
Candy Japan 2013 Year in Review - bemmu
http://www.candyjapan.com/2013-year-in-review
======
busterarm
I was one of the subscribers who joined in 2013 and about 5-6 months later
unsubscribed.

Honestly I think it's a great service! I joined because after moving to the
south from New York City, I didn't have great access to Japanese candy
anymore. I got a lot of cool goodies that I wasn't familiar with before. I
ended up canceling because of both cost and unreliable shipping (not bemmu's
fault). I only ever missed I think one shipment but my local USPS would really
badly mangle them and deliver many weeks late.

I think boxes would be a great value and I would seriously reconsider
subscribing with those, not just because of less risk of damage but the
ability to send crisps. Japanese crisps are of "high value" to me and I was
kind of hoping bemmu would start an alternate service just for those. Some of
the candies that would ship I'm not too fond of (like the rice cake panda
thing that has to be made that was shipped twice) and my favorite candies I
can get on Amazon (evaporated milk candies are OMG AMAZING).

Also, a quick welcome package is a great idea. I ended up waiting almost 2
months in the mail for my first shipment..the longest wait out of all of them.
Such anticipation!

Anyway, highly recommend anyone interested to try this.

~~~
Soulsbane
I had this service for about the same amount of time back in 2012 I think(its
been awhile). I kept getting lots of the do it yourself stuff. While these
were neat I didn't enjoy the taste of them at all so I unsubscribed.

~~~
bemmu
Thanks for trying it. Maybe I went on a too long DIY spree there.

------
fieldforceapp
Nice. Maybe you can take your success in candy and branch out to other dry
goods?

A surprise box of Japanese stationery might be popular in the US. No hard data
here but I've seen a recent trend of Japanese stationery stores open in Japan
[0] and vendors opening physical "antenna" shops here in the West Coast of the
US. And, crucially, my pre-teen daughter is obsessed with them. Gambatte!

[0] [http://tsite.jp/daikanyama/store-service/tsite-
en.html](http://tsite.jp/daikanyama/store-service/tsite-en.html) [1]
[http://www.mymaido.com](http://www.mymaido.com)

~~~
bemmu
I think this is the third time I have heard that stationary idea, so there
definitely could be something to it.

~~~
jdeseno
Personally I'm trying to kick my habit of picking up cool art supplies and
paper whenever I'm in Japantown.

I think something as simple just monthly 3-4 novelty erasers would sell really
well.

I also recall reading that paper yearly planners are popular in Japan right
now.

Edit: I was thinking of these
[http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2135267959864327501](http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2135267959864327501)
\--
[http://www.1101.com/store/techo/2014/planner/](http://www.1101.com/store/techo/2014/planner/)

------
mildtrepidation
Thanks for the update! I've seen this as a pretty inspirational "lifestyle
business," particularly since you seem to be doing well with it despite having
to deal with a physical product.

The "welcome envelope" was what immediately came to mind while reading about
your initial delivery delay, but you make a good point, that extra cost could
definitely cause margin problems. Also, it potentially opens you up to people
taking advantage of that up-front freebie by signing up multiple times with
different information.

Since it sounds like people are interested in potentially paying more for
premium candy, perhaps rather than (or in addition to) multiple subscription
levels, you could consider allowing customers to purchase much pricier one-off
high-end products. Running those once a week, assuming the volume was fairly
low, would only add a couple relatively mild days of work per month, for
something with a potentially higher margin.

~~~
Joona
And I guess the same goes the other way... Every time I see the site, I want
to subscribe, but I simply can't pay $25. :(

~~~
bemmu
What kind of option would you prefer to have?

~~~
Joona
I wouldn't mind $10/month for a single shipment per month.

------
jcampbell1
I don't think I can justify spending $25/month on candy for myself. However, I
would have no problem asking the office manager to signup and put it on the
company card.

I might modify the homepage to highlight that small businesses buy this as a
perk for their employees.

~~~
caw
A "jumbo" box be an idea there. The office manager could get 1 jumbo box a
month and then pass out candy to everyone (versus multiple subscriptions for
multiple employees, which would add up fast)

------
lxmorj
Hey Bemmu! Glad things are going well, man. I have a suggestion for your time-
to-first-product problem. Find a candy that has a long shelf life, and during
your normal packing process, pack and set aside shipments to be used as
'Welcome Bags'. Then, all you need to do when a new customer signs up is label
and ship them. Even doing this once per week on your non-shipping weeks would
significantly improve the average purchase-to-candy delay. Then, to avoid
shipping them 3 packs in one month, you can just omit them from the very next
ship list. What you're effectively doing is splitting the purchase delay into
two chunks instead of one long one. This also means people's experience will
improve over the first two months - they'll be getting candy more and more
frequently for the first 3 - 4 shipments.

~~~
bemmu
In case where a friend subscribes, the subscriber would know that they missed
a shipment though and it would be tricky to justify that to them. I think I
need to just eat the cost and convince myself via some kind of analysis that
it makes sense to pay.

I didn't mention it in the blog, but giving Dropbox-style incentives to
signing up your friends is something I am thinking of, so people being aware
of what others are receiving would happen more in the future.

~~~
Fuxy
How about just putting a notice that the first package will be sent
instantly/soon after subscription and the rest are to follow regular
subscription schedule?

That way you only send 2 but you send the first one earlier.

------
lepouet
There is another benefit for your last idea to send a "welcome" envelope.

Shipping delay might vary between countrys, so if you tell your customer that
you have send it just after their subscription it might educate them on the
normal delay for a package to arrive, a delay which you can't do anyting
about.

Then the delay for the nexts packages might seem more "normal".

~~~
Fuxy
Not to mention it would reassure customers that it's a legitimate website who
intends to honor it's promise not a shady one that attracted a new victim with
a cute idea.

I'm quite certain the customers get nervous the first month when their package
doesn't arrive because they start questioning the websites validity not
because their in any hurry to get it.

~~~
bemmu
This is exactly it. It just seems like the right thing to do. Still I want to
run a test to convince my logical side of it.

------
NickSharp
I love Candy Japan!

I subscribed as a small perk for my team, now twice a month, we get a
delicious surprise in the mail.

Always brightens the day.

------
chrishall78
This is an interesting lifestyle business, where you're essentially curating a
selection of Japanese candies. However it could be hard to scale if you're
just working by yourself. Great success could be your downfall if you suddenly
got 1000 new subscribers at once. I would recommend thinking about what you
would do if this happened, how to expand your business quickly, hiring part
time workers and such. Since you're operating in Japan this could complicate
things tremendously. It would be good to have a business lawyer that you could
consult with.

Since you're doing the two week shipments as "random" selections, perhaps you
can lock your subscription list a week or two out from the next shipment date
to give yourself a set number of subscribers for that shipment. This will make
it easier to acquire all of the products since your subscriber number will not
fluctuate.

Then have a standard stock of easily acquired products pre-packaged and ready
send to new subscribers who miss the lock date for the next shipment.

After all, I would assume that one of the big drivers of this business is
novelty. For the first few shipments, it doesn't matter too much what is sent,
as long as it's new and unique. This is why you will see people subscribe for
a short time and then cancel (novelty wears off).

------
ZanderEarth32
Very inspiring. Lately, I've found more interest in reading about people
building businesses surrounding curated physical goods rather than digital
goods or services.

~~~
bemmu
Thanks. Any specific aspect you would like to read about?

------
bloaf
> send surprise candy stuffed into envelopes twice a month to subscribers

Haha! Did you know that your business model is a significant problem for
philosophers?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexpected_hanging_paradox](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexpected_hanging_paradox)

------
eoy
Looking forward to my first package! Always nice to see some (at least almost)
Finns on HN :)

~~~
bemmu
Thanks. I'm a full Finn, even if I happen to reside somewhere else :)

~~~
keninsgton
but your a japanese-wannabe right? let me guess you love Asian women and you
currently have a Japanese wife or girlfriend? You wish you could fully
integrate into Japanese society and not be looked upon as a foreigner. But
that will never happen because Japan is very xenophobic. I'm going to get
downvoted, but for everyone who has lived in Japan and is not Japanese knows
what I'm talking about and knows it's true

~~~
elliottcarlson
You got my downvote for posting something that doesn't need to be posted,
whether true or not. You obviously knew that since you created an account just
for that purpose - so what does it matter? Why bother to begin with?

