Business View Magazine | July 2020

87 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2020 and delivery of consumer goods. From health, beauty and wellness, to consumer electronics, and almost everything in between, Navajo presents full-line offerings uniquely customized for each retail strategy, using a broad range of methods (Programs, Plan-o-grams) to ensure top- selling items are well-stocked and replenished as necessary. The marketing power of the product catalog is as important to Navajo today as it has ever been. “Our founder, Gordon Levy, was really one of the first to work with the Native groups, to have them design hand-made jewelry against a specific style so that he could catalog it; effectively, sell it out of a catalog,” says Mark Deuschle, President of Navajo Inc. “That concept evolved into offerings inside the convenience channel with lighters and lighter covers, and that grew into a relationship with 7-Eleven, McLane Co., and some of the other convenience players. We quickly became a source for all the general merchandise products - everything from office supplies to padlocks. We were known for that, and nimble. Gordon began traveling into China way early in the process in the ‘70s. He became proficient at sourcing, and that obviously provided more access to items. We became a broad base of business. I say we were a mile- wide and an inch-deep; a lot of items, not all with the same velocity.” Along the way, Navajo Inc. became a sun- and reading-glass manufacturer; today, they’re one of Wal-Mart’s largest suppliers of quality eyewear in trend-forward styles, in the under-30$ category. The essential consumer packaged goods company also assumed a power-position relative to health and beauty when it began working with retailers to manage the life cycles of their products in the trial and travel category. “About six years ago, I had the good fortune of joining the company, and at that point made some decisions about narrowing our focus and getting deeper,” Deuschle recalls. “We focused our energy on three core areas: trial and travel, under the Handy Solutions and Good To-Go brands; NAVAJO INC . President of Navajo Inc., Mark Deuschle