SunbitsSass Peress – CEO of ICP Solar – Solar Blog

There are signs worldwide that the stimulus packages which were enacted by governments across the world earlier this year are finally making their way into the general global economies and having a positive impact. It would appear that housing starts have bottomed, and some economies are reporting upswings. I guess with the cost of capital so low, pumping money into the economies is finally taking its positive toll.

What I hope is that once the economies start, the governments will be able to rollback some of the planned deficits because all we are really doing is putting on our kids backs the ills we helped to cause. The correction to the internet industry of the early 2000’s was followed by a correct of the banking industry in the last year or so and yet the difference is that while one was internal to a new industry created by technology changes, the latter was a more macro based correction in an old industry which suffered because of technology changes gone rampant and greed.

I hope we’ve all learned our lessons about over-borrowing, yet I fear that memories are short, that credit card balances will go back up and that banks, if ever left to their own devices again, are programmed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Sass

In all the huff about the economic crisis, people resort back to doing what is best for their wallets first, and secondly what is best for anything else. Its a normal reaction to the insecurity that such a situation can create. So the challenge in marketing products on the basis of “green” is greater in times when other things are primarily important, rather than in times of abundance where we “permit” ourselves to make investments we would otherwise refrain from.

I believe therefore that its our duty to show the consumer HOW buying “green” makes economic sense. Of course its hard to show them that the carbon savings resulting from their use of our sunsei(R) solar charger will results in a particular saving in cleaning up our environment (also at a later time) yet its important nevertheless to continue to market to forward thinkers, adjust your strategy and show savings of other kinds as well.

The convenience of solar can be promoted as saving time, and time is money. You’ll note that in such times, brands are important too, for their convey longevity. People will gravitate less to no-names or names they have never heard of, in favor of major brands they trust.

So it is not “bye bye” to buying green if you adjust your strategy to the reality of the people you are trying to attract. It will be if you don’t.

Sass

In December 2002 I visited a company called Konarka, a young technology startup in Lowell, Mass. At that time I believed it to be disruptive. OK, so it took a few years to come to market, yet my patience, and belief in their chairman Howard Berke have been validated. So this morning when we announced the very first solar charger in the world using their organic solar cell technology, it feels amazing. Its fun to change the rules of the game, and be the one to do it. So now everyone is playing catchup again…and we launch a product today at half the market price of competition in the same power range, yet without the flexibility and brand of Coleman(R) behind us and a great innovative package which is similar to what ICP Solar has done in the past with previous flexible products.

Availability is Q4 yet we will start pre-orders on our website much sooner than that…so get ready to rumble in the camping market for portable solar chargers! See full press release below:

ICP Solar to Launch New Products at Outdoor Retailer Show
Disruptive Technology to Boost Coleman Charger Portfolio

ICP Solar Technologies Inc. (OTCBB: ICPR.OB, FRANKFURT: K1U.F), a developer and marketer of innovative, proprietary, next-generation solar panels and products, today announced several of the Company’s products will be on display at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market July 21-24 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Outdoor Retailer Summer Market is billed as the world’s largest outdoor sports industry gathering, bringing retailers and media together with over 1,000 brands in the business of producing and selling the active outdoor lifestyle. ICP Solar’s Coleman®-branded solar chargers and accessories will be on display at Coleman booth #36104.

One of the revolutionary products to be highlighted will be a solar charger that ICP Solar has developed in conjunction with Konarka Technologies. Konarka is a leader in solar plastic films that convert light into energy, utilizing organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology as a source of renewable power. Konarka’s Power Plastic® is lightweight, flexible, scalable and adaptable for use in a variety of commercial and consumer applications. ICP Solar and Konarka have designed a new line of solar chargers utilizing Konarka’s Power Plastic® solar cells, integrated under ICP Solar’s specifications. The units are to be sold in North America under the Coleman® brand and should be available in the fourth quarter of 2009 via the internet sites of a number of major retailers along with www.colemansolar.com.

“This relationship with Konarka is one more example of ICP Solar expanding its global reach with new, innovative technologies and partnerships to better position the company for sustained growth and profitability,” said Sass Peress, Chairman and CEO of ICP Solar. “We expect thousands of visitors to be at the Outdoor Retailer show this week and can think of no more appropriate venue to showcase these solar chargers, marketed under the respected Coleman® brand name. Given the uniqueness of Konarka’s OPV applications, we look forward to a long and beneficial relationship and the opportunity to offer additional low-cost, cutting edge solar solutions in the years to come.”

ICP Solar launched a new ecommerce portal today at www.sunsei.eu .

In addition to our current Sunsei(R) website, this new site will provide multi-lingual availability to all of our Sunsei(R) branded products to our European consumer base. As with the North American version of the site, it is not meant to compete with our major etailers (whose visits dwarf ours by hundreds of multiples). Rather it gives us direct feedback with consumers about the verbiage (testing webpage formats), the story behind the brand, and direct response about new products and any potential product issues which may arise are dealt with much faster than anyone else in the market. The advantages to our etailer partners far outweigh any potential lost sales because of the few thousand visitors we have each month.

The availability of this site will also give us much better direct contact with European consumers and their requirements which do differ from North Americans in subtle yet important ways. This direct contact will help us hone our new product offerings to the localized (yet globalized backbone) nature of our products. It is yet another step in the development of our group of brands into world players in the solar consumer market.

Considering that our corporate sales have basically been flat (or slightly less) than last year in an economy that stinks, our margins are growing, our expenses are diving…and we’ve just added the Energizer(R) brand, will add new products this week under Coleman(R) and Sunsei(R) brands…and one more big product range announcement which will be put our shortly….I think you can all see where this is going…. …

Sass

You might have already read about the amazing deal that ICP Solar inked with Energizer, yet in case you haven’t here is the executive summary:

For an initial period of 3 years, with extensions on certain conditions for both parties, ICP Solar will market solar charging solutions under the Energizer brand, and this on a global basis. When we were first approached by Energizer, we found it odd that they would look to our little company as a potential suitor, when they were “interviewing” dozens of others, some billion dollar corporations. And yet we soon grew to understand that their philosophy of what they wanted to bring to market was the missing link in the solar world. So after 15 months of meetings, talks and legal mumbo jumbo, we inked a deal two weeks ago.

So what does this mean for the marketplace? Well in a nutshell, its going to blow out of the water any other solar program on earth today. I won’t give you (or our competition) any clues about what this is going to mean. You wouldn’t expect this program to be the lowest cost on earth, and it shouldn’t if its going to provide customers with superior solutions to some of the farces out there in the solar world. This is going to be about completing the circle and helping consumers feel “whole” about their solar power purchase. It will look and feel very different from our other branded programs (Coleman or Sunsei). This doesn’t mean that those other programs don’t have their places. In fact, we’ll be adding to the mass appeal of the Coleman program and the niche/leisure targeting of Sunsei in the coming weeks with new product intros at quite a rapid pace. Its just that the Energizer program will bring a very different approach which fits its brand image.

In the coming weeks we’ll be announcing new products and programs to our retail partners for end 2009 and beginning 2010 launch (depending on their cycles). OK, so maybe I was a bit premature when in 2001 I announced “the best is yet to come”. Frankly I was not ready at that time in my own personal and professional development, although ICP clearly was. However, this time I think I got it right. By sharing, we grow. By growing, we permit those around us to do the same.

This is going to be a wonderful experience to share with the world, and I can’t wait…

Sass

Dear Stakeholders,

Whether you are clients, vendors or otherwise, each year at this time ICP Solar benefits from attempts by some lowly competitor to paint a bleak picture of its future and try to un-nerve clients into thinking that we are going away. The farces who promote this position have now done so for six years running.

Each year, for at least the past five, they would point to our public company financials, and admonish clients and vendors alike to abandon us. And each year, we keep delivering, keep innovating and keep being market leader.

I guess I was a bit disappointed when last week I heard from our sales team that these yahoos were once again promoting these concerns. While its absolutely true that we had very large paper losses in the past year, most are a result of stock options, warrants and others non-performance considerations. An in-depth look at our performance would show anyone that we are on the right path in cost controls, margin increases and sales stabilization.

Having invested so much in R&D last year, our efforts proved worthy enough to be granted the global Energizer license for solar power. Do you think they would do so with a company unable to deliver? Our investors stand behind us and at this time, we have used $0 of an available credit line, preferring to continue reigning in costs, working on sales increases and margin growth.

To Les, Mike and Dan…nice try…I guess if you had something really distinctive to offer the market by which it could call you innovators with, you would resort to that rather than trying to diss ICP. Selling Sharp panels at substantially more to your market than dealers could buy directly from solar distributors must be very hard to justify. And although I feel bad that this is the only strategy you find of value, it is of your own making and your universe will circle back on you. It is perhaps why your largest clients are today looking for alternatives, having seen that the low cost, low quality offerings can only go so far, until a market grows to learn and sees the lacking of poorer and shallower ranges of products.

As the asian vendors go direct to retailers and distributors, bypassing non-value added members of the supply chain, a price strategy wallows in defeat. It is only by innovation and consumer confidence that any company can win. What I write here is nothing new, its just a strategy that is not as easy to deliver upon as many would think, and why I am absolutely confident that with our brand partners, Coleman and Energizer, and with our own in-house brand Sunsei, ICP Solar is positioned to deliver what consumers want in 2010 and beyond.

Should ANYONE have any question about ICP Solar’s ability to deliver on the promise of the future, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am at anyone’s disposal to help you gain the confidence you need to join our bandwagon into a great future.

Sass