Top 100 CEO Interviews
Issue No. 31 - October/November 2006
Pushing the envelope
Last Christmas, E.S. Wigg closed the doors of its retail stationery shop on Grenfell Street after trading in the city — there, and at Beehive Corner — for the past 100 years.
Is that a retreat? Hardly. Last year the 157-year-old printing and manufacturing stationer saw an 11% increase in sales in its highly specialised markets.
"Over the years we have been gradually moving away from stationery toward our core business, being printing and manufacturing envelopes and other paper products," says Wigg director of sales and marketing, Hugh Davidson.
"The opportunity to sell on our retail business — and knowing all our loyal staff would move on with the sale — made this an easier transition.
"As a company we are continuing to gain momentum year by year and open larger, national markets."
Wigg has been growing in three main areas: printed envelopes for large institutions; ‘soft packaging’ for company’s using envelopes as an alternative to more expensive packaging products such as cardboard boxes and plastics; and the rapid growth of direct mail as a major marketing tool.
"The paperless office only seems to generate more paper statements," Hugh says. "The largest growth area of these though is definitely direct mail.
"People probably don't think about envelopes — they are something they open routinely like a newspaper or bottle of milk, but give little thought.
"But for us it is our passion. We are always looking for new ways to find a product that needs to go inside one of our creations."
The envelope, Hugh points out, makes the first impression that gets their client's product opened.
"We are constantly looking at new ways to create interest in the envelope, from all-over colour to special shapes and sizes," he says.
"When opening a NAB statement, a Kodak photo wallet or getting a Salvation Army donation envelope, you are probably opening a Wigg product."
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