Case Study: Atico International

Transitioning to Branded Products

Atico International is a leading global sourcing and product development company.

For years the company has provided retailers, wholesalers and distributors with the insight and relationships to build successful import programs.

The company trailed only Li & Fung as the leader in the custom product and assortment development business leveraging relationships with largest retailers in the world including Walgreen, Target, and CVS Drug.

As retailers began building their own in house global sourcing capabilities Atico began to explore new growth strategies. One  strategy involved licensing once popular consumer brand names and re-introducing them in new product categories.

The strategy was designed to transform the Atico business model by leveraging the latent consumer appeal of the older brands and create instant credibility for new branded Atico products in select categories.

As part of the exploration into this strategy Ascension was engaged to evaluate the viability of licensing the Sylvania brand name.

One option considered was the potential application of the Sylvania brand to a broad line of home health products that could be sourced globally leveraging the Atico core sourcing competency. Products included pulse oximeters, thermometers, blood pressure meters, heating pads, neck massagers, and humidifiers.

Ascension designed and implemented a comprehensive consumer research program to evaluate market receptivity to the Sylvania brand in the home healthcare space.

Resulting insights proved invaluable to Atico management and were used in going forward licensing negotiations and product planning activities.