Weebots

Weebots and a not-so-wee bit of remodeling are two of the highlights for Sharper Image Corp. this holiday season.

The San Francisco-based cataloger and retailer unveiled the prototype for its new retail store design in late October in New York.

Sharper Image chairman and founder Richard Thalheimer says the redesign by FRCH Design Worldwide-lighter and brighter than the traditional Sharper Image outlets-is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to appeal to women, while not alienating its core male audience.

Ten percent of the company’s nearly 90 stores will be redesigned by Christmas, the rest over the next several years.

The Weebots, meanwhile, are the first toys Sharper Image has designed, and are part of the company’s continuing move toward designing more products in-house. The interactive electronic pets roll around, purr, “eat” and occasionally disobey commands-just like a real flesh-and-blood pet, only without the mess.

The retail revamp is the last phase of a redesign process that began with the catalog a few years ago, notes senior vice president of marketing Davia Kimmey.

Sharper Image reported $4.2 million in mail order sales for September, a 21% increase over September 1997. Although “it’s hard to know what will happen with consumer confidence,” Kimmey predicts strong sales throughout the holidays, when SI does most of its prospecting. The company will mail 6 million catalogs this season.

While still comprising a “tiny” portion of overall sales, Web sales for the company (www.sharperimage.com) are four times higher than they were at this time last year, she notes. Outbound e-mail promotions (to “tens of thousands” of customers) have also proved successful, with offers for new products performing best.

Thalheimer says he’s pleased with SI’s forays into DRTV this year. A two-minute spot that aired primarily in the South for a personal cooling system resulted in $3 million worth of sales. A reworked 28-minute version of a 30-minute infomercial for two products is scheduled to begin airing later this month.

“Our goal is to at least break even with the cost of the medium,” he says, adding that DRTV is a valuable awareness-building tool for the stores and catalog/Web venues as well as a sales generator.-BN