Gransee
Flashlight Enthusiast
I like it when people use their turn signal. Its lets me plan ahead. Normally companies don't like to mention a sale ahead of time because then people won't buy what your offering now.
As you know, we ran a 1wk sale on the camos. regularly 44.95, closed out to 24.95 and now at 34.95. Explanation: We made a bunch of Camo awhile back. The special anodize costs about $6 per light more than the HA we normally use so for our normal margins, they should cost more than the Premium. It is cosmetic though since HA wears better. Any rate, people asked for it, we made a batch. We had a bit in inventory and wanted to get rid of a bunch so we marked them down. In about a week, we had reduced their numbers sufficiently and we brought the price back up. We plan on keeping them at $34.95 until they run out. We may or may not make more of them. When they were at $24.95, we sold quite a bit of them. Kind of surprising actually. Our normal customer is looking for Arc quality but I think with this sale we appealed to the price concious group as well. Pros and cons. Lowering the price tends to devalue the product, upset collectors, dealers, etc but it does convert some customers who were sitting on the fence. Now they have an Arc and they are more likely to buy from us in the future. We make most of our sales from word of mouth and repeats so expanding our base is a good thing.
Snow LED. This is an experiment. Another customer request. We will see how they do. So far, the sales are ok but not as hot as the DS (which surprised everyone here). We haven't sold the 50 yet. Even when we do, I may not make anymore. Depends on how quickly it rushes up to the sales goal. At least we now have some indications of what a white tint can do sales-wise compared to a slightly brighter and more expensive unit.
The snow should start shipping today. Since this is a test marketing, we used packs marked with either standard or premium designations. The way you can tell this is a snow is that the LED looks different in the head and of course, when you turn it on.
The plan with the DS is to eventually take over the mantle of the Premium in every way except that it is brighter. The price is currently at a $5 premium because the DS LED is so new and hard to get for manufacturers (some are now getting them). But eventually things will return to a more normal condition. You'll notice I have already pulled the old 5.5lm premium off the website.
The standard Arc-AAA is mostly a straw man. Some people buy it but it is really to provide a contrast for the Premium. There is also a charity and gift aspect. Ideally, we try not to sell them. I know that sounds weird but the economics guys will understand. That being said, we do have a bunch of standards and it would be nice to reduce their number a bit more quickly. So for the time being, I am running a sale on them at $19.95. At some point, the LED will be upgraded to the 5.5lm CS and the price back up to 29.95.
The goal is to get back to a standard, premium and uv product with occasional special build items like the camo, snow, etc.
Of course, dealers don't like it when we have sales and then don't discount the sale price even further for them. I expect things to calm down in a month or two. We are trying to offer the dealers some perks in the mean time.
Last month's sales were the highest for any month this year and this month (October) has already surpassed last month's sales. So the owners are happy of course. I would attribute the increase in sales mostly to the new DS LED but to a lesser extent the new products (UV, snow) and the closeouts. The big winner here is the DS LED.
Thanks again for your patronage.
peter
As you know, we ran a 1wk sale on the camos. regularly 44.95, closed out to 24.95 and now at 34.95. Explanation: We made a bunch of Camo awhile back. The special anodize costs about $6 per light more than the HA we normally use so for our normal margins, they should cost more than the Premium. It is cosmetic though since HA wears better. Any rate, people asked for it, we made a batch. We had a bit in inventory and wanted to get rid of a bunch so we marked them down. In about a week, we had reduced their numbers sufficiently and we brought the price back up. We plan on keeping them at $34.95 until they run out. We may or may not make more of them. When they were at $24.95, we sold quite a bit of them. Kind of surprising actually. Our normal customer is looking for Arc quality but I think with this sale we appealed to the price concious group as well. Pros and cons. Lowering the price tends to devalue the product, upset collectors, dealers, etc but it does convert some customers who were sitting on the fence. Now they have an Arc and they are more likely to buy from us in the future. We make most of our sales from word of mouth and repeats so expanding our base is a good thing.
Snow LED. This is an experiment. Another customer request. We will see how they do. So far, the sales are ok but not as hot as the DS (which surprised everyone here). We haven't sold the 50 yet. Even when we do, I may not make anymore. Depends on how quickly it rushes up to the sales goal. At least we now have some indications of what a white tint can do sales-wise compared to a slightly brighter and more expensive unit.
The snow should start shipping today. Since this is a test marketing, we used packs marked with either standard or premium designations. The way you can tell this is a snow is that the LED looks different in the head and of course, when you turn it on.
The plan with the DS is to eventually take over the mantle of the Premium in every way except that it is brighter. The price is currently at a $5 premium because the DS LED is so new and hard to get for manufacturers (some are now getting them). But eventually things will return to a more normal condition. You'll notice I have already pulled the old 5.5lm premium off the website.
The standard Arc-AAA is mostly a straw man. Some people buy it but it is really to provide a contrast for the Premium. There is also a charity and gift aspect. Ideally, we try not to sell them. I know that sounds weird but the economics guys will understand. That being said, we do have a bunch of standards and it would be nice to reduce their number a bit more quickly. So for the time being, I am running a sale on them at $19.95. At some point, the LED will be upgraded to the 5.5lm CS and the price back up to 29.95.
The goal is to get back to a standard, premium and uv product with occasional special build items like the camo, snow, etc.
Of course, dealers don't like it when we have sales and then don't discount the sale price even further for them. I expect things to calm down in a month or two. We are trying to offer the dealers some perks in the mean time.
Last month's sales were the highest for any month this year and this month (October) has already surpassed last month's sales. So the owners are happy of course. I would attribute the increase in sales mostly to the new DS LED but to a lesser extent the new products (UV, snow) and the closeouts. The big winner here is the DS LED.
Thanks again for your patronage.
peter
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