Nice to personally meet The Grommet!
It’s always an interesting journey to visit a retail company’s headquarters and learn more about that company’s mission, its people and its values. And, the best part, you learn all about the brand right in its headquarters directly from the employees living and breathing the mission and the values of the corporation. Earlier this week, I took a drive up to Somerville, Massachusetts (an interesting side note the GPS address is Cambridge, MA) to visit and learn more about The Grommet at its headquarters.
A huge thanks to Ryan DeChance, Director, Discovery and Meredith Doherty, VP of Discovery for their hospitality. They were the perfect hosts!
I have been following The Grommet for years and they recently were recognized and awarded the “Design Influencer of the Year Award” by HomeWorld Business magazine.
The Grommet is known for approaching retail differently by discovering new innovative products and bringing them to market quickly; all the while celebrating the maker.
When I arrived at their HQ I realized I probably did not know as much about them as I thought. They are located in a two story brick building off of a sleepy side street. When I walked in the lobby hit me with a display products. My host, Ryan DeChance, Directory of Discovery pointed out some of the notable products displayed in the lobby that I might know like Mrs. Meyer’s Natural Cleaning Products, the Fitbit and the Pocket Monkey just to name a few brands that The Grommet helped to make household brand names.
It’s an open air working environment where offices with doors line the perimeter of the building; and, a couple of dogs play around with each other.The humor and creativity shows throughout the office space.
Whether it is the coaster displayed on the side tables in the lobby with the co-founders photograph.
Or, the large chalkboard in the kitchen area that has a different playful question every other week.
The personality of The Grommet was alive and well during my visit displaying creativity, intelligence, fun, high-energy and hard at work employees. I want to share with you some information about The Grommet that I did not know:
- Their shoppers are 70% women.
- They really do launch at least one new product a day on their website. (Sometimes two!). Yes you read correctly - each and every day!
- Once they identify an innovative product they make sure that the maker has the expertise to succeed and part of the process includes support with operations, PR, distribution, etc.
- They operate a wholesale arm in addition to direct to consumer.
- They operate a brick and mortar store and The Grommet features products in select Ace Hardware stores nationwide.
There is so much more that I discovered that cannot be covered here but you can find out more about The Grommet at the Home Improvement eRetailer Summit. Ryan DeChance, Director of Discovery, The Grommet will join us and deliver a keynote address.
So come out and meet The Grommet and a stellar line-up of ecommerce leaders and speakers in- person November 7-9 at the Hotel Monaco Chicago, Downtown Chicago, IL and learn more about home improvement ecommerce. Sign up today!
Hope to personally meet you too!
Sonya Ruff Jarvis, is the Managing Member of Jarvis Consultants and Founder of the eRetailer Summit. Sonya has extensive experience in creating original innovative solutions to overcome major business challenges. Sonya has spent most of her career visiting headquarters across global industries and has built strong business relationships across diverse brands.
Sonya has a M.B.A. in Marketing. She is married and has a daughter and they live in Fairfield County Connecticut.
Follow Sonya on twitter at @jarvisconsult or @eretailersummit.
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