SmallBizResource Blog -- Retail

Of Tasers and Tupperware

Posted by Gayle Kesten Monday, Jan 21, 2008, 06:16 PM ET

Kitchen gadgets. Health and beauty products. Candles, pocketbooks and jewelry. I’ve hosted and attended plenty of home-shopping parties. But the latest to come down the pike: the taser party.

Truth be told, I had never even heard of a taser until last September, when cops at the University of Florida used one to subdue a student who was questioning Sen. John Kerry at a campus forum. And, really, the only reason I was interested in the story to begin with was because I had attended the same college many moons ago.

But not Dana Shafman, who at one point feared for her safety and found comfort in owning a taser. Last year she founded Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Shieldher to franchise the taser party concept. Her next step: to take the parties nationwide in 2008.

“We have Tupperware parties and candle parties to protect our food and house, so why not have a Taser party to learn how to protect our lives and bodies?” she told CoolBusinessIdeas.com.

Why not, indeed: Sales from home parties and person-to-person sales methods represents billions in revenue—more than $30 billion in the U.S. alone, according to the Direct Selling Association, a national trade association of leading firms that manufacture and distribute goods and services sold directly to consumers.

Those taser makers are also a smart bunch—the $350 device aims right at its target female market by coming in four colors (the metallic pink taser matches my friend’s RAZR cellphone). The parties teach attendees how to handle the devices, which can hit attackers up to 15 feet away with electrical volts.

Should your interest be piqued as either a seller or buyer, bear in mind that tasers are legal in every state except New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Michigan, Wisconsin and Hawaii. They're also illegal in Washington, D.C.

Retail