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The core product made by Sarasota-based Biolife, a powder that can stop bleeding and control wounds, underwhelmed consumers in its first go-around in the marketplace.
The second effort, however, has been a solid success. So much so that Biolife is in the early stages of an expansion. That includes a recent move into a new building, growing its presence in the marketplace by 300% and adding at least nine people to its 28-employee workforce by the end of 2011.
“We have great plans for growth,” says Andrew McFall, Biolife's vice president of marketing. “We are doing it in steps that make sense for us now.”
The linchpin to the growth is a three-month test run of the product, WoundSeal, in 50 Walgreens in Charlotte, Manatee and Sarasota counties that ended last month. Sales were so strong it surprised even the normally optimistic Biolife executives. Some stores ran out of WoundSeal and were restocked daily, McFall tells Coffee Talk. “We far exceeded expectations,” says McFall.
The company recently expanded its deal with Walgreens to cover 200 stores, on the entire Gulf Coast and north through Tallahassee and south Georgia. “This product is a winner,” says Biolife President and CEO Sam Shake, a former Pillsbury executive. “We have created a demand.”
Internally, Biolife plans to meet that demand in a new headquarters. The company recently bought a 22,000-square-foot building in south Manatee County, not far from a similar-sized space it leased for several years. The firm paid $1.53 million for the building.
A key to the current wave of sales, say McFall and Shake, is Biolife invested heavily in an advertising and marketing campaign to promote the Walgreen's partnership. The campaign included local newspaper and TV ads, plus an in-store merchandising program.
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