Always an innovator in the writing
instrument category, Pilot Pen Corporation
of America decided in 1996 to bring these skills
to the world of hand-held computing. A careful study of
the market validated their opportunity and led them to launch
the Pentopia line of stylus
products in 1998.
Aware of the
competition in this emerging market segment, Pilot was careful
to produce products that differentiated them from Cross and
other stylus/pen makers. Their products are feature-rich
and "techie", designed to appeal to the millions of customers
buying hand-held computers and PDAs. Pilot's challenge
was not, however, related to their product line, but to their
traditional channels of distribution. For many years,
Pilot has maintained a strong distribution base with the office
supply retailers and distributors. Their challenge with
Pentopia was to get the product merchandised where the hand-held
computers customers shopped. This is where Genesis Strategies
came in.
In August of
1998, Pilot hired Genesis Strategies to help them to develop
a new and different distribution channel for Pentopia.
For the line to succeed, it was imperative to get on the retail
shelf of accounts that Pilot had never done business with.
To accomplish this, Genesis Strategies assembled a network of
manufacturer's representatives with contacts in the computer
business. In many cases these rep companies also represented
other leading computer accessory manufacturers. Their
relationships were leveraged to develop a quick rapport with
the industry's leading retailers, allowing Pilot to get Pentopia
placed at Best Buy, The Wiz and many other leading technology
retailers. After a successful launch the channel was moved
over to Pilot's existing sales force for day-to-day management.
To learn more about Pilot and their Pentopia product line, click
on the picture above and you'll get to the Pentopia home page.
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