Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CEO Issue
    • Diversity
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2022 winners
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Reuters Responsible Business Europe 2022
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
May 15, 2000 02:00 AM

Tupperware chief touts `home party' niche

Bill Bregar
Senior Staff Reporter
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    ORLANDO, FLA. — With its venerable home parties — aided by new strategies like e-commerce and mall kiosks — Tupperware Corp. remains shielded from the mass-retail world that crippled Tucker Housewares, according to Tupperware's top executive. Rick Goings, Tupperware's chairman and chief executive officer, made it clear in a May 10 speech that his company enjoys its unique position. He said Tupperware makes premium housewares — "Rolexes, not Timexes" — with an emphasis on design.

    After his speech, Goings told Plastics News that housewares molders need to differentiate their products. He called focusing on becoming the cheapest producer, "a war of attrition. And then when resin prices go up, they all die. And it becomes who's got the lowest labor. It's the wrong battlefield."

    Goings was a keynote speaker at Antec, the Society of Plastics Engineers' annual conference in Orlando.

    Zeta Consumer Products Corp. is running its Tucker Housewares and Renew-brand trash bag operations on limited production after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Acting President Alfred Teo laid much of the blame on an inability to pass along higher resin prices to retailers such as Wal-Mart and Kmart.

    The power of big-box stores also made headlines back in 1995, when Rubbermaid Inc. (now Newell Rubbermaid Inc.), pushed through price increases. Retailers cut back shelf space for Rubbermaid and handed it to competitors.

    Orlando-based Tupperware has had some problems in recent years, too, struggling with key Asia-Pacific markets and sales hit by unfavorable currency conversions, Goings said.

    In 1999, Tupperware reported a profit of $91.3 million on sales of $1 billion.

    Goings said the average Tupperware storage container costs $7-$10, compared with $3 for a mass-retail item. The premium price gives the company a cushion against spiking resin prices.

    "[Resin] is a very small component, compared to the Rubbermaids and the others," he said.

    Founder Earl Tupper originally tried to sell his revolutionary food containers in stores, but shoppers couldn't figure out how to use them. Then he hit on the idea of direct selling through parties.

    "When you demonstrate the product to people, he found that people understand it and they loved it. Well, the rest is history," Goings said in his speech.

    Fortune magazine hailed Tupperware as a major innovation in the 20th century. Today, the company claims that every two seconds, a Tupperware party is held somewhere in the world.

    Goings stressed the importance of home parties, led by 1 million distributors worldwide. He called them "partners" who run their own business and said the system remains a bedrock for Tupperware. The sales person can demonstrate special features, such as polycarbonate parts, that justify the higher price. "We show what it is, one-on-one, with a million people."

    Party-goers can get a lesson in cooking with the microwave — an appliance he said too many U.S. households relegate to a "$400 popcorn popper."

    But Goings said it's a mistake to concentrate on any one selling channel. Malls, which killed Main Street, are under attack from category-killer stores like Circuit City. E-commerce threatens them all. Consumers now want the option of Internet buying, going to a store or having a party, he said.

    To reach a Martha Stewart-watching housewares buyer, Tupperware hosted a one-hour show on Home Shopping Network. Many distributors held house parties at the same time.

    Another new strategy is the kiosk — small free-standing displays set up in malls. Independent sales people, not Tupperware, own the kiosks. "We tested a few of those in malls two years ago, and in one year we went to 400. We're expanding worldwide."

    Tupperware also is moving into e-commerce. Through its main site, tupperware.com, "we've reached millions of stranded consumers who haven't known how to find us and who haven't seen our products in years," he said.

    Tupperware's biggest e-commerce challenge was finding a role for its distributors, he said. "How do you do it without killing your legacy sales force?" Tupperware is setting up individual sites for sales people for a modest fee, giving them a piece of the action.

    But again, freedom from mass retail gives Tupperware flexibility.

    "Rubbermaid's got an issue with that right now, that, yes, they'd like to make their product available on the Internet. But the big giant from Arkansas said, `You put it on the Internet, you can't sell in Wal-Marts.' We've got an advantage over them," Goings said.

    Goings took a few slaps at Newell Rubbermaid in his speech. Although most people assume that Rubbermaid products pose the biggest competition, that's not true, he said.

    "Mostly it's products sold by [upscale retailer] Williams-Sonoma, if the truth be known," he said. "Our sales force says it more accurately: `You put your food in Tupperware and your garbage in Rubbermaid.' They make trash cans. We make food storage and serving items."

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    C-sert designs thread repair inserts with lifetime guarantees
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    More resins see April price hikes, but not polyethylene
    2
    New Hope building world's largest pyrolysis plant
    3
    Metro Plastics Technologies sold to NY investment firm
    4
    Report reveals ‘dirty climate secrets’ of PVC flooring
    5
    Colorado's EPR bill could mean higher materials fees
    SIGN UP FOR TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS AND ENEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Diversity
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2022 winners
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Reuters Responsible Business Europe 2022
        • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified