It would be polite not to mention Crocs around Joyce Groote, whose Richmond, B.C., company has been selling foam clogs just as long as her Colorado-based competitor. The two companies' histories are somewhat intertwined, though today Holeys, Ms. Groote's company, is a distant No. 2 in the duel between the manufacturers. That makes Crocs the evil empire.
Today, however, sales have tumbled for both firms, and the Canadian company is trying to reinvent itself amid a slow economy with new product lines, a new distribution model and a tighter focus on a few consumer niches, all under a new brand (until last year, the company was called Holey Soles).
In fact, Ms. Groote says her now-much-smaller company is no longer about shoes but about the proprietary foam they're made of, and the many innovative products that can formed out of the material. Ms. Groote and her efforts are profiled in the new issue of Report on Small Business magazine: find the article here.
A geneticist by training, Ms. Groote is the former president of Ottawa-based industry association BioteCanada. After she famously got pied in the face by an activist protesting genetically modified foods, she decided she'd had enough controversy and moved to the West Coast.
Ms. Groote joined us earlier to take your questions about her business and the Report on Small Business magazine article that came out today.
Dave Michaels, globeandmail.com: Hi Joyce, and welcome. Let’s kick things off, shall we?
The article about you in Report on Small Business magazine, which came out today, outlines a few of the new product lines your company is playing with. Where do you get your ideas for new products?
Joyce Groote: In different ways. For example, our Critter concept actually started with our naming the shoes sizes using different bug names. Eventually, the bugs started to have personalities and we decided to make them “official.” This is where our Critters by Holeys line started. Once we had a focus for kids, it became sheer fun to find out how to play with the Critters themselves, and our unique SmartCel memory foam where the critters can be embossed on the shoes.
Our Home and Garden ideas come, in part, from my love for puttering in the garden. I work enough in a variety of conditions – hot/cold, dry, muddy, dusty – to know what would make sense to keep my feet the most protected and comfortable. Why would I be any different from other people who like to play in their garden? As it turns out, I’m not any different and our Home and Garden products have really taken off.
So, to put it in a nutshell, it is about function and play. We build our footwear around a function first. We decide what need/function to address and then design around it. We have luckily had some very talented footwear designers and graphic designers to help develop the final designs.
Dave Michaels, globeandmail.com: As you faced off with Crocs at the height of the foam-shoe boom, how did you deal with having a much smaller marketing budget? What sorts of ways did you get the word out?
Joyce Groote: First of all, we worked hard at customer service, so our retailers and distributors were some of our best champions to help get the word out. When we worked directly with consumers who had problems, they too became our champions. In the end, good customer service ended up creating a grass-roots support for our brand and our products.
The other ways we dealt with marketing was through attending select trade shows both nationally and internationally. These days, trade shows are less attractive as less people seem to be attending them. As a result we are really focusing on our customers and supporting their vendor shows. Last but not least, the Internet has been an important means to communicate with both customers and consumers around the world. It takes a lot of work to keep the Internet relevant, but it is probably the most cost-effective means to market. As well, it helps get you closer to the retailers and end consumers where you can have really meaningful exchanges. Some of the exchanges we have had to date, have really helped provide us with more insight and have helped us with new ideas for new products.
