How to Build a Billion-Dollar Business

CHAPTER 23WHERE'S OUR STOCK?

The US campaign launched in the last few months of 2012. It went brilliantly. The TV advertisements went to air, Nicole appeared on Ellen, the point-of-sale went up, the catalogues got delivered, the cross-promotions took place and the editorial mentions skyrocketed. Our flywheel was in full motion. The retailers were excited and so were we. We couldn't wait to see the sales results come in off the back of this mega promotional drive.

I pulled into the parking lot at a Walgreens in Chicago on day one of the campaign. The first thing I saw was our awesome point-of-sale posters of Nicole and Ellen, clearly displayed at the entrance. I then walked up and down the aisle, scanning the shelves, looking for the Swisse stock. It wasn't where it should have been. I moved to the next aisle, thinking maybe they'd stocked it on the wrong shelf. I walked up and down all the beauty and personal care aisles, scrutinising every display to see if our stock had been mis-merchandised, but to my growing distress, other than a few bottles tucked away in a corner on the bottom shelf, there were no Swisse products to be seen at all! This meant that while we were spending millions on TV commercials, and print advertisements, and social media, and our global ambassador was spruiking our wares on America's highest-rating daytime talk show, and thousands of customers were walking into 30 000 drug stores around America to buy it, our products were not even on the shelf. Where ...