

Candy Japan: Getting my first subscribers - bemmu
http://bemmu.posterous.com/getting-my-first-recurring-payment

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wccrawford
I have to say, I considered it. But 3 things stopped me:

1) It has to be relatively expensive (to cover shipping and profit), so the
candy would have to be both good and interesting to justify the cost, and my
experience has been that foreign foods are very hit-and-miss.

2) I have an asian supermarket near me in Orlando, FL that carries a lot of
candies and drinks.

3) The picture showed Pocky as one of the 2 products that went into that
order. I can buy Pocky at Walmart (and the asian store mentioned above), so I
would feel like I really wasted my money if that was in an order. And pretty
much anything else I can buy at the Asian store. He has no way to know what I
could buy locally, so I'd always be taking a chance that I'm paying way too
much for something.

However, if the system was changed so that I can pick the candies from a
selection, that might be more interesting. It's quickly approaching a standard
storefront at that point, though.

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bemmu
Yes, there are definitely many people in your situation, and you will probably
be better off visiting their local stores. They can import in bulk and can
provide a good selection, it clearly is superior to sending random things from
abroad individually.

Many places do not have such stores though, for example as far as I know in
Finland there is just one such store in the whole country. I believe there are
still customers left for this service as well.

If this turns out to be an unnecessary service, I would be open to accept that
result too. I still feel I would be better off having started this experiment,
I am learning much about how to approach bloggers, how to interface with
PayPal and my new label printer and so on. Nice learning experience in any
case.

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wccrawford
Oh, I wasn't suggesting that you quit. I was just listing my reasons so you
knew what you were up against. If you don't know why people aren't
subscribing, it's hard to widen your customer base.

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drtse4
This could become really(hugely?) popular among "otakus", i have just a few
suggestion:

\- Update the sample image, weirder the candies in the picture higher the
signup rate, imo.

\- I'd restructure the page to put the subscribe button in the top half of the
page and make it clearly visible.

\- A/B test the price (understanding which price/candies_quantity ratio is the
right one could make a big difference) and find another way to give the option
to choose euro or dollar (location based?), i don't like the fact that you
have two buttons with the same function.

\- After Tofugu(nice start) you should try contacting some other anime or
japan related site/ _forum_ /blog.

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bemmu
I changed the picture to something else, just to remove the Pocky from now on.
"No Pocky" was the number one feedback I got from US subscribers.

I love A/B testing but I wonder if I have enough conversions to really test
yet.

I would really like to do more guest blogging. Done it twice so far and it is
my favorite way of reaching out to people. Bloggers get interesting content
for free and I get exposure. For the readers, if done properly, it can be
actual interesting content.

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drtse4
I remember an old blog called konbini-life where this guy reviewed the strange
stuff he bought at local konbinis (candies and other weird "barely" edible
things). The blog is now dead (but was quite popular at the time, he was even
featured in the Japan Times), you could try opening something similar, i would
read it :)

Also, yep, at the moment it's too soon for a/b test.

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windsurfer
Market this to offices and small kitchens. It's a hassle-free way for whoever
stocks the kitchens to add variety to the snacks.

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bemmu
That's interesting. I was thinking of a high class tier already anyway. I
would like to start a kind of "corporate class" subscription option where a
slightly bigger amount of only the best possible candy is sent, using the most
convenient shipping option, with beautiful wrappings and so on. The cost would
be much higher, clearly over $100 / month for just one monthly package.

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dpapathanasiou
You should say how large the envelopes are, and/or define how much candy (by
weight) comes with each shipment.

Also, try to find out if there are candies which are sold _only_ in Japan; I'm
in NYC, and have lots of places where I can buy Japanese candy, but if there's
something I can't get here, it will be more appealing.

Finally, you need to do something about the cost: I might try it if it were
under $10 but $24 per month is just way too high.

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SamColes
Similar concept but much more expensive than Graze - <http://www.graze.com/>

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bemmu
Looks interesting. I was trying to find "the catch" there. 3.49 pounds sounds
like it would hardly even cover the shipping cost. Perhaps they have figured
out how to keep their costs really really low and somehow also managed to do
really really big volume.

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modernerd
They only ship to the UK, which keeps postage costs down. They also buy
produce in bulk, and partner with bakers/producers directly to obtain the best
deals.

They had around 15,000 subscribers each paying about £3.50 a week in 2009. I
can't find an updated figure for 2011.

You could learn something from their personalisation service, though; I'd be
more inclined to try Candy Japan if I could select candy I didn't want to
receive in a personal account page. I'd also suggest:

1\. Offering a cheaper one-package-a-month option. (e.g. 8 /month)

2\. Correcting the typos on your homepage (e.g. 'What is costs' instead of
'What it costs')

3\. Showing more samples of what you send, with higher quality photos, and
perhaps some shots of the sorts of shops you buy it from. Make people who've
seen them miss that experience, and people who haven't curious about it.

Other than that, though, it looks like a great start. Very best of luck with
it.

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buhrmi
I just signed up because I like surprises :D If it's to expensive I think I
can cancel any time.

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rinrae
awesome idea :). curious to see how it will work out – good luck!

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bemmu
Thanks. I've already started writing some future posts. I intend to get the
next one published again on Friday.

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Hisoka
$23 a month? Wow.. too costly. My email marketing service costs less and it
provides way more in ROI.

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bemmu
I agree in that in my current situation I would not be willing to pay this
much for such a service. But I am trying to look beyond my own situation,
imagining all those people in all other places in their lives. For some, $23
can be reasonable sum to pay just for the surprise element alone.

