Marketing: The Tao of Timbuk2 Company

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Timbuk2 is a well-known company in the wearable accessories industry, offering a wide range of products from messenger bags to travel suitcases. One factor that makes it possible to succeed in selling such a diverse assortment is setting different competitive priorities for each type of product. Thus, each of the company’s products is marketed and prioritized differently in order to achieve Timbuk2’s goals and objectives of ensuring constant demand and sales.

Messenger and laptop bags are among Timbuk2’s most in-demand products. Messenger bags were the first product offered by the company. Thus, it can be argued that they hold more value for Timbuk2. The company’s vision was built around what the product could symbolize, not the direct sale of the bags (Timbuk2, 2021). The messenger bag was marketed as a symbol of freedom for people living in a big city and overcoming its many obstacles and difficulties (Timbuk2, 2021).

The bag designer wanted to make it accessible to everyone, which is the basis for building its primary competitive priority. Timbuk2’s custom messenger bag is a reasonably inexpensive product, and its key features are ease of use and reliability. Furthermore, the customer can order custom bags and are given the opportunity to design their unique version of the Timbuk2 messenger bag on the company’s website (Jacobs & Chase, 2021). Thus, price, quality, and custom design are the main competitive priorities for the product. In addition, messenger bags are exclusive to the Canada, USA, and UK markets. As a result, the number of competitors is substantially reduced.

The competitive priorities of laptop bags made in China are somewhat different. This product is shipped to any country without any restrictions, differing considerably from the approach to the sale of messenger bags. These bags have many variations, while messenger bags are produced in accordance with one classic design with minimum changes made over the years. Laptop bags and backpacks are marketed to emphasize affordability and low price, which is what Chinese suppliers are used for (Jacobs & Chase, 2021). In addition, a certain flexibility is also demonstrated due to the wide range of products. Overall, the competitive priorities of the Timbuk2 laptop bags are price and variety. Thus, although the two products of this company are similar in many ways, competitive priorities change somewhat due to different suppliers and markets.

Timbuk2 messenger and laptop bags are manufactured in different factories and workshops. Thus, messenger bags are produced in San Francisco, while laptop bags and backpacks are manufactured primarily in China. In San Franciso, the company operates in a 23,000-foot square facility, making over 70,000 bags annually (Mainwaring, 2019). According to Jacobs and Chase (2021), the cutters and sewers team in San Francisco is comprised of approximately 25 highly trained professionals.

The facility is not fully automated, with most cutting and sewing tasks being performed by hand. The company opts for quality over output that could be increased substantially if sewing and cutting machines were used more often (Sanchez, 2018). With a relatively small production of 70,000 bags annually, the factory in San Francisco does not require a large number of raw materials to be ordered. However, that order should be specific due to many custom bags being purchased.

In contrast, the factory in China focuses on the production of laptop bags. Timbuk2 does not offer the option to customize those bags to the customers, resulting in more products being manufactured at a faster rate. The factory in China is automated, with a team of craftspeople employed to operate the machinery and perform hand sewing and cuttings tasks (Jacobs & Chase, 2021). The employees are primarily assigned a single task and are not required to be highly trained. As the factory in China is more automated than the one in San Franciso and custom bags are not offered, the company can afford to order a large amount of raw material and use it to produce their goods. Thus, the facility in China produces more high-quality laptop bags.

The supply chains in San Francisco and China differ significantly. Thus, in San Francisco, the company orders a limited amount of specific raw materials due to the custom nature of the products they offer. The manufacturing process is fast and mainly performed by hand. Therefore, a limited number of custom messenger bags is produced. The custom bags are delivered directly to customers, with a limited number of goods exhibited at the factory store (Mainwaring, 2019). Overall, due to the custom nature of the offered products, Timbuk2 cannot provide a large output without increasing the employee team considerably and risking their revenue being depleted by the salary costs.

*Figure 1. Supply Chain in San Francisco.*

In contrast, the supply chain in China is more complex due to the factory not offering custom-made products. The manufacturing facility in China orders a lot of raw materials, all of which are used in the manufacturing process. The Timbuk2 laptop bags are manufactured using sawing and cutting machines, with several tasks performed by hand by the workers. After the manufacturing process is completed, the goods are packaged and prepared for delivery to various stores. In addition, a limited amount of laptop bags is sent to the storage facility. From there, they can be sent directly to customers who opted to buy them online. In summary, the output from the Chinese facility is more prominent than in San Francisco due to the use of machines and the non-custom nature of the goods.