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Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

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Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#21

Post by wmab »

bb88 wrote: post #19
timgriffin77 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally fair. It's primarily because of how many cups of coffee are consumed every day, and how few of the existing mobile ordering apps have coffee shops as an option. The regularity of the purchase and the popularity of the Starbucks app both point to the opportunity for us.

I see it as you're selling to a shrinking market. That, and the market has been moving towards delivery, think grub hub, Amazon. So why should I use your app when I can get my coffee delivered?

>I see it as you're selling to a shrinking market.

I'd respectfully disagree. Food delivery is a huge and growing market but it has also bred a whole new ecosystem of other ways of thinking about on-demand food consumption. There are a bunch of companies that have raised a lot to tackle niches within the industry such as Ritual (lunch pick-up, raised $113M), Allset (order ahead to sit down at a restaurant and pay in-app, raised $8M). Uber Eats just started offering a dine-in option and DoorDash and Postmates also now offer pick-up. These are all value add in cities and dense areas.

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#22

Post by wmab »

nfranchise wrote: post #15

Cool. This is very similar to Ritual, but they do restaurants as well.

Yeah, I love Ritual for ordering - the bonus points system is great as it's real cash back - similar to the star quests on Starbucks app which get a little addictive.

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#25

Post by wmab »

timgriffin77 wrote: post #9
wmab wrote: post #6

Congrats Tim & James on the Product Hunt launch today! This is a very powerful solution for independent coffee shops to access similar demand-side market effects to Starbucks - I could imagine you doing the same for the supply-side for them eventually too with increasing purchasing power on behalf of the independents. I'd love to chat - I run a menu data company (Woflow) that could help you onboard these coffee shops…

Appreciate the support. We've definitely looked into the supply-side, and we actually partner with a company (odeko) that does a great job at this. Always open to improving our onboarding process, I'll check out what you're building!

Awesome, good luck with fielding questions and comments for the rest of today!

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#26

Post by ryanworl »

I noticed a $0.40 service fee on each payment. I understand why you're doing this (fixed payment processor fee), but you could be a bit smarter about it.

For example, eat it on the first order to validate the payment method and reduce a bit of risk. Then on subsequent orders, don't bill the card immediately. Allow the customer some amount of credit based on e.g. how many previous orders they have paid for successfully and the age of their account.

Once you've reached your threshold for whatever amount the user is allowed to buy before you bill, you then bill the card and send a receipt with the orders you've just charged for.

This will take some work, but it will reduce the friction of users seeing that fee on checkout.

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#27

Post by bb88 »

timgriffin77 wrote: post #20
bb88 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see it as you're selling to a shrinking market. That, and the market has been moving towards delivery, think grub hub, Amazon. So why should I use your app when I can get my coffee delivered?

We certainly keep an eye on delivery apps, but we didn't start gaining traction until we solved for customer expectation issues that owners were worried about. They're primarily concerned with making sure the latte you order is still hot when you get it, and as skeptical as they are about order ahead and pick up, they won't even consider delivery.

I appreciate this, I really do. But that is a problem that could be solved by just adding more Starbucks and Dunkins, who already have their own platform.

I travel a lot. And one of the unsung features of the Starbucks app, is that the density of stores and the app means I'm never more than 15 minutes away from a consistent coffee experience.

I also did exactly what you were doing back in 2012ish. We even had an app. I thought preordering was going to be the next awesome thing.

It turns out that not waiting 5 minutes for your order kinda leaves out the whole experience of talking to the barista, getting that smile at 6am when you're not feeling it yourself, and the personal experience of the hand crafted beverage. My barista knows my name and my order.

And you know how often I use the mobile ordering feature of the Starbucks app? Like 3 times, and only when the line was really long.

Now if you wanted to create a niche market of curated handcrafted delicious coffee from friendly independent baristas, that's an app I might be more inclined to use.

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#28

Post by timgriffin77 »

ryanworl wrote: post #26

I noticed a $0.40 service fee on each payment. I understand why you're doing this (fixed payment processor fee), but you could be a bit smarter about it. For example, eat it on the first order to validate the payment method and reduce a bit of risk. Then on subsequent orders, don't bill the card immediately. Allow the customer some amount of credit based on e.g. how many previous orders they have paid for successfull…

Really great suggestion, definitely something we could do in the future. We just rolled that service fee out this week, so we're watching it closely. Right now, we offer 5 free purchases regardless of how the user pays, but something that's already clear is that we'll need to remove it from the stored balance reload.

As we add payment options like ACH, PayPal, etc. we'll have more wiggle room to adjust the fee based on the final payment method, and establishing a running total like you suggest could increase that variability even more.

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#30

Post by timgriffin77 »

bb88 wrote: post #27
timgriffin77 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We certainly keep an eye on delivery apps, but we didn't start gaining traction until we solved for customer expectation issues that owners were worried about. They're primarily concerned with making sure the latte you order is still hot when you get it, and as skeptical as they are about order ahead and pick up, they won't even consider delivery.

I appreciate this, I really do. But that is a problem that could be solved by just adding more Starbucks and Dunkins, who already have their own platform. I travel a lot. And one of the unsung features of the Starbucks app, is that the density of stores and the app means I'm never more than 15 minutes away from a consistent coffee experience. I also did exactly what you were doing back in 2012ish. We even had an app.…

I completely agree on density, it's the foundation of our pitch really - the more shops that are available on Cloosiv, the better the experience. It's exactly why Starbucks and Dunkin' have such high adoption on their apps.

I also like your example about the hand crafted experience, and I agree - in a lot of ways that's desired from the customers that seek out local shops.

That said, we've interviewed hundreds of people (customers, random strangers, etc.), and it's clear that they'd go to their local shop more often if this were an option. It doesn't mean that they'll use Cloosiv for every visit, but if we can be there when they don't have a lot of time, that's a win for the coffee shop and the customer.

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