A study in contrast
The breastpump industry is a closed group of businesses that fight it out in the marketplace, away from the public glare. With the most sensitive of all marketing turfs to conquer - that of the breast-feeding mother's attention - the players in this industry are acutely conscious of their image and standing in the mothers' community. No wonder that the postures adopted by them are more or less identical, whether they are big are small.
This article takes a look at the business history and style of two companies at two diametrically opposite sides of the spectrum - Hollister Incorporated and Bailey Medical Engineering - and strives to bring out their commonalities and differences.
Consider Bailey Engineering first. Launched by Barry Bailey about ten to twelve years ago, the company has concentrated totally on its flagship product, the Nurture III Double Electric Breast Pump. Operating from their Los Osos, California offices, the company has, in less than a decade, built up quite a reputation for itself in this highly sensitive market, where mothers often go more by word-of-mouth references than by advertisements.
Bailey's core team is small and tightly-knit. There is a feel of the "family" in their approach towards doing business. This image is consciously driven home through their official website - www.baileymed.com - too. Perhaps this style has endeared them to the scores of moms and made them one of the key players to contend with.
Now let us look at Hollister Incorporated. The company changed hands in 1948 when it was purchased by John Schneider, who ran his own printing business at the time, and was once a supplier to Hollister. The beginnings of Hollister uncannily resembles the stage that Bailey Engg presently is in, run as it was by the husband-and-wife team of John and Minnie Schneider. Gradually, their company shed the printing business legacy and concentrated wholly on the healthcare sector. The company slowly began positioning itself in the businesses of Ostomy care, Continence care, Wound care, and hospital risk management.
The last two decades of the twentieth century saw this company metamorphosing into a huge behemoth with a global footprint. It has four manufacturing centers - two at Missouri and Virginia in the United States, one in Ireland and another in Denmark.
During this period of expansion, the company acquired companies which were themselves leaders in their own market. One such company was Ameda AG. This Switzerland-based company was originally run by two brothers, one of whom later broke up and floated another company named Medela, which competed directly with Ameda in the breastpump market. At the time of its acquisition, Ameda already had a presence in the United States in the form of Ameda - Egnell Corporation, based at Cary, Illinois.
With the acquisition of Ameda, in one short step, Hollister Incorporated muscled its way into the breastpump segment. Ameda's products are top in class in terms of technology and patents, as well as in brand recall. Pumps such as Ameda Purely Yours are truly high-tech, with computer technology built in them.
Today, Hollister Incorporated is a $ 500 million private, employee-owned company operating out of their corporate headquarters near Chicago. Every action taken by Hollister in the breastpump segment is magnified, thanks to its financial strength.
This, then, is how the market of breastpumps is laid out, as of the moment - with biggies on one side, small but key players on the other, and a host of mid-sized companies in between. Who knows, Bailey Engg might go the route of Hollister Inc, too, one of these days!