The Christmas Tree Hugger
The Christmas Tree Hugger is a product by a company from Atlanta, GA, that aims to make artificial Christmas trees more attractive. Rather than leaving the metal or plastic pole exposed, The Christmas Tree Huger will wrap around the base in a variety of styles including candy cane stripes and a natural wood look.
The entrepreneur, an art director in advertising by trade, was inspired to create the product when he bought an artificial Christmas Tree with his wife but found that he really hated the way the base looked.
The company has been in business for eighteen months and as had lifetime gross sales of $50,000. He sold the product on QVC at 1am in July and moved 1,000 units in five minutes. On QVC the product sold for $20 per item though they usually retail for $17.95. They cost $1.37 per unit to manufacture.
In the previous year, The Christmas Tree Hugger had gross sales of $12,000. The entrepreneur predicts gross sales of $220,000 in the current year with $110,000 in profit.
The company sold 1,500 units of product to the grocery chain Kroger to resell in 130 stores at a wholesale price of $6 per unit. According to the entrepreneur, Kroger moved 40% of their stock and does not intend to re-order. Because of this, the sharks declined and the entrepreneur left the tank without a deal.
This deal aired on Episode 9.13.