A REMARKABLE BUSINESS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 235, 29 June 1920, Page 6

A REMARKABLE BUSINESS

WONDERFUL GROWTH OF GLAXO. HUGE INCREASE IN ANNUAL SALES. (Published by Arrangement.) Great as has been the development of the Dominion's products, a careful examination shows that none of them haya made such romarkablb growth, both in value and quantity of turnover, as has Glaxo, owned and controlled by Messrs. Joseph Nathan and Co., Ltd. Soiuo of s our business men possibly know that this business has made liugo strides, but only the few in close, touch' with its development in Great Britain and elsewhere realise what has been done and how this New Zealand product has -literally forged ahead by leaps and bounds until ■ to-day .it is the world's 1 leader in its class, and may reasonably 1 bo claimed to be by far, the greatest and largest selling babyfooct in the Empire. its wonderful development lias been due to a combination of two factors—a remarkable product that meets the requirements of doctors and infant health authorities as docs no other infants' food, together with a thoroughly trained modern selling organisation staffed with enthusiastic and loyal experts. The Glaxo methods of propaganda have been responsible for much culogium by those in a position to judge-y-nnd although its advertising and selling methods have been copied by many rivals, they have never been equalled. Even before tho war:Glaxo wis rapidly increasing in sales, because authorities on infant feeding realised that in Glaxo they had secured what had so long been needed, n food for babies, rich in cream and milk sugar approximating as closely as possible to mother's milk, and which, unlike ordinary cow's milk, could be easily digested by the child. Glaxo fulfils all these requirements' more than does any other preparation. Thus it was that even in 1914, Glaxo sales totalled il0!),303. During the war, however, the strides it made were literally unprecedented, due to the fact that tho authorities of Great Britain after careful experiment definitely decided that in Glaxo they possessed the most valuable means for saving the nntiou's most valuable asset—its babies; These facts are responsible for the figures which are given below—they show the increase in Glaxo trade over a period of five years. In examining them it must be remembered that they do not include any of the huge purchases made under contract by • the British Government, which during the war made, contracts for over 4000 tons of this product. This was mainly used for the. babies and wounded soldiers of Great Britain. The figures aro also exclusive of ordinary milk powder sales, both separated and full cream. They nvo as follow:—

. '"The total sales of Glaxo for 1914 (pre-war) were .£109,303. The total sales of Glaxo for 1919 •were over The estimated total sales of Glaxo from all sources of supply for 1920 is .£1,300,000. How important this industry is in Now Zealand will be seen from' the fact that the estimated output for the four factories which this company will operate in New -Zealand for the season nearly completed is about' 4500 tons of Glaxo and Full Cream Dried Milk Powder. Provision has been made to ■ enlarge the capacity of the factories and to increase the output to about 6000 tons. London has cabled for a minimum of ,5400 tons to be made next season,' Steps are being taken to meet these wishes, The fact that. Glaxo is now being utilised largely for household purposes— that it has been demonstrated that Glaxo possesses manifold advantages over ordinary milk in cooking—opens up another wonderful avenue of business, und one from which a&l'tional huge 6ale3 may bo expected. Another example demonstrates the splendid position Glnxo has attained in the opinion of the world's greatest authorities on infant life and feeding. The total numberof infant' welfare centres and municipalities' feeding infants on the Government official list in Great Britain is 1800, and Glaxo is to-day supplied to 1585, and as an example one of them which in 1908 purchased 7181b. (Tcwt.l of.Glnxo, in 1918 purchased nearly 107.0001b. (48 tons}. In this instance the children are tinder medical observation for several years, and it is certain that if Glaxo were deficient in anything essential to proper nutrition and growth its use would havelong since l«cn discontinued.

•' It is < well to remember that Glaxo is an different product from separated or .skimmed milk powder. ' Glaxo contains not- less than 25 per cent, butter-fat (cream), and is the preeminent food for infants. Skim milk powder contains very little or no butteriW,. and therefore is not suitable as a baby food. Whatever may be the merits of any new" product, whether full crenm or separated, that may bB put on the market to-day, it is obvious those merits would have to be tried and. proved byllie medical profession, and this wuuld take sane years. Even if one or the other were found satisfactory, then they would have to be established' on the market and the general public would have to be • educated to use it. That means years of hard work of an experienced staff and the. expenditure of very large sums of money for a number of years in advertising. All this latter work has been done for Glaxo. Moreover, tho business • world to-day realises the most valuable asset which any firm can possess is an established trade mark, and it is interesting to notice that in the case of many of the' world's greatest proprietary businesses their balance-sheets show that the trade mark—which, of course, is represented by . the goodwill item—is counted to bo one of the main assets. In the trade name "Glaxo" Messrs. Joseph Nathan and Co. possess nn asset of this nature which is; appreciating in value every year. This is its exclusive property, and the name cannot be utilised bv anyone else.. Thus it is that the traveller visiting themnin countries of the world cm secure in each land precisely the same tin of Glaxo at almost any point. The results, that have beon obtained by Glaxo in the last few years Lavo certainly beon remarkable, but the future holds still greater possibilities. Now that the war is over tin's New Zealandowned proprietary article may look to capture the bulk of the infants' food trade in the other countries of the world whose markets up till now have :)oen closed to it as a result of the great conflict.