By Julie Bramley, Insights Director, Circana

The eco-friendly cleaning product brand will&able has been overcoming adversity since its founding. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, it was launched as a means of keeping over 100 people with physical and intellectual disabilities meaningfully employed. It continues to beat the odds four years later as it’s become a $1 million business — a major achievement for a New Zealand-based manufacturer in a niche market.

As Grant Hartley, will&able’s business manager, explained, the company’s founders had to become “masters of their own destiny” when its parent company, Altus Enterprises, lost its contract work at the beginning of the pandemic. Altus, which had employed people with intellectual disabilities for 60 years, had a contract to clean and refurbish nearly 20,000 headsets a day for an airline. But when New Zealand closed its borders and grounded its airlines, Altus employees were left without jobs. Altus leaders knew these jobs provided social and emotional lifelines for its workforce and they had to act quickly. 

Their solution was to pivot and concentrate on their small online business, will & able, which made and sold eco-friendly cleaning products and was seeing a spike in orders. But this expansion was no easy task. It required quickly scaling up manufacturing of multiple products, training staff, and developing a marketing plan for New Zealand’s small, competitive retail market. 

Do a job, create a job

Altus has now rebranded itself as will&able, from the idea that its people are willing and able to work. It began to quickly scale up its manufacturing and expand its business into New Zealand grocery stores to compete for shelf space with multinational brands. The company also set what Hartley described as an audacious goal to create 100 jobs for people with disabilities.

Hartley said potential retail partners were extremely receptive to will&able’s “do a job, create a job” mission, but the company still had to prove its value in an extremely competitive category. In November 2022, will&able began working with Circana on a pro bono basis, under the leadership of Account Director Beverley Claesson, as part of Circana’s initiative to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Initially, Circana offered to deliver one piece of insights work to will&able to improve its performance in the grocery market. But this soon evolved into a continuous collaboration, with Circana regularly delivering databases and providing ongoing insights. New Zealand retailers Woolworths New Zealand and Foodstuffs also agreed to share data with will&able for free as part of this collaboration.

Circana helped will&able analyze data to drive sales, establish a pricing strategy for its portfolio, shape the right range to present to retailers, and influence its packaging and broader eco products strategy and positioning. 

“The initial work that we kicked off in 2022 involved at least seven members of our CPG team in New Zealand,” said Adrianna Zachara, a senior account manager at Circana. “And over time a few more individuals were involved. So, this was truly an amazing team effort … Seeing our insights being actioned was a very rewarding experience for all of us.” 

With Circana’s help, will&able has reduced its operational costs and remained competitive in the market. All told, will&able doubled its sales from $557,000 in November 2022 to $1 million in April 2024.

“For Circana New Zealand, it just felt like such a great fit to be utilizing our skills, connections, and experience to support a business that’s doing so much for a meaningful and inspiring cause,” said Kate Gooch, New Zealand CPG director at Circana. “It’s a true win-win.”

Hartley said will&able will continue to look for growth opportunities. “It’s my belief that in any business if you’re not growing, you’re at risk for declining.” That’s why the company is looking to expand into areas such as private brands and even cleaning services, opening the door to other types of jobs for its employees. 

For will&able’s unique workforce, the company’s continued success and growth have a direct effect on their well-being. Hartley said it’s been quite an eye-opening experience to see how work gives people dignity and contributes to the sense that they’re in it together.

“They enjoy coming to work. When they’re here, they’re amongst their friends and their peers,” Hartley said. “This is their family.”