Flashlight Enthusiast / MBA Student Looking For Help From You Guys!

Hi All!

First off, I am a massive EDC fan, I carry an Emisar D4v2 everywhere I go. I have scuba dived with it, even helped locate a lost child on the beach and much more. I am a strong believer in Flashlights and would never depend on my phone.

I have a quick question for you guys! I am an MBA student (entrepreneurship) at FAU and my job is to create a venture opportunity. One issue I had was finding a good, solid place to buy flashlights! I had a bad experience with one distributor and the other was located in China!

BladeHQ is too "big" for me, I can't really explain it, but I could never use them.

So the question is, what would you guys look for in a completely new website? That sells strictly flashlights? How could I differentiate it/make it a real opportunity? I love sales and love getting great products to people so this is my passion. But part of the job is talking to enthusiasts!

I was thinking, Free t-shirt with every order (a cool one), great battery selection/recommendations, accessories like holsters, clips, same day shipping, 100% guarantee, 30 day returns, professional website, etc.!

Any help would be incredibly awesome!

A good start would be figuring out why you don't use BladeHQ, and whether this reasoning would appeal to others as well... Other than them being "too big", are there any reasons why most wouldn't buy from there? This isn't a rhetorical question, I am genuinely wondering. For the record, I haven't purchased from there as I don't live in the US.

What kind of flashlights would you be wanting to sell? What would your appeal be over competitors? I'm not familiar with margins in the flashlight market, but if you give out free T-Shirts and free shipping with every order, would it be more expensive overall? I would personally buy elsewhere if the proposition is paying more for the flashlight but getting a free shirt..

Ultimately what I would recommend is to produce content alongside your shop - like what Going Gear does/did (RIP Marshall). If you make informative videos/flashlight reviews for example and then also point people to your store it could do well. Check out 'Jab Jab Right Hook' by Gary Vaynerchuck for a starter guide into this strategy. I would focus on social media and content creation much more than free shipping/shirts.

I hope this is helpful, and I wish you the best of luck!

You need to know your market. And understand it's a fickle market. Imagine dropping an empty bottle at the edge of the ocean as a wave comes in and takes it away from you. Then chase the bottle around as it moves around in tiny waves breaking at the edge of the shore. In other words the 'general'flashlight market is constantly changing as technologies change.

You can pick a genre and go with that but it will take time for the market to find you. Shopify, Facebook and all that promise millions in revenue right away and constantly tell over night success stories. But the overall theme of those are clothing and fashion companies that in the long run are here today, gone tomorrow as again the fickle market shifts (again). But if you choose a genre without a ton of competitors like say a distributor for high end lights something used by forensics specialists and patiently get the word out in time the market will search you out.

I see a trend that is actually in favor of the flashlight dealer where a few years back box stores had more flashlights by more brands than Alaska has snow. But the shelf space for flashlights is getting smaller and smaller now that lumen wars have settled down. In just a couple of years LED lights went from 100 lumens to 1000 legit lumens and brighter got smaller at the same time. Everybody got into the brighter is better game. Some succeeded, but most did not. The ones still hanging around store shelves typically have dust all over them now. But, what has continued to move are the ever faithful incan looking LED's.

The market has begun to turn from "geez, turn off that bright white light" to "golly, I sure miss light bulbs" so tints are making a huge impact on flashlight sales. At least right now. Big boys like Streamlight, Energizer, and others now produce calmer looking LED's. The so-called purists prefer the tint of a light bulb with color rendition of the sunshine. And light makers are now able to provide products to satisfy that demand. So you can mix your lineup with some of the brightest things available in the smallest packaging like say 1aa size while also providing USB chargeable products and flavors of tints as well. USB chargeable is gaining a strong foot hold on the 'general' market with a crowd who thinks a celphone light is all you need.

Or you could join a crowd who provide lights for first responders like police and rescue squad, but that field is pretty crowded already. Nope, I'd suggest you dabble your toes into the specialized market focusing on convenience to the user and tints that mimic the light bulb as that is where the tide of the 'general' market is going lately.

I appreciate your enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit. What you are proposing is a very difficult task. You have to develop a specific niche and market heavily to that group (forums, social media, etc) -or- have enough inventory to cover a variety of wants at a price that is below competitors if growth is what you are desiring. There is a lot of competition in this field on Amazon alone. You state that you would like to be a specialty shop and BladeHG is "too big", so what I hear is you want to have a small audience, personal service, and "a free T". There is low to no margin or tangible going concern I see in what you present. Again, it is laudable, but probably impossible to be profitable at a level to consider it a "real business" but could be a decent "hobby/side business".

Let's talk in your MBA language. Window of opportunity = huge with online sales anyone can compete at any time (not good for business plan). Barrier to entry = small (online sales again- not good for business plan). These equate to a lot of possible competition. As you were already thinking, to overcome these obstacles you will really have to differentiate yourself in the market- which leads us to Margin- this is where it is really going to be tough to be the "service" leader you want to be. You present nice things for your customers (shipping, T-shirt, 100% guarantee) but those are going to eat into your profit- or cause you to increase prices above what your market will bear. Flashlights and accessories are not high priced items to include a good profit margin in the price. Also, in regards to the guarantee- are you willing to replace items out of your own inventory at a 100% cost to you? Or, are you thinking you will bridge the gap between manufacture and buyer- and only deal with companies that will give YOU a 100% guarantee?- If not you will have to also increase the cost of replacement items in your prices- again making it harder to compete. Yes, nice for customer but my thought would be "the guarantee is only as good as the company behind it" and for a small niche company you present like this (BladeHQ too big)- I personally would not take the risk that a company like you propose would be in business three years from purchase date to live up to your guarantee- so that would not go into my decision at all. As for Free-T, nice concept but it has to also be included in the price. Free shipping- in the price. So, the question then becomes will you find an audience to pay more for your products because of how you market/present your company and any "bond" you can make with the purchaser that would encourage them to spend more money with you?

With that said and since this sounds like an assignment- to answer primary question. Something that I would look for is size and reputation of the company, so BladeHQ actually gives me some peace that they are not going away tomorrow. I think the suggestion above about narrowing your audience and heavily marketing to that segment to establish your name in the circle could have merit. Other niche groups you could market too are doomsday preppers (who spend big bucks out of fear of the unknown) and dependable light is on all of their lists. There is also the tactical crowd who purchase both weapon lights and EDCs (this is my genre)- this group could cross-sell with the police and rescue group. As stated above, a one-stop for all the latest tints and specialty lights would be nice for the enthusiast crowd, but that is a small market. I think the camping/hiking folks are already loyal to REI and other outfitters who also stand behind their products and present "good-enough" selections.

Not trying to poo-poo your ideas. I also have an MBA and am a college professor so please accept the feedback as intended- which is to stimulate thought and improve your project.

The small online shops that do well are very knowledgeable and cater to a specific type of parts or product, or have their own specialty parts produced. (Think Malkoff, HDS, Oveready, Lumens Factory, etc). If you plan to just sell basic production flashlights from the big brands there's dozens of other places I could order from with good reputations, and I think you're going to struggle. Setting yourself apart in terms of specialty items and expertise is the only way I can see a small online startup in something like flashlights surviving these days.

For me, there are three US based vendors that, in my mind, are successful flashlight vendors:

GoingGear
Illumn
MtnElectronics

The reason why those stand out is because they cater to the enthusiast and operate their business just like how any good business operates. However, not everyone knows about them because I still feel like flashlights have only two audiences: those that buy them at big box stores because they don't care and think they are "just flashlights" (the majority of the population), and those who are enthusiast who care about anything and everything to do with flashlights (much smaller population). Similar to what nbp said above, if you're trying to cater towards the general population, you're going to have a hard time because you're competing with Walmart, Home Depot, Academy, etc. If you're going to cater to the enthusiast, then you need to be sure you are as knowledgeable (or more) about flashlights, stay up-to-date on the latest tech and trends, and understand the desires of the "sub-audiences" within the enthusiast audience.

Shops I like to frequent are:

- good and timely at answering questions

- have great policies if issues arise

- have a personal touch

- don't have to have great prices, but it's a plus

One thing I noticed that works really well is 18650batterystore.com (which I love) has fair shipping rates and does rotating weekly "deal of the day" specials. It keeps me coming back.

As a small business, you should focus on having great curation, tell a compelling story, and excellent customer service.

I don't need free stuff, free shipping, or a wildly fancy website.

But if you sell lights, batteries, and chargers, you can be a one-stop shop.