‘Shark Tank’ review: Naturally Perfect Dolls, PDX Pet Design, Victory Coffees, and Basic Outfitters
Tonight, “Shark Tank” is finally back from hiatus! Isn’t this a cause worth celebrating? All of the regular Sharks (minus Barbara Corcoran) are back, and the businesses tonight range from clothing to pet toys to dolls to coffee. It’s a nice range of ideas, and we do see markets for every one of them … at least to a certain extent. There’s a part of one of them that is even too weird for us.
As with every other “Shark Tank” review we tend to do over the course of the season, we’re going to be updating this article live as the show happens! Therefore, be sure to refresh the page for more and more insight as we move things along. You can also click on any of the product links below to get a little more information about the brand and how to pick up some products yourself.
PDX Pet Design – Is this a weird company? Absolutely. We don’t mind that as an offense to the people behind it, but we’re not sure that there has ever been anything as strange as a product that allows you to pretend to lick your cat as some sort of social-bonding. The daytime activity toy is a little more appealing, but it’s also very expensive when you stop for a moment to consider precisely what it is.
In terms of the deal … well, let’s just say that we’re not exactly surprised that this one went up in smoke completely given how much everyone laughed at the artificial tongue.
Basic Outfitters – This episode was structured in an unusual way, given that usually the first product is the one that you think will get the deal, whereas the second is often the silly one that doesn’t seem to ever be that close to an investment. That wasn’t exactly the case here, given that Basic Outfitters does seem on the surface to be the sort of company that could end being big. You’re selling essential products to men (or at least most men — not for people with big feet like us), and you’re doing so at a very cheap price without making things complicated. The big issue that they unfortunately had in the Tank was simply one of availability. They’d already given up 75% of their company, and without a guarantee that another investor would sell part of their shares, none of the Sharks were willing to bite.
Victory Coffees – In terms of branding and having a simple message, all of that here was great. It’s a coffee company that knows what it is, and who it is marketing itself towards: Americans who love celebrating their patriotism. They’ll probably make a nice little business for themselves online; yet, at the same time there’s just nothing here that is altogether proprietary or different, and we do wonder whether or not they are over-estimating the appeal of specialty coffee for many of the salt-of-the-earth people in their demographic. For the third straight time tonight, we have a business leaving the Tank without a deal.
Naturally Perfect Dolls – It’s pretty easy to love the mission statement of the company, given that they want to make young women everywhere feel beautiful and special — and not like they have to confirm to other standards of beauty. They, like the other products tonight, still have problems, starting with a hefty price tag and continuing with the fact that they are not in retail, and we think that so much of buying a doll is an impulse purchase — and there’s no easy way to get there. It will be interesting to see if the investment from Daymond John will get them to the next level; if nothing else, we’re just glad to have a victory tonight somewhere.
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For some other news related to “Shark Tank,” including some other recent highlights, be sure to head over to the link here! Of course, we’ll be back next week to give you some more coverage related to the show. (Photo: ABC.)