At A Glance

Alan Barker transformed a casual interest in disc golf into a thriving e-commerce business by recognizing the sport's unique collector culture. Starting as a side project in 2012, Infinite Discs leveraged Barker's SEO expertise to become the industry's leading online retailer within five years, growing from two part-time workers to a team of 40. 

Who is Alan Barker?

Meet Alan, Co-Owner of Infinite Discs!

About Infinite Discs

Infinite Discs is the world’s biggest e-commerce store dedicated to growing the game of disc golf. What started as a hobby in 2012 quickly grew into something much bigger. Today, Infinite Discs employs dozens of people and has expanded its focus to include custom stamping work. 

Alan’s Journey

Alan's path to founding Infinite Discs began with early exposure to digital technology in 1990s Utah. "I grew up in Bountiful, Utah in the 1990s, and that's when the internet was basically born," he explains. His high school telecommunications class introduced him to website building when "very few people had even been on the internet, let alone made their own website." After college, Alan's career took unexpected turns through door-to-door satellite TV sales before moving to Logan, Utah where he successfully applied his web skills to real estate. "I didn't have any connections here in Logan, but I knew how to build a website," he recalls of his 2005 strategy that "took off" due to learning search engine optimization.

In 2012, a new hobby unexpectedly changed his career trajectory. "I started playing disc golf. And just as a side project, just for fun, I decided that I would make a disc golf blog," Alan explains. What began as "just an excuse to buy a product for a business purpose" evolved into launching Infinite Discs in late 2012, though he had "no intention that this would take over, that this would become my livelihood."

The Team at Infinite Discs

Alan's disc golf venture started modestly alongside his established real estate lead generation business. "When it started, it was me and one of my employees, and we were just working at it part-time," he recalls of Infinite Discs' early days. "Off hours, we put in a few hours on our disc golf blog website." The company has since experienced remarkable growth. "Now we have 22 full-time employees, but our team, which includes professional disc golf players and part-time employees, is more than 40 people" Alan notes. "It's grown a lot in a decade."

Business Growth and Revenue Strategies

Alan leveraged his digital marketing expertise to rapidly establish Infinite Discs as the leading online disc golf retailer. "The main thing was my search engine optimization emphasis and knowledge because nobody else in disc golf had it," he explains of his competitive advantage. "After a couple of years, if you Googled any disc golf related term, you would find Infinite Discs."

Two innovative features further differentiated the company in a market with limited online competition in 2012-2013. "The initial focus was on reviews. We'd incentivize disc golfers to review products so that our website would have more information," Alan notes. Even more impactful was their product photography approach: "We implemented a picture of every disc, which we were the first to do, of any major disc golf retailer." This visual inventory system addressed the community's desire for specific disc aesthetics. "In disc golf, you get discs that are specific in the colors and the patterns. And so people get very particular about what they want." These strategic innovations helped transform Infinite Discs "from startup to the leader in online disc golf" by 2016-2017.

Tapping Into a Passionate Community

Alan's discovery of disc golf's unique consumer behavior has become a cornerstone of Infinite Discs' growth strategy. "I never imagined that the business would get this big, that there was that much of a market," he admits, explaining his initial misconception: "I just assumed it was like buying a basketball. You buy a basketball once... That's all you need and you can play."

By recognizing and capitalizing on the diverse purchasing motivations within the community, the company has expanded its product offerings well beyond basic equipment. "The disc golf market is people that live and breathe disc golf," Alan explains. "It's not just, I have a disc that I need for that shot. I want this collector's item. I want this specific artwork. I need the one that the pro throws." This insight into the multifaceted market, combining "sport," "trading market," and "collector's market" elements, has allowed Infinite Discs to develop specialized inventory and marketing approaches that drive repeat purchases and customer loyalty.

Infinite Disc’s CX Philosophy 

Customer service has become an increasingly critical focus for Infinite Discs as Alan recognizes the interconnected nature of the disc golf community. "Customer service is so important because, you know, you do something bad and your name gets thrown into the Reddit forums," he explains, noting how quickly reputation issues can spread in tight-knit disc golf circles.

This community dynamic has pushed the company to evolve its policies beyond basic service principles. "We've always placed an emphasis on the importance of customer service. We want to treat people right, be nice, an do the things that we would want them to do to us," Alan says. "But I think we have evolved even more because it’s disc golf, knowing how toxic it can be if you do something wrong." This has resulted in more flexible customer-friendly policies, such as covering return costs even when technically not required. "Now we're likely to cover the cost, even though it's your fault that you ordered the wrong product," he shares, prioritizing "positive experience" in a "community of connections."

Innovation and Adaptability

Alan has built Infinite Discs' continued success on quickly identifying and capitalizing on market trends within the disc golf community. "A professional disc golfer will switch brands, and then that brand becomes trendy," he explains of the dynamic market. "A lot of the time, we're just jumping on that bandwagon, capitalizing on what is popular at the moment."

Rather than simply stocking trending products, the company adds unique value through customization. "We'll buy the trendy new discs, but we'll also put our own artwork, we'll use our three-foil stamp machine with some great artwork to offer something additional," Alan describes. This creates exclusive offerings that satisfy multiple consumer desires: "Not only can the customer get the new disc, but they can also get a limited edition stamp."

This approach involves calculated risk-taking and learning from both successes and failures. "We have a lot of successes in trying some of these things, but also a lot of fails, too," he acknowledges candidly. "We think something will be in really high demand, so we stock up, but then they turn out to be duds." Despite the unpredictability, Alan embraces this experimental approach: "It's really hard to know, but a lot of it is just trial and error, and figuring it out as you go."

Advice to Business Owners

Alan advocates for calculated experimentation in e-commerce, especially for niche markets like disc golf. "Be innovative, be prepared to try different things, because it's so hard to know what's going to stick," he advises, while cautioning against overcommitment: "Try new things, but try it conservatively." He warns against blindly following general business advice since "there's experts all the time saying, do these things to scale your business, and while those things may work for some industries, it's different in my business." Despite the numerous marketing approaches available in e-commerce, Alan emphasizes fundamentals remain essential: "You always have to have good product, good prices, good customer service. Otherwise, nothing else matters that much."