Sealedair

Context:

Questions at Sealed Air’s Aircap Division

* Stick to old philosophy

* Launch Uncoated Bubbles

* Slash price across product lines to counter imitators

* Engage further in Market Education

* Sales force distribution

Product Manager Hauser is flipping through training manual about “How to Sell against uncoated Bubbles”

* Sealed Air Corporation the worlds leading manufacturer in “Coated Bubble” packaging products ( AirCap) , is also characterised by technological innovation and market leadership

* AirCap, the closed-cell lightweight cushioning material, has recently encountered some unanticipated competition from small regional producers who have invented around the Sealed Air process patents and offer cheaper versions of the product in the U.S.

* Sealed Air has licensed its technology to Astro Packaging; Astro manufactures both a barrier coated bubble (using Nylon instead) as well as an uncoated bubble

* 1980 U.S. sales for both AirCap and Astro were $25.35 million and $10.5 million respectively

* Until 1980, only Astro was a significant in the Uncoated Bubble Packaging player with approximately $5 million in sales. And has 15% market share of uncoated bubbles

* In 1981, GAFCEL in New York generated $ 1 million in sales on the account of uncoated Bubbles, and several of AirCap’s distributors have taken up the GAFCEL products as well

* The European Market for Coated Bubbles is continuously loosing ground to the Uncoated Bubbles

European Air Bubble Market

* Price Sensitive

* Viewed packaging supplies as “expendable commodities”

* England

* Estimated 50% loss of current market share to uncoated for Sealed Air

* France

* Increasing use of uncoated over coated

* 90% of new bubble applications uncoated

* Germany

* Sansetsu market dominance

* Loss share to uncoated by 20%-30% a year for Sealed Air

* U.S. Air Bubble Market...