Does Quiet Success Reap Greater Benefits?

Traders Joe’s is a grocery chain that provides low-cost, staple or organic foods, to its consumers, from all over the world. The atmosphere provides the shopper with a cultural experience not offered by other grocery chains and offers products consumers can’t find anywhere else.  Trader Joe’s has 334 stores in 25 states and is welcomed in both small and large communities. Along with its unique experience, Trader Joe’s brings good jobs and the connotation that people within that community are worldly and smart.

Last year, the privately held company’s sales were an estimated $8 billion. Unlike huge shopping emporiums, Trader Joe’s has a scaled down approach: they select smaller stores and keep a carefully curated variety of items. The company sells an estimated 4,000 stock keeping units or SKUs and 80% of the stock is made up of the Trader Joe’s brand. The result is an estimated $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, which more than doubles that of other grocery chains. Trader Joe’s has no debt and all growth is financed from its own capital.

With this success one would think the company would be boasting about their operations and tactics, but they won’t. The CEO, Dan Bane, and Trader Joe’s have declined repeated requests for interviews and stories from top magazines like Fortune. The company has a very secretive policy against speaking to the media and talking about its business operations.

From an owners standpoint, “free media” publicizes your company at no cost to the business, sounds great! But does “keeping quiet” give your company an edge?  By not revealing the strategies of your business, you remain a mystery that people stay interested in.  Just like if a magician were to reveal their tricks, no one would watch them; a business with a successful strategy exposed, no longer keeps its competitors concerned.  

Media involvement can be a great asset to a company’s exposure to the public but it can also create unwanted attention as well. In most cases, the media enjoys building up an underdog company that has been showing great success, but as soon as they reach the top, the media enjoys scrutinizing every move they make. As a business owner, how much money do you spend on creating media exposure? What does it take to keep your business on the positive side of the media? Maybe silence is the answer.

Resources: Kowitt, Beth. “Inside the secret world of Trader Joe’s.” CNN. 2010. August24,2010.http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/20/news/companies/inside_trader_joes.fortune/index.htm.