My company (MyFBO.com) provides aviation management and scheduling software. I provide software as a service to FBOs, Flight Schools, Clubs, Shared Ownership Operators, and Charter Operators.
One of the questions I get asked all the time is, “how can I sell my pilot supply stock online?” My answer is it is not worth it. It is usually an answer people don’t like to hear. It could be my delivery that offends them or it may be that every new GA Business Owner thinks it is a great idea. Maybe they dream of being the next Hal Shevers.
My point is that there already is a Hal Shevers and he is very good at what he does. There are also many more like him. A Google® search for “Pilot Supplies” returns 79 pages of links where someone could buy pilot supplies and that is not including the Ads.
It is not just market saturation that makes online pilot supply sales not worth it for the average GA Business. The costs and workload are high. The list of software and hardware required is long; there are terminals, gateways, security certificates, domain names, web sites, cameras, shipping interfaces, etc. Then there is the workload of maintaining all of this technology. Not to mention the average GA Business owner does not have the technology skills to do so anyway.
Rejecting my advice, two have tried anyway. One is out of business and the other has sold two headsets and a FARAIM (I bought the FARAIM out of pity).
Also, there are very low margins on pilot supplies. A high margin on a pilot supply item is 10% and many times it is much less than that. Also, many times the wholesale price for a small operator is equal to a big pilot shop’s retail price. The big guys receive bulk discounts and generate large volume so they can price the small guy out of business.
Although selling pilot supplies on the web is not a great idea, I am all for e-commerce if it is focused. For example, flight schools do very well selling gift certificates online. Other GA Businesses list there aircraft for sale on the web and do well also.
In conclusion, I am not arguing that selling pilot supplies is necessarily a bad idea. There are loyal customers in and out of GA Businesses all day long. GA Business owners will be better off concentrating their sales efforts on them.
Small margins for on-line sales and ever increasing mailing costs make it difficult to complete with the big on-line pilot shops. Jason says " leave it to Hal." I agree, however, when those ten packs of Sporty pilot shop brouchures come to my FBO, they go right into the trash. I will push my pilot supplies that I have and not give my customers cart blanche to use the big pilot shop on the web. If I do not have a particular item, I send my customers to our favorite brick and mortar pilot shop, The Pilot Shop in Norwood, MA. A small business owner and GA guy for over 25 years, Joe knows how to treat his customers.
Posted by: Dave Dinneen | July 24, 2006 at 09:36 PM
Dave makes an excellent point about those catalogs. I used to visit The Pilot Shop back when I flew in Dave's neck of the woods and would also recommend it (only if Dave doesn't have it in stock of course).
Posted by: Jason Liepe | July 27, 2006 at 10:55 PM
what is the consensus on niche markets within general aviation?
Posted by: ralph Brynard | September 04, 2008 at 08:22 PM