Glove supply business.

[Gloveman]

A little background: I am starting this business with my dad, he has a background in industrial hygiene, and my background is in construction. We put them together and this is what we came up with. He also has a lot of connections that can help with this that he made from his current business.

The idea is to sell gloves business to business. A one stop shop for every type of glove. We've researched that hospitals use a variety of gloves, and general contractors may need to supply gloves to a crew that includes masonry workers, plumbers, electricians, roofers, carpenters, welders, and more. Fire departments need a variety of gloves, restaurants need gloves. You name it and there seems to be gloves.

The idea is based on the convenience of always having what's needed. Instead of going to 4 different suppliers for 4 different types of gloves, they're all there.

We were going to primarily ship them, but also have a delivery van to take them to local job sites and buildings.

The problem is, I don't know if convenience fills a competitive advantage to the point where people would use us over their current glove supplier. It's not a gas station.

Here is the issue that I need addressed; larger companies will have basic gloves along with a lot of other stuff they need. Why go to two places when you can get something suitable and everything else at one?

Should we be focusing on high end gloves rather than high end AND disposable? If we did that, the competitive advantage would be that the gloves are better. On the other hand, if they're already getting their high end gloves from us, they might pick up some disposables as an impulse buy depending on what type of business it is. In that case we would be leaning towards high end but still having some disposables.

Disposables seem to be where the big money is at, but places that sell them are a dime a dozen.

See, currently the situation is a lot like a boat without a rudder. We have everything aside from a clearcut competitive advantage, and we need to make one.

[Steve B]

I don't think you can be successful with such a narrow low-margin product. Industrial glove sales must be very price competitive since so many companies are selling the same gloves. I buy gloves for my business. But, I buy them once a year and I don't spend much time shopping for price (or anything else for that matter). I just buy the gloves I've been buying for the last 9 years.

You may want to consider other safety supplies to add to the gloves. And, I would think you would want to carry all types and prices of gloves. But, there are a LOT of companies doing that. I'm not sure how you could find a niche in that market.