The Philosophy Behind the Shelves
By Jane Koh
No angel investors. No incubator. Just a bedroom, three friends, and the guts to act on what they saw.
The Philosophy Behind the Shelves
APM carries some of the most respected names in competitive paintball- Planet Eclipse, Virtue, HK Army, Bunkerkings, Push, and more. What goes on the virtual shelves is guided by a principle Dharma states plainly:“ We only sell what we will wear.”
Dharma Danial Logan, co-founder of Asia Paintball Market.
Ask him about buyer behavior in Malaysia and he is equally candid.“ For Malaysians, we‘ racun’ a lot of these players,” he says- using the Malay slang for temptation or persuasion, which literally means poison.“ A lot of sales are done through that. Not so much research. They always want the brightest, fanciest, the most expensive things every time.” A market of passionate buyers, which suits APM’ s premium positioning well.
The business operates almost entirely online- a deliberate structural choice.“ I don’ t have to pay for expensive rental, just rent big enough for storage. I don’ t have to pay for renovation, I don’ t have to hire a lot of people,” Dharma explains.“ Paintball is not a mass market sport.
We have players from all over the country but there are only four or five fields nationwide. Being online is essential.” On weekends, APM trains at Canyon Paintball in Kuala Lumpur and supplements its digital presence with some inperson sales.
Asked what he would do differently if starting APM today, Dharma does not hesitate.“ I would take more risks and store more products at the start. We were always afraid- what if people don’ t buy? Now we know it’ s normal. I just have to average my cost and profit over a longer period of time.” www. paintball. media
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