Costco Connection - January 2012

supplier profile

Left: In 1929, Bissell commissioned Norman Rockwell to illustrate promotional materials for the only product then produced by the company, the Bissell sweeper. The original painting now hangs in Bissell’s world headquarters. Below: Founder Anna Bissell

Mother
knows best
The Bissell family’s
135-year history of
cleaning up
supplier profile

Company name: Bissell Homecare Inc.

Year founded: 1876

Founders: Melville and Anna Bissell

CEO/Chairman/President: Mark Bissell

Employees: 1,000

Address: P.O. Box 1888 Grand Rapids, MI 49501

Website: www.bissell.com

Contact at: 1-800-237-7691; www.bissell.com/email-us/

Products at Costco: ProHeat 2X Multi-Surface; Allergen Formula

Comments about Costco: “Bissell has grown by focusing on our customers’ home cleaning needs, and our relationship with Costco allows us to bring tremendous value to the marketplace.”—Mark Bissell

By Rita Colorito

IF NECESSITY IS the mother of invention, then Anna Bissell stands as the matriarch of getting your carpets clean. Along with her husband, Melville, she helped found, and later run, Bissell Homecare Inc., the manufacturer of floor-care and home-cleaning products, now in its 135th year.

The idea for the first Bissell carpet sweeper came in the mid-1800s, when the family owned a small crockery shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Removing the dust embedded in the carpet frustrated Anna, who presented the problem to the mechanically inclined Melville.

When his carpet sweeper proved a success, the couple embarked on a sales trip to Philadelphia, where Wanamaker’s and other large retailers were then located. As company legend goes, Melville took a dozen samples down one side of Main Street, while Anna took the other side. When they met to compare notes, Melville was excited: He had given away his samples and generated interest. Anna, too, had generated interest, but she had sold her samples.

“From that point going forward, it was decided she would be in charge of sales and marketing and Melville would run the operations side of the business,” says Mark Bissell, their great-grandson and the company’s current CEO.

The first Bissell carpet sweeper was patented in 1876; in 1883, Bissell opened its manufacturing plant in Grand Rapids. Because of Anna’s innovative and assertive management style, when Melville died suddenly in 1889, no one questioned her competence to lead the company, making her America’s first female corporate CEO.

BISSELL HOMECARE INC/MEDIA BAKERY

“She was very involved in the business— defended our patents, bought out a few competitors, raised a family, was involved in the community and did some pretty remarkable things. A lot of our company culture today, we link to her,” says Bissell, who became chairman in 2006.

She established a pension-style benefits plan,
which was unheard of at the time. “She wanted to
take care of her employees,” says Bissell. “The com-
pany went through a rough time during the
After she handed over the reins to her
eldest son, the company continued to
innovate. In the 1950s Bissell intro-
duced a highly successful rug
shampooer and formula. Today,
its product line includes not
only carpet sweepers and rug
shampoo, but also vacu-
ums, deep cleaners and
stain removers for every
imaginable task. The com-
pany continues to produce
its cleaning solutions in
Grand Rapids, and its
appliances are sold in more
than 30 countries, a global
expansion Anna began.
The company remains
100 percent family owned. “It’s
part of who we are,” says Bissell,
whose own son hopes to be part of
the next generation involved. “Being
family owned allows us to take a long-term
perspective. We can make decisions knowing it’s the
right thing to do for the next generation.”
Anna Bissell would surely approve. C
eldest son, th
t
the next gen
no
In recent years, doing the right thing has meant
making Bissell products and business practices envi-
ronmentally sustainable. “Ultimately, it will become
more and more important, if you look at consuming
resources and what’s available,” says Bissell.

Now, Bissell not only means clean, it also means green. All Bissell cleaning formulas contain biodegradable detergents and bear the EPA’s Design for the Environment certification for safer chemistry.

“We’re very careful to understand that our customers are buying our products because they work well. They deliver the results and the proper value,” says Mark Bissell. “If we can deliver products that meet customer expectations and have a product that is green or sustainable, then that is a benefit.”