Light bulbs seem to be available in every grocery, hardware and big-box store, so why should you buy them online? We've been answering that question since 1996.
Buy light bulbs online? Sure, that make sense today, but, back in 1996, when the internet was in its infancy, it was more of an odd idea. Today, you can buy pretty much anything online, but 20 years ago, this was a ground breaking idea.
Our family business (named Van O Lite at the time -- read more here) had been around since 1951, and I was a college student here in MN. I had been taking several computer and networking classes and when the first internet class in the state was available, I jumped at the chance.
While eCommerce transactions (read: shopping carts) weren't really around, a good website was more of a nice awning/sign for your shop. You could just put yourself out there for consumers to learn more about what you had to offer; if they wanted to buy, they could email you or call you. This was our home page from 1996 (my apologies for the over-abundance of teal):
Back then, search engines didn't really exist, so you had to rely more on catalog directories to be found. For us, a prospective customer might go to Yahoo! and click on "Tools & Home Improvement > Lighting > Light Bulbs" and there we would be... at the end of the list (the "V" in Van O Lite was to blame). You couldn't rank well based on SEO practices; it was purely alphabetical.
As we grew online over the next twenty years, we saw eCommerce as not just an alternative to buying in a retail store, but actually becomming the preferred method of shopping. People grew to trust the process of using credit cards online and dealing over the phone for customer support as opposed to in person.
Like many other industries, lighting can be really frustrating and simply navigating to your nearest brick-and-mortar store may not prove as fruitful as you might like. Many big-box stores carry just the top 200+ skus of a particular brand, or they focus on the cellar-dwellar/loss-leader types, just to get you in the door. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for and we hear from their customers every day, contacting us after getting burned on a cheap big-box brand or just frustrated that they didn't have the unique bulb they needed.
This is where we really found our niche. If I may be so bold, we are lighting experts... we live and breathe light bulbs. We have worked really hard at providing an amazing selection of light bulbs for nearly every socket out there, but we also focus really hard on backing it up with solid customer support, from start to finish.
You can buy light bulbs online from LightBulbs.com with confidence because we know what we are selling and it is our pleasure to help you find the bulb you need. Add in our uncanny ability to get just the right amount of packaging to ensure we can ship glass safely all over the world and you don't NEED to go shopping at your local grocery and hardware stores any longer.
Save your time and shop online. We'll do our best to help you out!
