Brookstone Review: Innovation or Overpriced Gadgets?
Innovation and demand keep changing from time to time, companies strive to stay current and relevant to their audience. Brookstone, once known for innovative gadgets and high-quality products, is at a crossroads. In this article, we will review Brookstone’s background, primarily focused products, and the current state of the brand to find out if it is still a good brand today.
The Rise of Brookstone
Brookstone is a company founded in 1964 by Arthur Selwyn Fishman in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally it was a small store where one could find carefully selected products ranging from clothing and shoes to bags and accessories and sports equipment. The underlying concept of the spa brand was based on the ‘bottom of the pyramid’, where products are sold at very low prices, yet they are high quality items. This became quite attractive to the consumer and in no time, consumers accepted Brookstone as a brand they can trust.
The process of seeking unique and refreshing products that is now recognized as the brand’s distinctive feature began in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition, Brookstone perfected the concept by venturing into other miscellaneous items, electronic gadgets and health equipment that excited the American consumer. The stores emerged as places where consumers could touch and feel exceptional and sometimes highly lucrative products. It is important to note that Brookstone was one of the pioneers of the engaging touch and feel concept, which enabled the customer to handle the goods before purchasing them.
Product Innovation
Brookstone became famous due to its innovative business approach in creating and developing new products. It became a true novelty brand that released revolutionary products in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including products such as Airhead, an advanced massage device, and the Fitmate, a fitness wristband that came before the smartwatch. These products represent the general spirit of the Brookstone company that focuses on the ideas of blending technology with usability and functionality.
This creativity was followed by other new products such as the Cow Clicker which is a device that emits the sound of a cow’s mood. Such products enhanced the company’s image as an unconventional brand that created gadgets that no other company could offer to consumers.
Expansion and Challenges
This success further fueled the store’s growth and by the early 2000s, Brookstone had over 500 stores in the United States for brick-and-mortar stores alone. However, this growth came with several problems that arose due to rapid expansion. When e-tailing began to change the entire landscape of retail business, the brand’s proprietary dependence on stores left them vulnerable.
Thus, new solutions from new online retailers such as Amazon also allowed customers to enjoy shopping from home without having to browse pages of product catalogs. The main problem affecting Brookstone’s physical store was that it could not offer the low prices and easy access available through the Internet. In addition, there was competition from other specialty stores and larger stores that sold a wider variety of products, including spa products.
Decline and Bankruptcy
Brookstone faced financial problems due to the changes in the retail sector which were of a very dynamic nature. In early 2011, the brand took the step of filing for bankruptcy and within a year it shut down over 240 stores worldwide. This led to the closure of all these locations, which effectively meant that it was the final coffin for Brookstone as it had to find ways to survive in the new world of retail.
Reinvention and Focus on E-Commerce
The changes that Brookstone made began with the company’s shift from physical store-based to online retailing. A feature of this brand was the need to take advantage of the emerging online shopping culture. Brookstone decided to respond to the evolutionary need by downsizing its outlets and converting them to an online business outlet in 2014.
E-commerce made this possible by allowing Brookstone to spend less on maintaining physical stores around the world. Mary continued to maintain a vast catalog with interesting assortments in the areas of health, home, and outdoor clothing. The reason for Brookstone’s focus on online sales was to target the current generation of consumers who are most involved in online shopping.
Reviving Innovation
Nevertheless, Brookstone has tried to bring back its innovative image in recent years, which had been tarnished due to problems. Some of the new products and concepts brought to the market by the brand are in line with current trends in consumption. For example, since Brookstone’s specialization is health, the creation of health and fitness products as well as home exercise equipment and stress relief devices is a response to the growing market.
The Brookstone company has also incorporated the use of technology for its convenience when selling its products online. Since then, to enhance the experience of customers and end users, an action that has triggered several changes, the brand has worked on the design of the website, recommending features and services, and connecting the website to social media. Being an organization concerned with selling products, Brookstone plans to achieve the goal by applying the principles of digital tools for a seamless and engaging closing.
Current Brand Position and Market Perception
Currently, the Brookstone brand image is associated with superior quality functional goods and services to improve the quality of life. It is interesting that the ability to provide innovative yet useful products to consumers in the retail sector remains a major advantage for the brand. However, the problem that Brookstone has to deal with is maintaining that exclusivity away from its website while it is competing with marquee players in the e-tailing space.
Customer Perception
By now, customers have developed a different attitude towards Brookstone than before. Having a large customer base that understands the experimental side of the brand is an advantage but the experiments have also turned away a new generation of consumers who do not understand the history of the product. Brookstone’s ability to use its brand equity to market products that are attractive to a younger generation of customers is an essential factor if it is to remain relevant.
The list of niche areas such as lifestyle, health and outdoors has given the brand a unique position in the market. Brookstone is still able to provide diverse products that Target considers very niche, thereby differentiating itself from mass market competitors. However, this must also be accompanied by constant modification or restructuring of the brand to meet the market standards of consumers.
Challenges and Opportunities
Thus, the main issue facing Brookstone is how to avoid being left behind in the World Wide Web environment. It was established that brands should keep changing their products and develop new goods that stimulate consumer interest and preference. Thus, there is a need to improve advertising and recall attracting other target market consumers as well as create uniqueness of the Brookstone product for existing consumers and the business.
Some of the potential growth areas for Brookstone are new categories of products that rank high in preferences, such as smart home and eco-friendly products. The following are some of the ways in which the brand can benefit from the trends discussed above: In addition, Brookstone has the opportunity to establish new cooperative business relationships as well as seek new collaboration proposals to diversify the range of services and products offered.
Conclusion
Brookstone’s rise as a physical store and its subsequent closure and transformation into an online-only brand is a good way to illustrate the opportunities and pitfalls facing retail companies. Despite the irregularities and some shortcomings, the brand’s strategic transformation and its shift in focus towards innovation assured the company of its place in the sector.
Whether Brookstone is still a good brand or not can be examined by evaluating its online presence and the quality of its products. The answer is very nuanced. However, today, those who appreciate innovation and quality as well as the theater of shopping can still shop at Brookstone. Still, the brand must be mindful of the area it operates in and needs a deep understanding of the current e-commerce situation and consumers’ preferences.
In conclusion, Brookstone can be successful in the future only if it sticks to the core values of the company and keeps innovating to keep up with the new trends of the world. In this way, Brookstone can move forward towards providing value-added consumer goods to the consumers, making their life easier and more satisfying.
