Many manufacturers choose to sell to retail shops.

Some sell direct to consumers. This company chose to do both. Their products, manufactured in the U.S., mainly in silver with or without gems, have long been sold in museum shops and through their clients’ online stores. In recent years, they also developed their own B2C to further distribution to end consumers. In spite of their expectation that business would then boom, this was not the case. Increased competition from offshore large-scale factories with much lower labor costs; declining attendance at many museums; and a huge influx of online retailers providing intense and superior digital marketing experiences; all combined to drive their books into the red, with a real question as to how they would survive, much less prosper.

Hill & Co. was invited to come in, evaluate the company’s operations, and see if we could help. We performed a top-to-bottom review of the business. We analyzed financials, P&L, production costs, profit margins, competition, personnel, especially their digital marketing. We identified and introduced them to new markets, revamped their wholesale and retail websites (both B2B and B2C) to bring them to the forefront of client views, and implemented effective social media marketing and advertising, and then trained their staff to continue on these success-driving strategies. HR and personnel processes were streamlined and Standard Operating Procedures with policy set in place were all implemented. Cash flow improved dramatically; profits were booked; they gained multiple new clients and opportunities to expand the business, leveraging increased productivity at the same time. Staff are now properly trained, operations have been brought up to current standards for governmental compliance, and top-level management see blue skies for the future.