The iconic brand has struggled for years to adapt to a changing market and now some 150 factory workers are at risk of losing their jobs.
I vividly remember my mother hosting Tupperware parties at our house when I was a little girl in the 1980s.
She spent ages preparing, cleaning the house, and having the appetizers and food for the party perfectly laid out. All of her mommy friends came. I think my grandmother was there too. I don’t remember who sold us Tupperware — maybe someone in the neighborhood? But I do remember that afterward we had a new set of pink plastic Tupperware to put our leftovers in.
Memories of Tupperware parties are almost universal among older millennials like me. I sent a quick text survey to a group of moms in my neighborhood, and… their Moms were having Tupperware parties too, some of them remembering going to a Tupperware party hosted by a friend around 2010.
Yes, Tupperware’s main business method is still The good old party continues into the 21st century, which is one reason why the company finds itself in a very different place than it was in its 20th century heyday — and as is so often the case, it’s the people who make its product lines who are paying the price.
Tupperware this week Closing its last remaining U.S. factory The company will lay off 148 employees beginning in early 2025 and move production from South Carolina to Mexico, where the company already has a presence, in a move that a Tupperware spokesperson said was a cost-cutting measure. He told Modern Retail The company sold the factory last year and said the job cuts are part of a “multi-year strategy to simplify Tupperware’s supply chain.”
At first glance, one might see this as business as usual, with companies moving production overseas to cut costs and increase profit margins — after all, Tupperware isn’t the first brand to close factories in the South in search of cheaper labor.
But that’s the wrong lesson to learn here.Many of Tupperware’s top food storage competitors still maintain manufacturing operations in the U.S., such as Rubbermaid. 80% of the products are manufactured Ball glass jars are also sold in the United States, and many of their food storage lines have also taken advantage of that popularity. Displaying Made in USA labelsPyrex The company has a US factory in Pennsylvania. The glass products are manufactured by Walmart. There are lots of cheap ones Food storage containers made in the United States and disposable containers sold by retailers Also manufactured in the USA.
Tupperware’s ultimate downfall was not due to US production, but rather a series of poor business decisions.
CNN reported on the company’s many woes: Feature films released in April 2023Shortly after the company announced They might go bankrupt.As many analysts interviewed for this article pointed out, Tupperware has become so iconic that many Americans refer to any kind of plastic food container as “Tupperware,” regardless of the actual brand.
But like other icons before it (see Sears), Tupperware relied too much on its historical name recognition for too long, and in many ways the company failed to innovate. As Amanda Mull puts it: I have written In an article published in The Atlantic earlier this year:
Many Tupperware products look a bit like they did decades ago: textured, pliable plastic that makes it hard to see what’s inside. While some of these products are clearly aimed at nostalgia, enticing younger shoppers with their moms’ retro rainbow-colored bowls and containers, many look dingy, clunky, and outdated. And nostalgia isn’t necessarily what buyers are looking for in plastic kitchenware…
Tupperware’s competitors have sprung up in recent decades, and most of them are adept at conveying newness and cleanliness to customers. OXO, Pyrex, and Rubbermaid, for example, all sell popular lines of containers made of clear, hard plastic or glass with mechanical latches and seals that prevent spills and keep food sealed in. Under the bright, cool-toned LED lighting of a modern refrigerator, these containers look neat, tidy, and even expensive.
Not only was Tupperware’s product line outdated, but the company still relied on direct sales via Tupperware parties as its main source of income. The main problem, of course, is that people hardly ever have Tupperware parties anymore. Direct sales still happen, but Tupperware is So much competition At that time Declining consumer interestSome people say, A legitimate backlash is underway.
By the time Tupperware realized it needed to change its sales strategy — and it wasn’t even available at Target until 2022 (!!!) — it was too little, too late: Changing consumer habits in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help, Kristy Nordielum, a marketing consultant and adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, explained to CNN.
The pandemic, which has adversely affected most businesses, exacerbated Tupperware’s failure to adapt to changing consumer behavior and the competitive environment.
“You could have seen them make that transition very beautifully, but they went into brick-and-mortar stores,” Nordielm explained, “and all you have to do is look at Tupperware at Target and you see how incredibly undifferentiated they are and how many other storage alternatives there are.”
Instead, people tend to compare products based on price, and Tupperware’s most valuable asset — its brand equity — has become completely meaningless, Kahn said. Tupperware has also failed to innovate in response to competition and changing consumer behavior, Nordielm said. As a result, Tupperware’s sales have been declining for years.
Tupperware is a Avon CEO Laurie Ann Goldman to take over at company October 2023. Goldman, who also served as CEO of Spanx, He appeared on NBC News earlier this year. The theme was her leading the “revival” of the Tupperware brand.
Time will tell if Tupperware can innovate enough to recapture market share, but hopes are slim. Warning in late March It could go out of business completely within a year.
Of course, we shouldn’t blame the South Carolina factory workers for their failure — they were simply making what the company told them to do — but they are the ones now bearing the greatest costs of decades of corporate mismanagement.
