Although U.S. Presidents of the past and present have chosen to use Cross pens, they make up a rather small customer base.
So the 160-year-old company famous for its writing instruments is trying to extend its reach to fashion-savvy consumers.
After numerous market research tests, Cross, a $110 million firm based in Lincoln, R.I., wants to accessorize professional women with tote bags, laptop holders, agendas and fashion watches, in addition to stylized pens in seasonal prints. The company had a soft launch of bags, watches and other small leather goods for fall. It is expanding for spring, with watches featuring turquoise and magenta leather straps and sedate but current-looking totes and laptop cases, all with redesigned packaging to modernize the brand.
There are eight handbag styles ranging in retail price from $150 to $295. Watches retail on average for $175.
“The key to the whole thing is to get people to buy our products more frequently,” said Chad Mellen, vice president of global marketing. “We’re not trying to sell fashion handbags, but a professional woman who has style has never had a choice. Now, we’re giving her a choice.”
To bring a fashion edge to the pen category, the firm last year called on accessories designer Rafé Totengco to design a pen collection featuring prints. This spring, the company is launching pen sets with a modern floral print and will roll out stationery and notebook sets to match.
In addition, the company will open three to five stores in the U.S. as testing grounds for the product and a newly designed display of its traditional pen and desk accessories assortment. The stores — locations have not been determined, although malls in the Midwest and Southwest have been mentioned — will average 700 square feet and are projected to each bring in upward of $500,000 in first-year sales. Cross has two stores in Boston that opened in 2004.
“We’re using the stores as retail laboratories,” said Robin Boss Dorman, vice president of corporate development, who added that there are no plans for a more comprehensive retail rollout. “The things that we’re testing are more fashionable.”
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Product extensions made up less than 1 percent of sales in 2005 and now take up 7 percent of the business, Dorman said. Next year, product extensions will constitute 10 percent of the business, which competes with pen firms like Montblanc and Waterman.
“The brand umbrella can cover a lot of product categories,” Boss Dorman said.
The firm is also contemplating men’s jewelry and eyewear. Cross products are sold in 2,000 U.S. doors, including select Nordstrom and Macy’s units, as well as independent stores.
Internationally, the firm is in 3,000 doors throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Starting next month, Cross is bowing 37 newly designed in-store shops in retailers such as Selfridges and Harrods in London, along with locations in specialty stores in Belgium and Denmark.
“There will always be an aspect of heritage to Cross,” said Dorman, whose family helped found the company. “We’d like to be growing in double digits, and my expectation is that [accessories] will grow at a faster rate than our writing instrument growth.”