The automotive-grade lighting solution for cyclists has doubled its points of distribution in the past year
Chicago – Outbound Lighting, the industry-leading Chicago-based bike light manufacturer, reports 31% year-over-year sales growth in 2023 as it heads into peak night riding season. This year, in addition to its direct-to-consumer online sales, Outbound focused on growing its retail market, creating innovative points-of-purchase displays and providing excellent customer service.
Outbound continues to grow its market share by diversifying its presence at retail and increasing its network of retailers to widen its customer base. Outbound now has more than 200 active dealers in the US, double the previous year and ramping up more every week as it gets darker out. The lighting company eased the point-of-entry for new dealers to create B2B accounts, place orders and maintain customer satisfaction.
"The cyclists who shop online aren't necessarily the same riders who frequent bike shops so we are intentional about how we approach opportunities at retail and in the online space," says Tom Place, Outbound Lighting co-owner. "We're always investing in ways to widen our customer base and make sure they get the same quality experience as those who purchase our products online, while supporting local bike shops." Outbound also only puts on one sale per year so that customers can't just go get the lights cheaper online, to keep local sales local.
To craft that quality experience, Outbound developed effective point-of-purchase displays to make it easier for shops to present the product lineup and highlight the benefits of Outbound's engineering. Designed and assembled by a Chicago-based team of engineers who bring decades of experience from the automotive and LED industry, Outbound's lineup of bike lights are paired at retail with a "hero" display that shows the unique beam patterns and sleek design features for each light. The separate wall display itself boasts a backlit wall sign with colorful packaging sleeves for the lights and its small stature makes it perfect for even stores with limited display space.
"Customer support is a pillar of our business," says Place. "Outbound empowers bike shops to take care of any issues their customers have in the field immediately, so they can keep their customers happy and in the store, knowing that we'll make sure it doesn't cost the customer or the shop a dime to keep their lights running, whether it's crash damage, user error, or genuine defects."
###
About Outbound Lighting
Identifying as engineers first, and bike riders second, Chicago-based Outbound Lighting's engineering professionals have years of hands-on experience in the automotive and LED lighting industries and now chase optical illumination perfection for every ride. With a lineup of bike light products thoughtfully designed and assembled in-house in the United States in a new 7,200 sq ft facility, Outbound designs each product for each specific use case by shaping beam patterns through custom optics with Lucidshape™, the same simulation software used by major automotive manufacturers. Outbound Lighting was named to the 2022 Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies in America.
