THE SHARPER IMAGE

The 'Sharper Image Corporation' , founded by Richard Thalheimer, is a specialty retailer that operates throughout the United States. The Sharper Image has been in business since 1977 and publicly traded since 1987. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA and employs 2500 people nationwide. The company's principal selling channels include Sharper Image specialty stores throughout the United States; the Sharper Image monthly catalog; and its primary Web site. The company also has business-to-business sales teams for marketing its exclusive and proprietary products for corporate incentive and reward programs and wholesale to selected U.S. and international retailers.

Contents

History

Retail Stores

Sales

Advertising and business

Consumer Reports lawsuit

Sharper Image & Customer's Personal Information

Trump Steaks

References

External links

History

Based in San Francisco, The Sharper Image Corporation is the brainchild of Richard Thalheimer. The company started as a catalog business to sell jogging watches.^[1] He started his advertising in running magazines, and within 2 years he had made his first million. This profit inspired him to start The Sharper Image.
The year 2006 saw a shakeup in the board of the company, including the removal of Richard Thalheimer as CEO.^[2] He was replaced by Jerry W. Levin, who was later replaced by Steven A. Lightman, who is the current CEO.^[3] In May 2007, the company announced the hiring of Rebecca Roedell as Chief Financial Officer.^[4]

Retail Stores

The company has 190 locations nationwide, which represent close to 60% of the total company revenue. In the last few years more and more retail revenue share has been taken over by internet shoppers and Sharper Image's Ebay operation.
The retail stores have been the biggest way for the company to grow over the last 25 years. The enormous profits that were procured during the 2000-2003 years were instrumental in broadening The Sharper Image's name. As with most non-franchise chains, the stores mainly look the same. Over the years there have been different store models that the visual department rolls out. The company is currently trying to phase-out the "grey" store and replace it with "white" stores, mainly named as such because of the extensive use of white with black contrasting.
The company is now in the process of changing the general feel and look of the stores with new floor layouts and display changes. They are also working on a new visual campaign including new pictures, posters, and better packaging for their products. This will coincide with a new marketing plan which is set to be rolled out in the coming months of 2007. This is all in an effort to renew the company name, and bring the customers back into the store.
The stores contain separate "walls" that include "Home" and "Travel". Besides the wall displays, the stores are made up of stand-alone fixtures that can have locking glass displays, bottom stocks, or shelving and can be easily converted to the manager's needs.

Sales

The Sharper Image is famous for its monthly sales. Every month, at least one product is sold as a "PWP" (''Purchase With Purchase''). This PWP sale means that customers can buy select products at 50% off, as long as they purchase another item.
There are certain offers that have been around since the items they involve have been launched. The entire Ionic Breeze line has had a buy one, get the second one half off deal since the product was introduced about six or seven years ago. This deal is sure to go on until the products are phased-out. The company also has a reputation of introducing its air purifiers at an "introductory" price which is normally about $50 less than the final price. This intro price is effective for about 3-6 months depending on sales, and then the price is raised to its final point.
About once a year, the company also has a sale on refurbished products that they sell in stores. Normally, no stores stock refurbished products as they are sold on Ebay. The relatively lax return policy means that many units get returned even though they work fine, and that means that there are a lot of refurbished Ionic Breezes floating around. Whenever there are too many units, the stores stock them and sell them for 50% off. These are returnable to stores within the sale date, but if they are returned after the date the store has to ship out a new unit. If a new unit is returned, normally a store has a replacement for the customer.

Advertising and business

The Sharper Image's advertising budget was spent on the catalog for about the first 20 years of its existence. Once products like the Ionic Breeze were introduced, the company realized that "informericals" were a great way for their products to get some air time. Most other products in the home air purifier market (including those made by Oreck) already used this medium, so The Sharper Image followed. This move proved to be well thought out and executed, as it boosted sales tremendously. The employees loved how people came into the store asking for products that they already knew everything about, making their job a little less stressful. However, whenever the company decides to end certain sales, they do so at the store level. This means that the "infomercial" still showing around the world talks about the sale that has technically ended. This has always made employees a little fed up with their company, since they aren't allowed to honor the sale, until the customer mentions the ad they saw on TV.
The company is known to receive special supplier contracts. For instance, its HW551 and HW552 product code massage chairs are specific to The Sharper Image, and Human Touch Interactive do not sell those specific chairs to any other retailer. Ever since the Robosapien was released on the market a few years ago, The Sharper Image has received the exclusive rights to sell the "Signature Series" which is a chrome or blue-chrome model of the product that is more visually appealing than the standard white models that are sold is stores such as Best Buy.

Consumer Reports lawsuit

In 2002, Consumer Reports tested many fan driven air purifiers along side The Sharper Image's Ionic Breeze Quadra. The Sharper Image was not happy with the results, and sued Consumer Reports in order to get what they thought would be a more fair testing of the product.^[5] However, the suit was dismissed due to Sharper Image being unable to "come forward with any evidence from which a finding of malice could be made."^[6]
Two years later, Consumer Reports stated that the Quadra could be dangerous to consumers' health because of the trace levels of ozone produced by the unit. ^[7] As a result, sales plummeted, and the stores even took back units that were years old for a cash refund. The Sharper Image's response was to work with the Engelhard Corporation and create an ozone catalyst that would reduce the purified air of excess ozone before it got the chance to circulate throughout the room.^[8]

Sharper Image & Customer's Personal Information

Sharper Image employees are encouraged to acquire customer's mailing addresses, as well as their e-mail addresses. The company regularly holds store contests which offers cash prizes to the store that receives the most email addresses. Employees are encouraged to explain to the customers that having the customer's name and address allows the store to locate a purchase without a receipt. Additionally, sales associates are told to tell customers that the only reason their email address is needed is to able to send the customer "exclusive" email offers.

Trump Steaks

In early 2007, The Sharper Image entered into a partnership with Donald Trump to be the "exclusive" sellers of Trump Steaks.^[9] Trump Steaks were available in five different packages ranging in price from $99.00 (USD) to $1,000 (USD). The packages were delivered via mail in dry ice packaging within two business days of the initial purchase. Poor sales of the very highly priced steak packages were impacted further when it was revealed that Trump Steaks are simply readily available high end steaks (which sell at a fraction of the cost Sharper Image is asking for "Trump" steaks) from meat retailer Buckhead Beef which have been simply repacked with the Trump brand, and given a much higher price. As of July 31st 2007, Trump Steaks are no longer promoted in the stores or their on-line store.

References

1. Sharper Image founder Thalheimer is removed as CEO
2. Sharper Image axes chief executive
3. Sharper Image Appoints Steven A. Lightman President and Chief Executive Officer
4. Sharper Image Hires Rebecca Roedell As CFO; Roedell To Replace Interim CFO Daniel Nelson - Update
5. Sharper Image pays 5,000 to end lawsuit against CU
6. Court Dismisses Sharper Image Lawsuit against Consumers Union
7. Consumer Reports calls air purifier ‘unhealthy’
8. Sharper Image Ionic Breeze® Air Purifiers Are the First to Feature OzoneGuard
9. The Sharper Image: First to Offer Trump Steaks


★ Profile from Finance on Yahoo!

★ Investor Relations

External links

★ The Sharper Image website