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Just in time for March Madness, a Tubby Smith bobblehead doll now in area Kroger stores is the newest offering from Associated Premium Corp. in Roselawn.
From University of Kentucky basketball coach Smith to a model of Great American Ball Park, the distributor has developed and distributed hundreds of items that support a high-volume, low-margin business. It's even working on a Stephen King - yes, that Stephen King - bobblehead for the minor-league Lowell (Mass.) Spinners.
About 40 percent of sales of more than $10 million a year are from sports. Those sales grew about 15 percent last year and will grow close to 20 percent in 2004, CEO Randy Ficke said.
The economics are all about volume. In bobbleheads alone, APC will produce close to half a million this year, paying overseas manufacturers prices ranging from $2.50 to $4.50 each.
Ficke said the product is better quality than it used to be. And the Tubby Smith doll is one of a very few that is sold. Most are given away in sports game-day promotions or by companies as incentives.
"We don't shy away from the fact that we're doing low-priced products," Ficke said, "because it is all given away. You can't come in there with a $10 item. It's just not in the budget. ... Our goal is to make that item look like it costs a lot more."
From:
enquirer.com / cincinnati.com
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