The Sharper Image emerges from the ashes as a "virtual brand"
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Shopping
The Sharper Image, once a staple at malls around the country, was snuffed out of business last year. Strangely, it seems that providing people with a free place to try out a massage recliner is not a viable business model.But there's still some value in the techno-gadget brand name, and at the Consumer Electronics Store in Las Vegas this week, the newly reborn Sharper Image made its comeback. The private equity firm that controls the company are now letting outside companies release products under The Sharper Image name, giving it new life as a "virtual brand."
HoMedics, a Michigan company that makes (surprise) massage chairs, created a new company, SI Products, that would put out cheaper stuff under the banner of the deceased luxury gizmo peddler. So far, 24 products are available under the reborn name, but more companies are applying to add additional ones. By the end of the year, you'll be able to buy Sharper Image products at big stores like Bed Bath & Beyond and Macy's.
And because the enterprise no longer has to prop up those expensive stores, it can afford to bring the prices lower. In fact, one of its first new products, an iPod Touch dock that automatically rotates your device so it goes into landscape mode, goes for $100, much less than you'd have found at its bricks-and-mortar stores. After all, if there's any taint on the Sharper Image name, it's that the products it sold were expensive luxury novelties that were fun to try at the mall, but you'd never bring home. But the brand's reputation for inventive homewares lingers.
Creating a virtual brand isn't a bad idea. Brand loyalty and awareness are tough to come by, and it's smart to think of ways to wring more business out of a name that got stuck in a financial quagmire but still has a profile of reliability or desirability. The guys who make South Park obtained the name and logo of Braniff, a long-dead airline, as a lark. But the consumer graveyard is littered with names that still have some legitimate life in them yet.
Linens 'n Things, will we see your name soaking up business again on a towel label in the near future? What other once-trusted brands would be ripe for a resurrection?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-22-2009 @ 12:38PM
Shawn said...
I thought the snide comment made about The Sharper Image by the author was made in poor judgment by an uninformed writer. The Sharper Image made it through several economic downturns with the companies’ founder at the helm but when the BOD decided to can the guy it flopped at the first sign of a slow down. The comment "Strangely, it seems that providing people with a free place to try out a massage recliner is not a viable business model" I think is wrong in that the chair brought people in the store. The thing that killed TSI is that the BOD left the $100 gadgets on the shelves that no one would buy during an economic downturn instead of going to $15 dollar toys like the companies founder did to survive the past recessions.
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1-22-2009 @ 12:55PM
Jim said...
Shawn is 100% correct about everything. Thank you. My guess is that Jason does not have decades of previous experience in business, and when he does, he will know why I said this.
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1-22-2009 @ 1:46PM
mgr5598 said...
Jim, you are right, Nothing beats experience. I spent 15 years in corporate America. The biggest and most recent lesson I learned is that when it comes down to you and making money, the company will choose making money every time, even if only to support their "strategy". Unfortunately, there are way too many new MBA's that think their book experience is better than real experience. http://1energydrinks.com
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1-22-2009 @ 2:07PM
Irenka said...
I miss Sharper image, they always have nice gadgets which is make a great gift to your self or others. Yes they do sell a luxury items, but everything can be consider as a luxury, beside bare necessities.
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1-22-2009 @ 2:22PM
AntiLaJollaHoyaSaxa said...
Get ready for THE SHARPER IMAGE comeback with all new upscale high-tech frat bro Chick Magnet toys like whoppie cushions, fake vomit as well as rubber dog turds.
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1-29-2009 @ 12:52PM
PacRat said...
Is there a site where I can obtain directions - instructions for setting up and operating the Sharper Image Automatic Pill Disperser? I need it for my forgetful husband but don't know how to program the thing & since I bought it used it did not come with the details. Thanks.
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2-07-2009 @ 1:22PM
Rick said...
There will always be a market for quirky techno-gadgets that cannot be purchased anywhere else. As a teenager I remember going to one of the first (if not the first) Sharper Image store on Battery Street in San Francisco with my dad. I met the owner-founder Richard Thalheimer who was working on the floor of the store interacting with clients.
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