IceCap Inc is one of the oldest and most widely recognized aquarium lighting companies in the United States and also in many countries across the world. IceCap grew to prominence producing and selling the venerable IceCap 660 and 430 VHO fluorescent ballasts which are still the pinnacle of fluorescent lamp ballast in our industry
However, with the shifting preference in reef aquarium lighting having already all but abondoned VHO in favor of T5, high performance halide lamps and with the emergence LED lighting, IceCap has not succeeded in holding on to their commercial successes in the aquarium industry. The past few years have seen IceCap producing less new products, less innovations, in favor of selling private labeled T5 lamps and metal halide lamps as well as marketing some rebadged Chinese light fixtures, the Reef Illumination, failing to really captivate the dollars of aquarium hobbyists and professionals.
The writing has been on the wall for this type of business strategy for quite some time; if you don’t make new products with new features that customers want and instead slap a sticker onto a product somebody else makes, then in time your customers are going to see this “packaging” business model for what it is and they’ll take their dollars elsewhere. Other shortfalls in the IceCap operations have also hindered their success and although those details are beyond the scope of this article, it’s clear that this month and particularly this week, IceCap’s future has become very incertain.
It is unclear whether IceCap will close it’s doors or if it will restructure to remain in the game, but we’ll be sure to bring the update as soon as we know for sure.
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