The Costco Connection - December 2016

BY STEVE FISHER

WHEN YOU PREFER life outdoors, it makes sense (and cents) to turn it into a calling. ;at’s one element that led Greg Fadul and Jim Palmer to start Grace Digital in San Diego in 2007. ;e company focuses on audio products that can withstand the rigors of outdoor use.

;e two met in Florida while employed at
Motorola, where they worked for more than 10
years before moving on to other career oppor-
tunities in the telecommunications industry.
“Greg got to San Diego ;rst and came up
with the great idea to start a company,” recalls
Palmer. “He called and asked me to move
there and help him start Grace Digital.”
Starting Grace Digital was a matter of ;ll-
ing a need in the marketplace with innovative
products, they say.

“We were enjoying the beach many times with our families and realized that the market didn’t have some of the products that we were developing and wanted to develop,” says Fadul, Grace Digital’s CEO.

“;e market for Bluetooth speakers was
really growing because of the smartphones and
iPhone craze,” adds Palmer, the company’s pres-
ident. “We realized the importance of protect-
ing your devices from the salt water and the
sand and those elements. So we really focused
in on a rugged, durable type of design.”
;eir ;rst product was an iPhone case,
the EcoExtreme. But when Bluetooth tech-
nology gained popularity, Grace Digital found
a new direction.

“So we moved from protecting the phones inside of a case to making the speaker itself rugged and waterproof,” says Palmer.

“We had a Bluetooth speaker called the EcoPebble, a small speaker that Costco launched a couple of years back,” adds Fadul. “And we’re now launching the EcoBoulder, which is our largest speaker, the size of a carry-on suitcase. It actually has wheels on it like a carry-on. It has an 8-inch speaker with a 100-watt ampli;er that you’re able to use for football games, beach parties, backyard parties, tailgating, and it even floats. It has a 10-hour battery life on full volume and up to a 50-hour battery life on more normal listening levels. But it has a setting from 1 to 10, so it’s your fault if your neighbor complains.”

A matching work environment

Palmer calls Grace Digital’s employees “a
mixture of the adventurous and the family
guys who hang out in the backyard.”
“We have designers who are traveling and
using our speakers in Thailand and the
Philippines,” he explains, “and then you have
[someone] like Greg who likes to sit out in his
hot tub on a Saturday night.”
All employees are encouraged to use the
products and share experiences. ;e company’s
customer service division is also in San
Diego, so there’s a constant dialogue about
customers’ issues or suggestions, which helps
in the creation of new products.
While the company is built around fun
for its workers and customers, their thoughts
are never far from those less fortunate.

“;ere are a lot of local communities that we work with around here, and we very much encourage that within,” says Palmer. “One of our favorites is the Hope Leadership Foundation that focuses on San Diego inner-city kids looking for a second chance. We love to support them with our employees and resources and product.”

Fadul adds that many of the organizations they support are related to the outdoors. In particular, he mentions Beautiful Feet, Surfers Not Street Children, the Susan B. Komen Foundation, Expedition Outreach and Apalachicola Riverkeeper.

Working with Costco

Both Fadul and Palmer praise their working relationship with Costco.

“With other companies it’s a buy/sell relationship and that’s it,” says Fadul. “Costco gets involved with us from feature sets to colors to functionality.” Palmer notes that they worked with the Costco buying team for a year to get the right feature set for Costco members.

Fadul is proud of Grace Digital’s dedication to quality. “We have the industry’s only three-year warranty, and that’s kind of unheard of for consumer electronics products,” he says. “Typically they are anywhere from 90 days to a year, and especially [if they are for] a product that gets abused like ours. You toss it in a lake, it falls o; your tailgate, whatever— no-questions-asked three-year warranty. We’ll either ;x the product or replace it for you free of charge.” C

SUPPLIERPROFILE

COMPANY Grace Digital

CO-FOUNDERS Jim Palmer (left), president; Greg Fadul (far left), CEO

EMPLOYEES 30

HEADQUARTERS San Diego

WEBSITE ecoxgear.com

ITEMS AT COSTCO ECOXGEAR EcoBoulder waterproof Bluetooth speaker

QUOTE ABOUT COSTCO
“What makes Costco special is
the people and the culture. We
see the same consistent level
of commitment to serving the
member as suppliers as we
do when shopping in the
warehouses as members.”
—Greg Fadul and Jim Palmer