Susan Sentell loves to hear great ideas about what Gladson can do to help its customers in the consumer packaged goods industry — as long as it actually does help those customers.
“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean your customers are at the point where they can use it within their own companies,” says Sentell, the 100-employee company’s president and CEO.
“It really comes down to making sure you keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on with your customers. It helps you make decisions to invest knowing that there will be a market to take it.”
Gladson is the leading provider of product images, product content and related service to the U.S. consumer packaged goods industry.
The company processes more than 15,000 items a month in its vast database of product information, which includes more than 500,000 products.
“All the products you would normally find in the grocery store, convenience store, drug store or mass market retailer, those consumer packaged goods products — we serve that industry,” Sentell says.
“Our customers range from the manufacturers of the products to the retailers to the wholesalers and distributors, as well as their service providers. We have a broad range of customers who utilize these product information databases to help them drive their businesses.”
The challenge Sentell and her team face is keeping up with the ever-increasing demand in this field.