At his keynote at IFA on 6 September, SharkNinja CEO Mark Barrocas presented the philosophy that drives the company to “see problems that others don’t, and solve problems that others can’t”
The American firm that encompasses the brands Shark and Ninja went public last year, and Mr Barrocas took to the Innovation Stage at IFA to share insights into SharkNinja’s consumer problem-solving engine and its journey from a one-product small appliance company to a global innovation powerhouse.
“We have an incredible story,” said Mr Barrocas at the start of his presentation, explaining how the company began with just one product and has since diversified into 34 categories, encompassing everything from outdoor cooking to beauty. In the last three years alone, SharkNinja has expanded into 19 new categories and today offers its products in 32 countries and sells 70 million products a year.
Continually focused on gaining market share in existing product categories, developing new ones, and expanding internationally, the firm is constantly looking for new innovations and launches no less than 25 new products a year. But what’s behind SharkNinja’s consistent drive to create new innovations to meet consumers’ needs? Mr Barrocas claimed that the company’s competitive advantage is “the way we think.” That unique SharkNinja mindset is based on a number of maxims, to make it “outrageously extraordinary,” he said.
“Drive for the extraordinary, be an explorer, get smarter every day, and lead with a relentless desire to know more” are a few of these guiding principles, all of which are propelled by an overarching goal to “positively impact people’s lives every day in every home around the world.” SharkNinja’s CEO outlined how the company puts its theories into practice, namely, SharkNinja aims to detect consumer “problems” and offer solutions that no one else has thought of. “We see problems that others don’t and we solve problems that others can’t,” said Mr Barrocas.
How exactly does the company do this? The head of SharkNinja explained that it actively observes consumers in their homes, a practice that led to the Shark self-cleaning brush roll vacuum cleaner after watching people struggle to remove hair from their vaccums. Other important processes that go into SharkNinja’s active detection of consumer needs is scubbing social media for both negative and positive sentiments; observing social trends, and not just in home appliances sector; reading online reviews; conducting focus groups, and monitoring commercial environments.
To develop what Mr Barrocas called 24/7 innovation, the firm has a team of some 1100+ engineers globally, located in Boston, London, and China. But beyond product development, when SharkNinja’s products are just about ready to go to market, the company makes sure they go into 750 consumer homes for four weeks, leading to an average of 200+ changes before the definitive product is launched.
Mr Barrocas highlighted the importance of consumers as brand ambassadors and the role of social media in driving demand. He shared the example of the Ninja SLUSHi frozen drinks machine, which launched in the United States a few weeks ago and was sold out in three days due to the overwhelming response of brand advocates on social media.
SharkNinja’s latest breakthroughs
CEO Mark Barrocas also provided a sneak peek of new SharkNinja products at IFA this year. The Ninja Luxe Espresso machine solves the “problems” of traditional espresso machines, making espresso, drip coffee, and cold brew drinks easily at an affordable price. Launched on the EMEA market, Ninja Luxe is coming to the rest of Europe next month. The Shark FlexFusion multi-styler, also to be launched next month, is a multi-styler that can work as a hair dryer, straightener, hot brush, or curler, and can style both wet and dry hair.
Hall 3.1 / Stand 103
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