Sealed Air
Sealed Air: Primary Problems:
The primary problem for sealed air was their overzealous product focus with a lack of consumer focus. Sealed Air was practically the sole maker of air cap cushioning with virtually no competitors. Their competitors were selling uncoated bubbles at half the price and starting to grab market share in Europe and the U.S. Sealed Air was too concerned with their “saran barrier coating” which caused product myopia. Having the most innovative product in the industry is great but if consumers only need a cheaper product that efficiently gets the job done than there is a disconnect between the company and the buyer. They neglected to understand what their consumers actually wanted and needed in packaging. Sealed Air prided themselves on their technologically advanced problem-solving sales force. However, this sales force failed to understand what their distributors actually wanted. The distributors were left with minimal product options along with stringent pricing by Sealed Air. A secondary problem that Sealed Air faced is that they were selling to select distribution networks so they could adhere to Sealed Air’s suggested prices. These networks were not the influencers in packaging products, and Sealed Air was directly selling to the wrong people. They should have been selling to packaging engineers. The case study mentions that Sealed Air is known for its technologically advanced problem-solving sales force. If the sales force was using problem solving or value selling methodologies they should have known that consumers were looking at a lower cost product and should have communicated that back to business leaders. Because Sealed Air was too product focused and neglected to accurately monitor what was going on in the market place with competitors and what consumers needs and wants were, they lost market share.
Recommendations:
We recommend that Sealed Air redirect themselves to become a more a consumer and market focused
The primary problem for sealed air was their overzealous product focus with a lack of consumer focus. Sealed Air was practically the sole maker of air cap cushioning with virtually no competitors. Their competitors were selling uncoated bubbles at half the price and starting to grab market share in Europe and the U.S. Sealed Air was too concerned with their “saran barrier coating” which caused product myopia. Having the most innovative product in the industry is great but if consumers only need a cheaper product that efficiently gets the job done than there is a disconnect between the company and the buyer. They neglected to understand what their consumers actually wanted and needed in packaging. Sealed Air prided themselves on their technologically advanced problem-solving sales force. However, this sales force failed to understand what their distributors actually wanted. The distributors were left with minimal product options along with stringent pricing by Sealed Air. A secondary problem that Sealed Air faced is that they were selling to select distribution networks so they could adhere to Sealed Air’s suggested prices. These networks were not the influencers in packaging products, and Sealed Air was directly selling to the wrong people. They should have been selling to packaging engineers. The case study mentions that Sealed Air is known for its technologically advanced problem-solving sales force. If the sales force was using problem solving or value selling methodologies they should have known that consumers were looking at a lower cost product and should have communicated that back to business leaders. Because Sealed Air was too product focused and neglected to accurately monitor what was going on in the market place with competitors and what consumers needs and wants were, they lost market share.
Recommendations:
We recommend that Sealed Air redirect themselves to become a more a consumer and market focused