Leslie Ross Lentz and Stephanie Shopa started making fragrance products back in 1982, using herbs and flowers from Lentz's garden. "We were both single parents." Shopa recalls. "We discovered that we could take bath salts and potpourri and candles into the bathroom, close the door, and have some quiet time. And we wanted other women to be able to experience that."
They got their chance in 1985, when an independent sales rep brought their products to the New York International Gift Fair and garnered $30,000 worth of orders. Lentz and Shopa soon incorporated as The Thymes, producing a line of high-quality bath-and-body and home-fragrance products that are now available in 4,000 stores throughout North America and Europe, as well as through the company's Web site.
In the company's early days, there was practically no competition in the high-end bath-and-body space. "We didn't know we were at the forefront of creating a category; we didn't even understand what a category was," Shopa says. "We just knew we wanted these products. It wasn't until 10 years later that we realized we had been at the right place at the right time with a product offering that women were ready for."
From 1985 through 2000, the company averaged an astounding 29 percent annual growth rate and accumulated 100 employees. Then suddenly, sales plateaued. "The first year, we thought it must be a blip," Shopa says. "By the third year, we realized it was no blip."
Shopa, who had been in charge of day-to-day operations, was now running the company with less input from Lentz, who in 2000 had moved back to her childhood home in California. After soliciting customer feedback, Shopa realized that consumers viewed the Thymes brand as outdated, chiefly because the design and packaging hadn't kept pace with the changing marketplace. The company's customer base had aged, and younger shoppers had migrated to fresher offerings. What's more, the high-end bath-and-body market had become far more competitive.
"We had created the products that we liked and wanted, knowing that for 15 years they had also been what other women wanted," Shopa says. "We hadn't been trying to outdo or copy our competitors; in fact, they were often the ones that were copying us. We were so internally focused that we just hadn't paid attention."
At the end of 2004, Shopa partnered with Minneapolis-based design and branding firm Duffy & Partners, which redesigned The Thymes' logo, then integrated eclectic colors with botanical imagery to create up-to-date packaging.
"Some of our fragrances had been in the market for 20 years," Shopa says. "We didn't want to lose the people who were using those products by changing the packaging or the product offering so much that customers couldn't find it. Yet we wanted to update it. We liken it to getting a new haircut - you still recognize the person, but something about them looks better."
Shopa's strategy also included offering new fragrances and product types. "Our biggest successes have been with new product launches," she says. "Our Kimono Rose line, which we launched in 2006, has been our biggest launch ever. And our Azur line, which we launched in 2007, is also doing incredibly well."
After record sales of $22.1 million in 2006, a 16.3 percent increase over 2005, The Thymes is on track for another year of double-digit growth in 2007. "When our sales hit a plateau and we talked to our customers, we came to the realization that we had lost touch with the very people for whom we make our products," Shopa says. "That is something we can't allow to happen again.
