COURTESY OF SHARKNINJA
The perfect blend
SharkNinja focuses on innovation
by DAN JONES
A search on the social media platform TikTok should tell you all you need to know about the Ninja Creami ice cream maker, says SharkNinja president Mark Barrocas. “Type in ‘Ninja Creami,’ ” he instructs. “There are 35 million views of people making all kinds of amazing stuff.”
SharkNinja’s impact on the housewares industry can be seen through viral videos and five-star reviews, something the company takes seriously.
“Twenty years ago, if you [liked or] didn’t like something, you maybe told your mom or dad or husband or wife,” Barrocas says. “Today the consumer has so much power.”
The company, which was started in Montreal in 1994 under the name EuroPro, now offers more than 150 products to consumers worldwide. The name has evolved into SharkNinja, with cleaning solutions, such as vacuum cleaners, falling under the Shark brand, and kitchen products under Ninja.
Breathing new life into old ideas is a SharkNinja tradition. Mark Rosenzweig, who founded the company, focused on research and development early on.
Rosenzweig watched how consumers were using household products, and how they modified or tried to make do to meet their needs.
What resulted were improved takes on vacuum cleaners, traditional food processors and coffee machines, steam cleaners, upright vacuum cleaners, multifunctional food processors and craft coffee makers.
Creating devices that people love is the goal of the company, says Barrocas. “The validation of what we do comes from the consumer,” he says, again pointing to the impact of social media, and how that drives innovation and also decisions to refine a product to make it better.
“Engineering is one part of that. The testing of the products is the other. Before the product launches in the market, about 1,000 consumers have interacted with it. We’re not launching with our fingers crossed, saying, ‘I hope people like it.’”
COMPANY INFO
- Name SharkNinja
- President Mark Barrocas
- Employees 2,800
- Headquarters Needham, Massachusetts
- Items carried at Costco Ninja Professional Blender 1000 with Auto-iQ (Item 4883930); Ninja Creami (Item 2603480, pictured above); Ninja Foodi Ultimate Power Pitcher System (Item 1658467). Warehouses/Costco.com.
- Quote about Costco “One of the reasons I think there’s such a good [relationship] with our businesses is because Costco is also bringing extraordinary value.”—Mark Barrocas