
Sales results from getting 3M views on YouTube - testimoni
https://www.candyjapan.com/behind-the-scenes/sales-results-from-getting-3-million-views-on-youtube
======
eps
Perhaps of some relevance - we routinely order boxes of Japanese
candy/munchies off eBay for our kids and their friends. They also make for
excellent birthday presents.

40 USD gets you a _shoebox_ of stuff with the same day dispatch and 2 day air
delivery to EU. It's a lot of items and we have leftovers for weeks. It also
tends to take the novelty edge off for a while, so boxes this big can't be a
monthly thing.

For this to work as a monthly subscription, the package size needs to be much
smaller, which is what CandyJapan seems to be offering, but then they want 29
USD per month and that's just way too much.

From where I'm sitting, their problem is that it's expensive and it is a
subscription. This limits their their target audience to true Japanese candy
conneseurs willing to pay twice the market rate for... what exactly?

That's not even getting into the existence of local Japanese (and Chinese!)
shops that carry similar inventory, and where 20-30 USD will easily cover a
month worth of supply of weird stuff.

~~~
chillee
I don't think the target audience is true Japanese candy connoisseurs; if
anything, it's the opposite.

Many people are interested in trying out Japanese candy, the issue arises in
knowing where to order from and what to order. Getting a subscription service
to CandyJapan offloads the choosing to a credible service.

In addition to that, there's also the appeal of the surprise. Of course, this
is of no benefit to you - you're simply buying this for other people. For
people ordering this for themselves, however, it's kind of like being gifted
something every month, an always welcome surprise.

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mrspeaker
I smile every time I see something from Candy Japan... not because I love
candy from Japan, but because it's a start up that has been ticking along for
so long - showing up here from time to time - that I feel like I'm a stow-away
on their many-year journey!

~~~
bluedino
Is it really a 'startup', or just a 'small business'?

~~~
nicky0
It has an actual business model so it's probabliy a small business.

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sb8244
Heads up this is from 2015. Not sure if reflective of what would happen today,
if there is any difference in viewership.

~~~
istinetz
It's exactly the same today.

Here is a blog post from Candy Japan from 2 days ago, about experimenting with
youtube giveaways: [http://www.candyjapan.com/youtube-marketing-horror-
story](http://www.candyjapan.com/youtube-marketing-horror-story)

0 sales.

~~~
traskjd
> Each only averaged 166 views, for a grand total of 2826 views.

Given it would be close to impossible to notice a lift from that viewership,
I'd suggest this 'test' failed more from being too small.

Edit: removed redundant word.

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adamontherun
Looking forward to the next post: "Sales results from getting onto front page
of HN"

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zawerf
There's a somewhat similar dessert box company making 150k/month after a year
with a nice writeup: [https://www.starterstory.com/dessert-
boxes](https://www.starterstory.com/dessert-boxes)

It seems like instagram influencers and facebook ads are working out better
for them.

(Candy Japan is making 10x less in comparison:
[https://www.indiehackers.com/interview/candy-
japan-81315f627...](https://www.indiehackers.com/interview/candy-
japan-81315f627b))

------
imperio59
Two things:

1) No direct link means no one is actually googling for your page. People are
lazy. Without a direct link, they won't go out of their way to google your
website.

2) If you're able to retarget the video, this is how I would use it: Retarget
anyone who watched the entire video with more YouTube Ads, Google Display
network ads, etc... Send it to an optimized landing page that sells an ENTRY
LEVEL box (like $9/month) and upsells to a much bigger subscription "Candy
fiend" or some such for like $49/month. If people don't buy that, DOWNsell to
a $19/month subscription.

In general people underestimate the value of BIG, BRIGHT COLORED buttons,
mobile optimized landing pages with the buttons above the fold, upsells,
downsells, "Squeeze pages" (enter your e-mail, get free stuff) so you can do
e-mail marketing, etc...

Marketing is not a hit and run. Once in a great while you might post 1 thing
in 1 place and it will magically make tons of money, but that isn't the norm.
Most of the time Marketing is a tedious, boring thing that involves lots of
micro-optimization, setting up retargeting, e-mail marketing, making more
endless content to drive organic traffic, etc etc...

------
maremmano
I think the problem is more about the product market fit than youtube as a
sales channel.

I think your product is more aimed at an audience of geek-adult otaku than a
market of children interested in reviews of candy (so ordinary products that
you can buy at the supermarket).

In my opinion a strategy that would bring results is to do cross-marketing
with similar niche sectors (manga lovers, otaku geek, japan lovers, animé
fans, etc.). In my experience the japan culture lover is willing to spend
constantly in this type of products.

An idea could be to diversify the product (eg including Japanese magazines,
gadgets, or other). So make more expensive packages and cheaper packages for
different market segments.

Sorry for my english :)

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jonny_eh
Why was there no direct link?

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mrstone
Is there any actual information on how much money the video made? It doesn't
really say much.

~~~
MBCook
That’s the point. They had no noticeable sales as a result of the video.

I wonder if having a direct link would have helped. Odd the video creator
didn’t do that.

------
esotericn
The video doesn't load for me.

Is this some geoblocking nonsense, or has it just been forgotten?

~~~
mcny
Did you get something like this?

[https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/4421736...](https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/4421736c-d504-4b7d-9947-008ffad06fe7.png)

Here's the video link I used
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSCgXVkYQcA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSCgXVkYQcA)

~~~
esotericn
Yes. Fairly non-descript error!

------
vgeek
[https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/20/google-doctor-
fork/](https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/20/google-doctor-fork/)

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talltimtom
This website is absolute horrible on Chrome/iPhone. It’s jumping wierdly when
scrolling and cutting up the content. I gave up trying to read it.

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netvarun
TLDR: barely any increase in sales/revenue after a really popular YouTube
channel did a video on them. Possible causes include having no direct
clickable link or the channels’ viewers don’t quite monetize well (or maybe
this is endemic of YouTube)

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amriksohata
So much money does that make?

