R Retail Excellence Awards
SWEETWATER Fort Wayne, Indiana
Founded: 1979 Principals: Mike Clem & John Hopkins Locations: 1 Employees: 2,500 ket conditions like a small operation,” Oster- mann said. “With that in mind, we always do our best to understand each of our vendors, so that our partnerships can be tailored to their strengths and abilities.” Ostermann said Sweetwater also takes extra time considering the impact to its vendors when it needs to change its poli- cies or processes. “We exist in the middle of the supply chain, controlling neither demand nor sup- ply,” he said. “We have influence on each, of course, but our value comes from being the best option on each end. If we are the easiest and most effective to work with on the supply side, then we have the best as- sortment and service on the customer side. Putting unnecessary burden on our ven- dors ultimately has negative downstream impacts on our customers, so we are very conscious of how we work with our ven- dors. Being the best partner to our vendors helps us continue to be the best option for our customers.” A SUPPLIER’S ‘HYPE MAN’ Another reason voting vendors nominated Sweetwater in our Excellence Awards this year was for its marketing support, with one saying Sweetwater offers “excellent product insight and advertising support.” With such a comprehensive media mix portfolio, Ostermann said Sweetwater is able to create a bespoke approach for each brand based on who they are, who their au- dience is, how well they’re known and the simplicity or complexity of their products. “For every brand, we’re constantly evaluating the best mix of demand capture and demand generation, and intention- ally placing their products into the cor- rect digital, print and affiliate/influencer placements,” he explained. “Additionally, we welcome and encourage brands to visit the campus and socialize their products with our highly trained sales team to de- velop mindshare and understanding with our outbound efforts.” MI
Sweetwater’s Jeff Ostermann
DOING THE ‘RIGHT THING’ Perennial Excellence winner Sweetwater continues to rake in supplier votes — this year, for being a great business partner. — By Katie Kailus
F or the last 14 years, Sweetwater has been a Retail Excellence winner, in- cluding in 2023 when it was named Music Inc.’s Retailer of the Year. As a fine- tuned online music retail machine, Sweet- water’s “sales engineers” have become the industry standard when it comes to customer service and the business gener- ated some $1.57B in sales in 2022 alone. With this year’s Excellence-voting suppli- ers calling Sweetwater a “solid partner” and “our best partner,” it’s no surprise the online MI giant has found its way into our Excellence Awards again this year. So, how does Sweetwater ensure it’s a good partner to its suppliers? According to Jeff Ostermann, Sweetwater’s chief people and culture officer, it all comes down to the core of the company’s man- tra: Do the right thing.
“This doesn’t just apply to our custom- ers, but also to our vendor partners,” Os- termann explained. “As large as we have become, it would often be easy to say to our vendors, ‘We make the rules.’ But that’s not in our DNA at Sweetwater. We always strive to find mutually beneficial solutions to every situation — we want to do the right thing for both of us. We of- fer our resources to each other when the opportunities arise. Our vendors are often our friends, and it goes beyond just busi- ness. We grow with the people we care about, not at their expense.” Sweetwater also works to meet its ven- dors where they’re at on their own journey. “We understand that not every partner is capable of investing millions in software and automation like a large company or shifting production on a dime to meet changing mar-
44 I MUSIC INC. I DECEMBER 2024
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