October 13, 2021
Power Summit 2021: PCNA Narrowed Focus To Expand Reach, CEO Says
During a Q&A at the ASI Power Summit, Neil Ringel explains why the Top 40 supplier decided not to chase PPE during the pandemic and the decision has paid off.
Last year, with COVID raging, Neil Ringel, CEO of Top 40 supplier Polyconcept North America (PCNA; asi/78897) made a bold decision. Instead of pursuing the burgeoning PPE market that helped so many promo companies weather the pandemic, PCNA would focus on improving its core business. It wasn’t an easy decision, Ringel said, but it was a clear one.
Neil Ringel, CEO, PCNA
“At the end of the day, what we do best is develop product, decorate product and deliver product,” he added during an in-depth Q&A with ASI President and CEO Tim Andrews during the Power Summit on Wednesday, Oct. 13. “We decided to narrow our focus to expand our reach.”
In addition to stocking up on hot-sellers, PCNA also doubled-down on technology, and has been using its website to help communicate whether items are in stock and have deep inventory or soon to arrive to help distributors navigate during an era of supply chain issues and widespread shortages.
“We couldn’t communicate this way a year ago,” Ringel said. “We can now.”
PCNA’s gamble to focus on its core abilities has paid off, particularly as things reopen this year. “We’ve seen a continuing trend of business recovering,” Ringel said. “We’re blessed at the moment with terrific demand.”
"The unpredictability of [product] demand has caused challenges, but they're good challenges to have." Neil Ringel, #ASIPowerSummit
— Sara Lavenduski 🦥 (@SaraLav_ASI) October 13, 2021
Apparel, in particular, has spiked tremendously for PCNA, compared to two years ago, according to Ringel. To that end, he added, PCNA has made a “sizable investment” into its decorating capacity, showing its commitment to the category.
“We think being a vertically integrated supplier is a pretty unique value proposition,” Ringel said. “We source it, we store it, we decorate it and we get product out.”
During the Q&A, Ringel also noted PCNA’s commitment to partnering with brands with an eco-conscious mission, such as tentree, a sustainable apparel that plants 10 trees for every item sold.
“That’s resonating right now, and it’s resonating well,” Ringel said of sustainable products.