San Diegan Gretchen Tyker is the senior vice president of sales and marketing for the 45-year-old infant products company Infantino.
Infantino, the brand behind all the baby toys you’ve purchased over the years, celebrated its 45th anniversary this year. Behind the brand is a mom just like you. San Diegan Gretchen Tyker is the senior director of product development.
Tyler talks to Times of San Diego about what it’s like to develop products for Infantino while raising her son.
Tell me about your career at Infantino and how you began.
I was recruited to join Infantino in 2006 as Sales Manager, International Markets. In this role I was responsible for cultivating all business ventures outside of the U.S. At the time, Infantino’s business was nominal internationally and I quickly developed the Canadian and European markets via engagement with key retailers and opening regional offices with strategic sales staff.
Throughout my 17-year tenure with Infantino, I have partnered with internal and external customers to drive innovation and revenue generation of the North American business, resulting in more than double revenue in under 7 years. Due to my passion for the business and keen ability to think strategically, I advanced into Vice President over Sales in 2014 and then Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing in 2022. I work collaboratively with the cross functional U.S. leadership team to formulate the U.S. strategy and gain alignment from the executive team of our parent company, which is based out of Hong Kong.
Now serving as the most senior leader in the US, I have built a high performing, multi-functional team that always strives for excellence. Today, I remain directly responsible for the strategic business plan and objectives, profitable development and growth of the entire North American business for Infantino.
What have been your proudest accomplishments?
One of my proudest accomplishments is managing the business through very challenging times during the pandemic and post pandemic. Like many businesses, the pandemic had a profound impact on Infantino, as it forced several of our key customers to shut down in store operations. When I realized the impact, I worked with our team to quickly pivoted by increasing order quantities, ensuring our products were available to fulfill all retailer’s needs including ecommerce and drive-up orders. During this time, as many other businesses experienced, we also saw an astronomical increase in freight costs. In 2022, I worked to navigate this challenge by successfully negotiating and implementing two separate price increase rounds with all our key customers, which resulted in our ability to protect our bottom line. Infantino garnered record sales in 2021 and 2022 despite all the challenges brought about by the pandemic. Now, as we emerge from the pandemic, I have led the team to develop a strategic plan that will position the company for growth in the coming years.
Due to the pandemic, there was a significant growth in e-commerce across all consumer packaged goods (CPG) segments, and especially in the juvenile category. I saw a need for our business to adapt and restructure the marketing team to be more digitally focused. With a keen focus on Amazon, I led the team to capitalize on this insight, investing in the leading e-commerce platform and providing easier access to our product for new parents. This strategy nearly doubled our business on Amazon from 2019 – 2021, and we continue to see growth to this day.
Infantino is a beloved family brand. How do you want consumers to feel after using Infantino products?
Parents and caregivers are the hardest working people on the planet, but they also get to enjoy the biggest rewards. All the madness, stress and late nights are forgotten with every little smile. We hope our products can help parents find a few more, well-deserved, drool-covered grins. Our team at Infantino consists of moms, dads, aunts, uncles, friends and a few grandparents too. While we come from different parenting insights, we are all united by a common belief that we can make incredible products (and moments) for parents and their little ones. We also want parents to feel comfortable giving our products to their babies, that’s why we’ve always put safety first.
What are some of your favorite Infantino products?
I believe in babywearing and the positive effects it has on the bond between child and parent. I also firmly believe that babywearing should be accessible to all parents which is why we offer our exceptional carriers at an affordable price without sacrificing quality, style or fashion. For these reasons, our baby Carriers are some of my favorite products we make. It is extremely rewarding to watch our carriers progress from product conception, to design and sell in, to manufacturing and availability at retail, to watching a parent use our carriers in a local park or through the airport. Knowing that we are serving all consumers, making their lives easier and assisting them to bond in this unique way continues to drive all that we do.
How does being a mother shape your career at Infantino?
Our son was born halfway through my career at Infantino, and I can say that being a mother has given a deeper understanding of what our consumers are looking for and what problems they are trying to solve. Being a mother or parent isn’t easy, but there are many solutions available to make it easier. For example, I used our Fresh Squeezed Feeding System and was proud that this allowed me to make all of his baby food from scratch and in large quantities to save time. This system allows you to insert your homemade baby food into squeeze pouches instead of buying them premade, and then refrigerate or freeze for easy, on the go use. This saved me time by preparing in bulk so that we always had his baby food ready to go. Continuing to deliver products like this that help make other mother’s parenting easier is at the forefront of what we do at Infantino.
Give me an example of a decision you made at Infantino that was shaped by you being a mother.
In 2013, the year our son was born and amid a downturn of the Infantino business at Target, I worked directly with the Target buying team to create a new, unique infant product offering that not only solved new issues facing the millennial mom, but also modernized the brand to hit on key aesthetic trends. Many of the decisions I made during the development process were in line with what I was searching for as a new mother. I had been seeking baby development toys that were on trend, fashionable and cute at reasonable prices and the Go Gaga brand delivered on just that. The relaunch of the “Go Gaga” brand by Infantino grew the business at Target to our #1 customer in 2013 and catapulted the brand into growth over the next 10 years.
How do you juggle serving in a senior role at Infantino while also being a mother?
Balance is key, organization is key. Time blocking is key. I use my time wisely to ensure that I am available at all times to anyone who needs me, family or colleagues. I also have a very supportive and involved husband, and together as a team, we ensure our son is fully supported in his academics, sports and school life. We are sure to never miss one of his sporting events, field trips or school assemblies.
What kind of advice would you give to other mothers who are also doing the juggling act?
Give yourself grace and remind yourself daily that you are doing a great job. You are teaching your children what it means to be dedicated and passionate about what you do, and what it means to work hard to achieve your goals. They will model themselves after your great example.
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San Diego Moms is published on Saturdays. Have a story idea? Email hoaq@timesofsandiego.com and follow her on Instagram at @hoawritessd.
