Invacare 2014 Annual Report Download - page 12

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Invacare has urged providers to take a ‘fleet management’ approach, utilizing one manufacturer for a provider’s product
fleet, which results in a number of efficiencies and a solid foundation for their business model. The Company continued to add
resources to a dedicated page on its website focused on ‘Business Solutions’ promoting both fleet management and enhanced
patient care with blog posts, videos, eBooks and product information.
While fleet management is still the Company's preferred marketing route, pressures from National Competitive Bidding
(NCB) and government reimbursement audits have become significant considerations for durable medical equipment providers
in the United States. In 2014, Invacare recognized that some providers needed additional product options, including single-user
products. As a result, Invacare began to leverage low-cost single user products from its ProBasics® brand products business across
its North American sales force.
The Company also markets products and services to the continuing care market through a specialized sales force, a national
rentals and services organization and a team of clinical professionals who call on clinical decision makers. Products from the
Institutional Product Group (IPG) include beds and resident room furnishings, safe patient handling equipment, bathing, durable
medical equipment and clinical therapies, such as therapeutic support surfaces and negative pressure wound therapy. IPG sales
and marketing organizations consist of field sales representatives and independent representative agencies supported by a marketing
group that generates awareness and demand at skilled nursing facilities for Invacare products and services. IPG also provides
interior design services and products for nursing homes and assisted living facilities involved with renovation and new construction.
The Company contributes extensively to editorial coverage in trade publications concerning the products the Company
manufactures, and Company representatives attend numerous trade shows and conferences on a national and regional basis in
which Invacare products are displayed to providers, health care professionals, managed care professionals and consumers. “Yes,
you can.®” continues to be Invacare's global tagline and is used in Company advertisements and on the Invacare global website,
as it is indicative of the “can do” attitude of many of the people who use the Company's products. In everything it does, the
Company strives to leave its stakeholders with its brand promise - Making Life's Experiences Possible™.
The Company also continues to improve performance and usability of www.invacare.com and its related websites. In addition,
the Company uses the Internet to drive consumer awareness of its products. In 2014, the Company continued its focus on the Do
More With Oxygen™ website, Invacare's online community targeted towards those who are affected by respiratory ailments,
specifically COPD. The audience includes people with respiratory ailments, caregivers and respiratory therapists. Visitors to the
site can view videos, download guides for topics like "COPD 101", read daily blog posts to learn more about traveling with COPD,
learn how to live a healthy lifestyle and how to care for a loved one dealing with COPD. Invacare is taking the lead by creating
an environment for those dealing with similar ailments to come together and learn more. Ultimately, the website advocates an
active lifestyle that can be achieved through use of oxygen devices such as the Invacare® HomeFill® oxygen system and the
Invacare® XPO2® and Invacare® SOLO2® portable oxygen concentrators. Leads generated by this website are shared with
approved home medical equipment providers.
The Company also drives consumer awareness of its products through its sponsorship of a variety of wheelchair sporting
events and support of various philanthropic causes benefiting the consumers of the Company's products. The Company continued
its sponsorships of individual wheelchair athletes and teams, including several of the top-ranked male and female racers, hand
cyclists and wheelchair tennis players in the world. The Company continued its support of disabled veterans through its sponsorship
of the 34th National Veterans Wheelchair Games, the largest annual wheelchair sports event in the world. The games bring a
competitive and recreational sports experience to military service veterans who use wheelchairs for their mobility needs due to
spinal cord injury, neurological conditions or amputation.
Europe
The Company’s European operations consist primarily of manufacturing, marketing and distribution operations in Western
Europe and export sales activities through local distributors elsewhere in the world. The Company has a sales force and, where
appropriate, distribution centers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden,
Switzerland, Austria, Norway and the Netherlands, and sells through distributors elsewhere in Europe, Russia, the Middle East
and Africa. In markets where the Company has its own sales force, product sales are typically made through dealers of medical
equipment and, in certain markets, directly to government agencies. In 2014, as in previous years, pricing comparison across
borders along with regionalization of customers and consolidation of customers is driving the development of pan European pricing
policies and control. The Company has partially centralized its product distribution through its European Distribution Center which
is focused on further optimizing logistics and increasing service levels to customers.
Invacare continues to sponsor wheelchair sporting events including European Hand cycling Federation (EHF) and FIPFA
(power chair football association) events, as well as high-profile individuals and athletes with disabilities.