John Lawlor, originally from Ohio, was named chairman and CEO of Vestcom International in 2009.
Bio: John Lawlor
Background: Lawlor was named chief commercial officer of Vestcom International in January 2009 and was promoted to chairman and CEO before the end of that year, succeeding founder Steve Bardwell. He had spent the previous 13 years managing marketing services companies. He has bachelor’s degrees in economics and biology from John Carroll University and completed the Executive Development Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Q: It seems like revenue at Vestcom, as a vendor to the retail sector, would be a leading indicator of retail trends. Is that correct? What trends are you seeing among your retail clients?
A: It’s partly true. While our fortunes can rise and fall with those of our clients, it’s as often as not an inverse relationship; we often get more business when times are tough. Our mission is to make our customers more successful by reducing their cost of doing business and making them more effective at engaging the shopper, which drives sales. Speaking of shoppers, we’re seeing our clients look for ways to be relevant to their shoppers so they can compete in areas other than price alone. Local store customization is growing, and data is a critical element of marketing programs. Marketing today is more about data and analytics than ever, and at Vestcom we specialize in data-driven solutions.
Q: When we think of Vestcom, we think of the price displays at the edge of the retail shelf. Do you have other products and services?
A: While our business began as a way to help retailers more efficiently manage shelf edge price changes, we’ve become a true shelf management solution for more and more clients. We provide custom shelf-edge marketing communications that help retailers increase sales, reduce total cost of ownership and better engage the shopper.
Q: More and more people are carrying smartphones capable of scanning the bar codes on merchandise. How is this affecting Vestcom and your clients?
A: We are offering more information at the shelf edge for our clients in response to changes in shopper behavior. This is done using things like QR codes to provide relevant and engaging communications to shoppers with smartphones. We know that shoppers are interested in getting all the information they can, and more than half do some form of research prior to any shopping trip. One of the major changes for retail is the transparency of pricing; shoppers can scan items and find out where the lowest price is, either locally or online. We help our clients develop strategies to address challenges like this.
Q: How many employees does Vestcom have these days and where are your operations?
A: Well, we are a private company, so I will say that we have "several hundred" associates, and that number has increased each of the last several years. Currently, we operate 10 facilities across the U.S. and have on-site presence of our managers in many of our largest customers.
Q: What skills do you look for when hiring for various positions at Vestcom?
A: Well, in my view, winning is all about having the best people … and keeping them highly engaged and motivated. At Vestcom we firmly believe in a service-value chain approach, which says that happy associates make for happy clients and happy shareholders. While we require candidates with an exceptional set of skills matching the position, we are also adamant about finding people who will be a good cultural fit. Our culture is about high performance.
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