulous and ubiquitous term “disruption” that defines the retail space today, Ian Ginsberg recalls a wave of it that occurred nearly 40 years ago – when the chain store pharmacies started to move into New York City. He remembers his father, then the owner of C.O. Bigelow, sitting down every week with the other owners of local pharmacies, passionately debating the prices they’d set for Bic pens or Tylenol in the upcoming weekly circular in order to compete with the new big box stores.

That’s when it hit Ginsberg: C.O. Bigelow was never going to win on price alone. But it could win on experience – in both senses of that word.

“They have 8,000 stores. That’s a game you can’t win,” he recalled saying at the time. “While everybody’s chasing the price and the corner, let’s focus on doing something else. Let’s focus on things that we have that they don’t have. Let’s focus on things we can own that they can't own.

Bigelow C.O. Bigelow’s Secret Formula: How a 180 Year Old Family Run Business Stays Relevant, Profitable

The business, now in its 180th year, then had 145 years of experience to draw on. It had a brand and a flagship store in Greenwich Village renowned for dispensing superior products and trustworthy advice on everything from blush to blood pressure medication. Staying true to that – and building on it – would continue to differentiate it from bigger competitors and carve out and cement the value of its brand in a world in which “everyone is a Google doctor or Google beauty advisor.”

“My philosophy is, if it’s a game you can’t win, play a different game,” he said.

In the years since, that philosophy has helped C.O. Bigelow continue to drive growth as a profitable brand. The New York retail store has expanded as an online seller and wholesale distributor of beauty and care products to 1,000 retail partners like Nordstrom and Sephora, and continues to introduce its customers to products they can’t find anywhere else as an importer and distributor of “likeminded” multigenerational brands — such as a 100-plus-year-old Italian shaving cream.

Selling products decades later with the same ethos that inspired Eleanor Roosevelt to pen a thank you note in 1942 doesn’t mean C.O. Bigelow needs to change its business model, or look for an exit strategy, but instead it finds ways to maintain its legacy in a fast-moving, complex market. Ginsberg – now prepping his son as the fourth generation to lead the business – will share his advice in an exclusive webcast.

“If you’re lucky enough to build something and sell it tomorrow, then what are you going to do?,” Ginsberg said. “What happened to building something for the sake of building it? And loving doing something you’re passionate about? We take a long-haul view.”

Register for the Jan. 16 webcast to hear advice from a business legend on building something that is profitable and lasting, including:

  • How Ginsberg continues to build and drive a profitable C.O. Bigelow brand, and what he looks for in introducing new products.
  • How C.O. Bigelow is using Amazon, and what advantages integration with online marketplaces can lend to the brick-and-mortar store.
  • How a 180-year old business is dealing with today’s economic realities, including everything from tariffs to complying with regulations on beauty products that differ by country.
Posted on Tue, January 8, 2019
by Barney Beal filed under

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

The NetSuite Blog

180Year, Bigelow’s, Business, C.O., FamilyRun, Formula, Profitable, Relevant, secret, Stays
  • Recent Posts

    • The Easier Way For Banks To Handle Data Security While Working Remotely
    • 3 Ways Data Virtualization is Evolving to Meet Market Demands
    • Did you find everything you need today?
    • Missing Form Editor through command bar in Microsoft Dynamics 365
    • I’m So Excited
  • Categories

  • Archives

    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
© 2021 Business Intelligence Info
Power BI Training | G Com Solutions Limited