Buddy Technologies receives $3.8 million in orders for new low-cost smart lights

Buddy Technologies (ASX: BUD) has received the biggest orders for its smart lights to date, with purchase orders for its newly launched LIFX White product line totalling around $3.8 million.

The Internet of Things (IoT) developer said these initial stocking orders are destined for sale in the United States, Canada and Mexico in both online and offline retail markets.

According to the company, the orders only comprise a portion of the initial projected manufacturing run for the product and further orders in other regions of the world are anticipated as retailers replenish stock of other LIFX products on a regular basis.

Buddy’s LIFX White product line is a low-cost, easy-to-install smart lighting solution that is designed to work seamlessly with voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa.

It also supports a range of Amazon connectivity technologies and can be simply linked to a customer’s home wireless network and LIFX account via an Amazon Echo smart speaker.

Buddy chief executive officer David McLauchlan said this large first set of orders mark an important milestone for the company.

“In unit volume of lights, this single order exceeds 40% of our total sales volume in 2019, and given the propensity for customers to remain loyal to our brand and buy their way up the product portfolio, we’re very optimistic about the flow-on effects on broader sales from these low-cost, but profitable products,” he said.

These initial orders for LIFX White products also set the company on the path to achieving its first of eight goals for 2020, which is to “grow scale via a low-cost, high quality entry point light”.

Significant smart light sales forecast second half 2020

The orders for the LIFX White mart lights are expected to reach North American retailers in time for the northern summer, Buddy said.

According to the company, the orders “demonstrate that while the impact of the COVID-19 virus is dominating the news, retailers continue to plan for significant sales of smart lighting products in the second half of the year”.

“The affordability and ease of installation of LIFX White will help bring smart lighting into the homes of countless new customers around the world who are now spending more time at home,” Mr McLauchlan added.

At the start of March, the company advised the market that production of another product, the LIFX Switch, had been impacted by the coronavirus, with delays to glass manufacturing, component supply and packaging.

The manufacturer of Buddy’s LIFX smart lighting products is located in Shenzhen, China, which has been gradually returning to its operating capacity. At the last update on 2 March, the manufacturer was at 80% capacity.

Buddy said it is leveraging existing stock on hand, thus supply to retailers is not expected to be materially impacted.