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The Sharper Image will issue a $19 merchandise credit to about 3.2 million customers as per a settlement of a class-action suit that alleged the specialty retailer misled customers about the effectiveness of its Ionic Breeze air purifiers, writes DM News.
The settlement must still be approved by the court, and a court date has been set for March 1.
The merchandise credits must be used to purchase Sharper Image-branded products, so the settlement could potentially benefit the company. The agreement also dictates that Sharper Image will sell Ozone Guard attachments for the floor models of Ionic Breeze, for $7 apiece. The company must also pay $1.875 million in legal fees for the plaintiff, Manuel Figueroa.
The retailer has seen steady declines in sales over recent years, thanks to bad publicity for the Ionic Breeze and a ho-hum product assortment. For the six months ended July 31, the company’s revenue plummeted 24 percent, and in Sept., founder Richard Thalheimer was ousted, to be replaced by “turnaround specialist” Jerry W. Levin.
Marketers have unleashed their holiday promotions earlier than ever this year, with many hitting the stores well before Thanksgiving. But Sirius XM isn’t launching most of its 24-hour holiday music channels until turkey day or later.
The newly merged company…
PC Magazine will stop publishing a print edition with its January issue. The magazine will shift operations entirely online.
The magazine will be sent via email with a link to the current edition. It will continue to look like the…
Walgreens has returned to 1 Times Square with its new 16,200-square-foot flagship store; the store flaunts signs, made up of 12 million LEDs, on its three sides.
The signs, running above and below the famous news “zipper,” will include diagonal…
Following an inability to agree with studios on payment for shows distributed online, the Screen Actors Guild has decided to pursue strike authorization from its members in a move the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers calls “bizarre.”
Should…
Brick-and-mortar retailers will be marking down prices on many items this holiday season to attract reluctant shoppers, but their holiday “price war” is a mere skirmish compared with that being waged online, writes the International Herald Tribune (via Retailer Daily).
The price-cutting…
Through the first half of the year, automakers have slimmed their ad spending by 10% to $6.1 billion, according to Nielsen Monitor Plus.
General Motors slipped 6% to $1.2 billion, while Ford Motor cut ad spend by 22% to $954…
