Sharper Image Corp., San Francisco, has expanded its Internet and retail-store channels of distribution through its corporate marketing division. The division, which sells incentive and reward programs to other companies, has established new online partnerships with several major corporations, including Merrill Lynch, American Express, Citibank, Dell Computer, United Airlines, Microsoft, Boeing and Hilton Hotels.
“Forward-thinking companies love the association with The Sharper Image and they see the Internet as the ideal medium for their employee incentive and client rewards programs,” said Sharper Image’s founder, chairman and CEO Richard Thalheimer in a statement .
Additionally, the business development division, the company’s wholesale arm, has signed agreements that will make Sharper Image Design products available this holiday season at more than 2,000 retail stores and in mail-order catalogs with a total circulation of over 70 million. Major store and catalog wholesale customers include Bloomingdales, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Macys, Marshall Fields, Dillards, Robinson-May, Carson Pirie Scott, Hecht’s, Marriott hotel gift shops, and JCPenney’s top 400 stores.