Sharper Image Corp. saw its revenue drop from $101.1 million in third quarter 2000 to $77 million in the quarter just ended. The $3.1 million in net income seen a year ago was nowhere to be seen either, with the San Francisco-based retailer taking a $3.8 million net loss during the quarter, which ended Oct. 31.
Catalog sales proved the most resilient sector for the firm, dropping 11% from the $25.5 million seen a year ago to $22.8 million, while total store sales fell 28%, from $58.2 million to $41.8 million, and same-store sales dropped by 36%. Online revenue decreased 29%, from $13.7 million to $9.7 million.
The Sharper Image attributed part of the sales drop off to the lack of a hot product that mirrored last year’s demand for the company’s Razor scooters. "Gains driven by scooter sales were exceptionally high," said company founder and president Richard Thalheimer in a statement.
Thalheimer continued, "When scooter sales are excluded from the sales comparisons, third quarter's total company sales increased 10%, and catalog sales increased 23%; sales at our Web site, sharperimage.com, increased 25%, excluding auction sales, and total stores sales increased 10%; [and] comparable store sales decreased 1%.
