Cobra 2000 Annual Report Download - page 10

8 Cobra Electronics Corporation
Cobra Electronics Growth in Distribution
Retailers carry Cobra products for one
reason: The consumers shopping at
these retailers want Cobra products. Retailers
know that Cobra’s distinctive products sell,
and at a faster rate than virtually any of
Cobra’s competitors. In , Cobra products
are selling in a wider variety of distribution
channels than at any time in the company’s
history.
Membership clubs and office supply stores
drove much of Cobra’s distribution growth
in , as the company’s products are
finding increased popularity among business
users. Cobra expanded its membership club
presence by entering the Costco chain.
Having also secured placement in Office
Depot, Cobra can now proudly lay claim to
distribution in all three of the U.S.’s largest
office supply chains.
In the automotive supplies market, the Pep
Boys and Advance Auto chains began offering
Cobra products in . In sporting goods,
Cobra gained placement in the Sports
Authority chain and several regional chains,
and in the music channel Cobra products can
now be found in the Coconuts chain.
Cobra also successfully expanded the num-
ber of products carried by many of its exist-
ing customers. In the electronics superstore
channel, Best Buy rewarded Cobra for its
chain-wide leadership in detector sales by
adding several Cobra FRS radio models. In
the mass merchandiser channel, Cobra prod-
ucts performed so well in
Kmart that Cobra was
named “Vendor of the
Year” by that chain. Addi-
tionally, Cobra’s excep-
tional performance caught
the eye of the fast-growing
Target chain, which de-
cided to carry Cobra FRS
radios and radar detectors
in .
Expanding its retail base is
not the only way Cobra is
generating increased expo-
sure for its products. It
redesigned its website,
www.cobraelectronics.com,
resulting in a four-fold
increase in the numbers of
pages viewed by the
average visitor to the site.
Visitors can learn about the distinctive
features offered by Cobra products, as well
as which retailers carry those products. The
site also began offering several “Internet-only”
products that consumers can purchase on-
line. As a result of such enhancements,
Cobra’s Internet sales increased by  percent
in . n
Smart retailers insist on devoting their valuable shelf space to
products with powerful brand equity and a proven ability to
sell. As a result, Cobra products are finding their way into
more storefronts than ever before.
One reason Cobra
products’ sales are
keeping so many
retailers happy is
the company’s pio-
neering use of
“clamshell” pack-
aging. Unlike con-
ventional boxes,
this packaging
makes it easier for
retailers to display
these attractive
products in high-
visibility locations.