Black Friday Sales 2012

Sharper Image has been freefalling for the last two years with little hope to regain their once powerful position in the retail electronics industry. They have posted declining sales in all three channels (store, online, catalog), including a 62% drop in catalog orders.

A company that once prided themselves on being innovators have become copycats. In the 1990′s they created Ionic Breezes, but a combination of stale marketing and bad reviews (Consumer’s Digest) has rendered the once high selling product to an average seller. Massage chairs were made famous by Sharper Image, but now you can find comparable chairs at 5 other stores in the mall.

Electronics and small gadgets used to be creative and one of a kind, but now they create nothing original, nothing that can’t be found at Best Buy, Wal Mart, and even the market.

Sharper Image has fired their long time CEO and founder, Richard Thalheimer, and brought in a fix-up specialist. To this point, they continue to create mediocre products, and have continued to be followers instead of leaders. One of their newest products is a Donald Trump premium steak package. Steak packages are far cheaper and you get more selection for a much lower price at Omaha Steaks. New stereos and GPS units litter the sales floor, but these are items you can get from anywhere. Their lack of creativity has sparked their demise.

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