Wow. In under 24 hours, one company elevated their brand…and another shattered their reputation.
A picture says a thousand words. Take a gander at three bays of Crane & Co. greeting cards…at Walmart. Note the clearly branded displays emblazoned with the manufacturer’s logo:
Click to view larger image
Click to view larger image
Crane & Co. has been considered the “gold standard,” the “creme de la creme” of fine papers for over 211 years, thanks in great part to independent brick and mortar retailers who elevated the brand above all others. When Crane’s corporate stores failed to produce, they closed them, admitting no one sold the line as loyally or as consistently as independent stationers.
And now this. The so-called “gold standard” has sunk to the penny pinching, barrel bottom realm of slash-n-dash discount big box behemoths.
Don’t get me wrong—Crane’s was very, very good to me during my fourteen years as a fine stationery retailer (with the glaring exception of when they allowed an ex-Crane’s store manager to open a competing shop less than a mile away—in spite of my Black Label account status). Much of my revenue and success came from an undying loyalty to their line and a rep who was The Best of The Best.
But this…this??? Welcome to the biggest example of brand destruction on earth.
If I still owned a store carrying Crane’s stationery, I’d resist my first instinct to call the rep for the purpose of ripping them to shreds. They didn’t make this decision, and they aren’t making any money from it. Key accounts the size of Walmart are serviced at the corporate level, not by a local or regional rep.
I would, however, purchase a box of competitor’s stationery, then send a hand-written note to the company’s CEO letting him know exactly what I thought of this tactic, including my sales figures for previous years, plus the following footnote:
P.S. This stationery was produced by a Crane’s competitor who doesn’t sell to Walmart.
Here’s the address:
Stephen P. DeFalco, CEO
Crane & Co.
30 South Street
Dalton, MA 01226
Plus (if you’re so inclined):
Charles Kittredge
Chairman of the Board
Crane & Co.
30 South Street
Dalton, MA 01226
I realize there are some who will say I’m “stirring the pot,” but by George, this is one pot that needs to be stirred. Now.
Click here to tell me what you think....
I instantly drop any supplier as soon as they appear in Target. My brand vision is to be unique and different. While Target is headquartered locally to me, I just don’t to be pushing the same stuff they do….because it isn’t unique and I can’t compete on the pricing they can get. They probably buy in a day what I might buy in a year. You can bet they get better wholesale prices than me. I’m disappointed by Crane’s decision, both from the “sticking it to their loyal retailers” perspective and from the “I’m from the East Coast and Crane’s has been a mainstay of quality/luxury for generations” perspective. I mean they make the paper that the U.S. Dollar is printed on (and have for a very, very long time)….I wonder when that paper is going to be available at Wal-Mart? lol
This is an unfortunate set of circumstances ~ and an unfortunate article. When I learned of the line of Crane greeting cards in Wal-Mart, I asked the VP of Sales of Crane about it at a Retailer Advisory Board meeting earlier this week in New York.
I can assure you that the current leadership at Crane is keenly focused on the Crane brand and its return to the luxury, heritage brand that we all know and love. This arrangement with Wal-Mart was put into place by the previous president and well before any members of the current leadership could have anything to say about it.
Do I like it? Of course not. I am also one who pulls a line once it shows up in Target and is no longer boutique. However, I am so impressed with Anil Jagtiani and his team ~ who are clearly passionate about working with their retailers in a mutually beneficial way ~ that I am willing to be patient while they work through the sins of the past regime.
I feel strongly that this industry is better served by an open dialogue between trading partners in an effort to resolve issues than it is by lobbing flaming arrows over the castle walls without a full understanding of what is going on behind the scenes.
Please ~ let’s not turn this into a lynch mob that accomplishes nothing more than to further the divide between us. Let’s calmly ask Crane to speak to this issue and let’s listen to what they have to say.
@Holly,
While I appreciate you sharing an opinion, I ask that you please not mischaracterize my post or suggestion to retailers about corresponding with the vendor. Language such as “lobbing flaming arrows over the castle walls” and “let’s not turn this into a lynch mob” is inaccurate at best, incendiary at worst, insinuating that my tone was equally angry and/or inappropriate. It was not.
Instead, I suggested (and stand by the idea) that retailers who disagree with Crane’s decision to sell branded product through a big box discounter should take an appropriate, professional course of action. Rather than provide a scorching blog post worded to incite angry tirades or suggest merchants blast Crane’s social media sites with furious comments, I laid out the facts, then provided a more fitting alternative that relies on a communication media appropriate for the task.
Regardless of who initially made the suggestion that Crane’s should sell to Walmart, the reality is that their shelves are well stocked, with no appearance of discontinued SKUs or shrinking inventory. Will reorders be denied? Hopefully, yes—with the collective voice of independent retailers involved, the odds can’t help but improve.
I sincerely hope your comments about current leadership “working out the sins of the last regime” (again, your words, not mine) ring true and the long-admired Crane’s brand can overcome the dilution resulting from such ill-conceived product placement.
Only time will tell.
Respectfully,
Cinda
I just cancelled an order with a Company who informed me and their other Facebook friends that they were ‘super excited!’ to now be at WalMart. After calling my sales rep who knew nothing of this (and I believe her when she says that) I posted with many other retailers that I was disappointed that they had made this decision. They seemed to think that it was ‘ok’ because they were offering a special product just for Walmart – not what I could buy for my store. And actually I would have been happy to take it if it had been offered to me. They did not understand it was the perception that they were offering a discounted product and it was no longer a specialty line. So I FEEL your pain! I enjoy your blog and thanks for all the great marketing materials!
Thank you, Cinda for posting this information….
Wow Cinda! Were you unfairly blasted or what?
If the new president of Crane is so great, why didn’t they give their loyal retailers a heads up about this? Why did we find out only after it hit Walmart shelves? It is easy to blame past administrations. Politicians do it all the time. Crane has no intentions of letting the Walmart account go.
Another company seeking greater exposure is VERA BRADLEY. Before opening my own specialty store I managed a boutique which still carries the brand but sales have plummeted since they have started servicing the ‘big box’ stores such as TJ Maxx and Dillards. I just don’t get it. If you have paved your path with the specialty stores, and it’s working, why make the change?? Greed?? I think so. But history will show this to be a mad move in the long run. For me, I choose to keep my specialty store special. I choose my loyal customers over the wishy-washy price driven bargain shopper any day!!!!
We do not buy items from companies that sell to a big box or chain. Not just because of the lower prices but because we want to carry gifts you can’t get anywhere else.We have followed this for 65 years and it still works. If they can buy it cheaper or better from someone else we suggest they do so.
I own a small specialty gift and decor shop and just discovered that Walmart is carrying a line that I have been very loyal to for a number of years. (same items exactly, lower pricing) My sales rep is THE best and is working with her manager to figure out just how Walmart managed to get this line. So far they’ve determined that this was a ‘local buy’ with a distributor and Walmarts do this to make their stores more ‘local’. However, I fear that it’s too late to salvage my relationship with this line, since I cannot afford to be branded as carrying the same lines as Walmart. This blog post and comments are really helpful and reassure me that I’m not over-reacting to this situation. Any feedback from small independent businesses is sure helpful!!
I am not a retailer, and I don’t have lots of disposable income, but I don’t shop at Wal-Mart for two reasons–they are in the business of putting people out of business, and they have a lousy reputation re: their employees. To the best of my ability, I shop at independent stores, and I am pleased to say that my children (all adults) also do the same. Keep your local money local is my motto.
There is an independent store near me that carries Crane, and independent card companies, and I go there when I need something special. I don’t like paying almost $3 for a greeting card, but I consider the entertainment factor while perusing the cards, worth the cost of the card. And, the receiver ALWAYS comments on the card.
Why is this all a surprise. A little history about the culture….
1. In the 90′s Cranes went directly to several brokerge firms (on very big orders) and undercut the dealerships’ prices to take the business away.
2. Later on,Cranes opened a network of self owned stores again undecutting the dealer network. After all list price is better then 50% of list.
3. Cranes undercut the dealers a third time when it began to take Christmas card orders directly on the internet – just killing the season for its better dealers.
And my personal experience – when an army captain (just back from Iraq) ordered wedding invitations I gave him a 25% discount
and requested Crane’s match my discount. They refused. And that was over 15 years ago.
Oh, to finish the story I sold the business as soon as could and went on to something
more ethical and rewarding.
The second sign of the Apocalypse…..the first sign was finding William Arthur / Vera Wang engraved note cards at Tuesday Morning for $5 per box.