What do you do when you have a marginal product that you want to fund on The Shark Tank? Trot out a buxom babe to help demonstrate it, that’s what. This pitch started off with something that always sells: sex appeal. Amanda immediately had the men in her pocket. Unfortunately, her pocket had a big hole in it.
Her idea was a modification on a basic memory foam pillow with a specific target market of women with enhanced and/or large breasts. Once the initial infatuation with the sexy model wore off, the flaws of the product and the business plan came rapidly.
Amanda, like the Last Lid entrepreneur, had little more than a prototype and an idea- a bad idea at that. Her problem was the product didn’t solve a big enough problem for a large enough market. The Last Lid entrepreneur had less than her in the way of an “in place” business, but unlike Mr. Kiernan, whose product had a potential market of up to 115 million households, Amanda’s Ledge Pillow has a market that is far too narrow and already has big players like Tempur-Pedic in the space. Even though she did have a patent on the product- something the sharks like, I knew she was doomed before she started.
The sharks immediately began criticizing her product and her concept. Mark Cuban ripped her for only selling 83 units in 3 years, then delivered the ultimate insult by calling her a “wantrepreneur.”
Two things immediately struck me when I watched this segment. The first was that she should probably just open up a niche website and sell this item through some affiliate marketing channels. When I clicked on the Ledge Pillow website, I found a fairly simple, but well done WordPress website. Her site didn’t have the vibrancy needed for mass marketing of a product, but did fit the bill for a tidy affiliate marketing niche website. If she did a good bit of SEO, she could probably quadruple her past sales, especially with the exposure being thrown to the sharks gave her.
The second thing I thought about was the product itself. I always apply my own experience and sensibilities when I see a product on the Shark Tank and the Ledge Pillow certainly isn’t something I would buy (I’m a tad smaller than a C-cup), nor could I recommend it. One thing kept resounding in my mind: sleeping on your stomach is bad for your back. I have suffered with low back pain for years and my chiropractor has always said not to sleep on my back. Well endowed women I have known over the years have complained about back pain too, but I won’t pretend to speculate as to the causes or solutions in that particular situation. Sleeping on your stomach is a major cause of lordosis, commonly called swayback; if I were one of the Sharks, I wouldn’t do a deal for that reason alone.
I wish Amanda well with her product. I think her best bet to make some sales is to focus on building a more efficient sales channel with her website. Whether she learns for herself or implements a professional SEO campaign, that is probably her best bet to put herself in a position to sell more product in a space dominated by much bigger players.
Entrepreneur, auteur, raconteur. Rob Merlino is a blogger and writer who enjoys the Shark Tank TV show and Hot Dogs. A father of five who freelances in a variety of publications, Rob has a stable of websites including Shark Tank Blog, Hot Dog Stories, Rob Merlino.com and more.
As a women with breast implants I think this is a great idea. Now maybe I wouldn’t sleep on it every night but I would take it to massages with me….or appreciate it if my massage therapist would have it for me to use. My chest smash out the side and I feel self conscience when I get a massage…plus it is uncomfortable. Now that I am pregnant and have tried a pregnancy massage complete with padding I love it! Now I know I would LOVE the Ledge Pillow at my massage therapists salon.
Sale # 84!
Now I totally agree with Crissa. My wife is a 36DD natural and would love this product. While I understood the sharks not doing this deal, there is money to be made on her idea. I like the massage salon idea to sell to, also why not sell to the implant doctors themselves. It is something they could recommend to their patients or just sell it to them for a profit as well.
Sale #85!
I don’t think this is a bad product, it just isn’t being sold well and there seems to be no plan other than just putting it out there.
The thing with this product is it already exists in several forms. Therapists have, or have access to, similar pillows. My ex wife was an OT and she had all sorts of support pillows in her clinic. What the Ledge Pillow has going for it is a gimmick and a super targeted niche market. I still think the best bet, given the lack of funding from the sharks, is to use her website more effectively. I don’t get the impression that Amanda has done that- given 83 sales in three years.
The website is functional, but it’s “just another WordPress site.” If you go look at ledgepillow.com, it doesn’t look like a website that would inspire a purchase. It’s not bad for a “first site,” but three years into the business, it should have been made a little more “sexy.” There is virtually no search traffic coming there either. If she really wants to sell more of these online, she needs to capitalize on the short lived fame she will get by appearing on the show and do some serious SEO or dedicate some money to a PPC campaign.
There is a market there, Amanda just needs to be more proactive in finding it.
…and today, the Web site is down. I wanted to find out how much the pillows sell for (because I don’t recall them asking her) and found that the URL wasn’t functioning today.
I felt she should have tried marketing a version of the pillow in a “waterproof” cover to women who want to lay on the beach. Though they don’t lay on their stomachs for long periods of time, they DO lay on their stomachs–to ensure an even tan. There is a market here, but she needs to find her “spin” on how to market to that market. 🙂 (Don’t count me as sale #86 but I’d at least consider it.)
Hello Melisssa,
Well your comment on the Ledge pillow being a product for laying face down to tan, I have come up with that solution. I am large breasted and came up with a plan years ago. I got a call back from Shark Tank last week. I found a licensing partner for my beach chair for women, and now have a patent. So I am launching my outdoor cushions for chaise lounges for women. I too have large breast and got tired of digging holes in the sand at the beach. Please check out my website: http://sunincomfort.com
Beth
I will call Dave Greco to come over to your house and sell you one. :p
It is interesting what you said about the beach pillow-my ex wife (an OT) was lugging therapy pillows to the beach 15 years ago to lay on her tummy at the beach and she just wrapped them in a towel. At the time, she thought about putting some sort of water proof cover over them and marketing them. She never did it though.
As for Amanda, I hope the site being down isn’t a death knell for the Ledge Pillow. I really thought she could sell some online with the proper website and marketing plan- just today I was thinking of reaching out to her to see if we could work something out. I guess that’s the way the Ledge Pillow poofs.
I would just *bet* that her site was getting slammed (maybe even WITH ORDERS?) after her episode of Shark Tank ran…so maybe she took it down because she couldn’t fill the orders? If you Google “Ledge Pillow” you’ll find a lot of press and discussion about the pillow all over the Web from 2009 to the present (uh, that’s how I found your site…). I reallyl do think she’s on to something. BTW, it seems there are 2 sizes and they sell for $55-$65.
It is hard to keep abreast of every little development for every Shark tanker- especially as the season moves on. I am happy to report the site is back up- looks like she added a facebook plugin- maybe it was down for editing. Glad you found our site and thanks for commenting.
I would love to have the ledge pillow~! Sometimes I would sit on my belly and watch a movie on my laptop. The ledge pillow would work well in a high end store 😀 I wouldn’t mind spending $50 on it~
I have a great idea how to make this product an instant success. It’s all in the marketing BOTH Amanda and the Sharks missed a real obvious gold mine.
WHAT YOU SAID!
I think maybe someone should consider the breast cancer patient who has had re constructive surgery and just needs a little support while they are healing. I don’t think this is such a niche market if you look at the bigger picture
Thought this was a winner the first time it aired. She just doesn’t know how to sell it!
Love this idea. Like to try to sell it to stores. If interested
email me. Commission.
Great idea. Please Please think about selling the pillows at plastic surgeons offices. My wife sleeps on her stomach
Hi, I just saw a rerun of this episode. Not sure I would spend $50 on this pillow, but I would be very tempted. I am not a large-breasted woman, but I love to lay on my belly while reading, except that it really bothers my lower back. I’m always putting pillows under my ribs, belly, and hips; it kinda works. Just another idea of who to market this to, if anyone is still monitoring this site. 🙂