Keep in mind that to achieve differentiation, Sparkfun/Adafruit etc. do build proprietary products themselves. Mostly breakout boards and other things that require low capital investment but make the components that they resell (Atmel and TI chips, etc) much easier to use for the through-hole hobbyist. If you don't do the same, you'll probably get stomped by them in the long term, but if you can build a market position in a specific country quickly enough, you can get bought by them instead.