Candy Japan April Income Report • Hacker News Board

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#61

Post by ticks » Thu, May 17, 2012, 4:35 PM UTC

bemmu wrote: post #14

elktea wrote: post #13

I was surprised not be greeted with high quality photos of examples of past candy. To see any of your product I need to find the 'past candy' link then decide on which unfamiliar product to click on.

Yes, also intuitively to me it would make sense to have such photos, but I found the same thing as Manpacks did ( http://mixergy.com/manpacks-ken-johnson-interview/ ) that showing product photos on the main page lowers conversions. It seems people are in it for the surprise factor.

Hate to say it, but I suspect that showing photos will put some customers off because the products don't look substantial enough.

I realise that there are overheads and that your service is presumably aimed at people with a high enough disposable income.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#62

Post by aw3c2 » Thu, May 17, 2012, 4:35 PM UTC

rmATinnovafy wrote: post #31

I've been following your posts since you started with the business. Have to say that I'm impressed by your tenacity in keeping this fun idea going. Now, your marketing copy is all over the place. The layout is so hard to follow. Things are just too spread around, and the eye cannot follow an easy reading path. Put everything into two columns, side by side. Put more pictures, and more information. Get a smaller third…

oh yes, have some random Japanese person pick stuff and ask them to say eg "from whatevercity, greetings to the rest of the world. I am Mr x and picked some of my favourite candy for you. this one is called sgggddtgcf, it tastes like qetffhh. the bright green one is a bit special, be careful. -- I hope you will enjoy them!". show the shopping/picking. ask cute Japanese girls if men are most of your customers. maybe do that once per month. maybe personally address some of your customers in it (ask before).

that movie inside my head ain't stopping. :)

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#63

Post by bemmu » Thu, May 17, 2012, 4:42 PM UTC

aw3c2 wrote: post #62

rmATinnovafy wrote: post #31

I've been following your posts since you started with the business. Have to say that I'm impressed by your tenacity in keeping this fun idea going. Now, your marketing copy is all over the place. The layout is so hard to follow. Things are just too spread around, and the eye cannot follow an easy reading path. Put everything into two columns, side by side. Put more pictures, and more information. Get a smaller third…

oh yes, have some random Japanese person pick stuff and ask them to say eg "from whatevercity, greetings to the rest of the world. I am Mr x and picked some of my favourite candy for you. this one is called sgggddtgcf, it tastes like qetffhh. the bright green one is a bit special, be careful. -- I hope you will enjoy them!". show the shopping/picking. ask cute Japanese girls if men are most of your customers. maybe d…

I think Japanese people are very camera shy. For example on social networks in Japan, most don't show their face in profile pictures. I did meet one guy who was the total opposite, so I managed to make a video with him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb7PP2z3nnw

The thing with these videos is that I need to make two per month, and I'm not sure how I would source that many people to agree to appear in the videos.

But yeah, it would be pretty awesome if I could figure out how to pull that off.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#64

Post by rudiger » Thu, May 17, 2012, 4:44 PM UTC

I feel like your landing page is too "corporate".

Candy Japan is about the emotional experience. The design should reflect that!

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#65

Post by bemmu » Thu, May 17, 2012, 4:48 PM UTC

rudiger wrote: post #64

I feel like your landing page is too "corporate". Candy Japan is about the emotional experience. The design should reflect that!

I agree it's not that "sweet". I wonder what would be a good example of the kind of site design I should be aiming for?

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#66

Post by sparknlaunch12 » Thu, May 17, 2012, 4:52 PM UTC

smiler wrote: post #23

sparknlaunch12 wrote: post #16

$2k per month profit (before tax) is not bad. There are some costs that cannot be avoided per order but imagine as volume grows, so will efficiencies. This model looks like the mens shaver business. Can see this working for any niche - shavers, stationary, fruit, nuts... How can we see earlier blog posts?.

Yup, www.graze.com for healthy snacks in the UK

> Yup, www.graze.com for healthy snacks in the UK

Yeh, there are many others offering fresh/organic/luxury/quality items delivered to your door. Wine has also made a comeback (forgot the name of the recent big US startup).

Graze have a great website. Will offer some inspiration to others looking at getting into similar businesses.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#67

Post by mendable » Thu, May 17, 2012, 5:48 PM UTC

Have you thought to tap out the Japanese Expat market as an advertising/marketing opportunity?

That might include Japanese people living abroad, students, workers living in the middle east for 12 months, etc

The service could very easily appeal to people living abroad and wanting a reminder of home every month.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#68

Post by bemmu » Thu, May 17, 2012, 6:04 PM UTC

mendable wrote: post #67

Have you thought to tap out the Japanese Expat market as an advertising/marketing opportunity? That might include Japanese people living abroad, students, workers living in the middle east for 12 months, etc The service could very easily appeal to people living abroad and wanting a reminder of home every month.

I might try it, but wouldn't they have friends who send them items? It's very common even inside Japan that relatives send food items to each other, and I the Japanese expats who I knew in Finland were also getting items sent to them by their parents.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#69

Post by rmATinnovafy » Thu, May 17, 2012, 6:24 PM UTC

bemmu wrote: post #63

aw3c2 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh yes, have some random Japanese person pick stuff and ask them to say eg "from whatevercity, greetings to the rest of the world. I am Mr x and picked some of my favourite candy for you. this one is called sgggddtgcf, it tastes like qetffhh. the bright green one is a bit special, be careful. -- I hope you will enjoy them!". show the shopping/picking. ask cute Japanese girls if men are most of your customers. maybe d…

I think Japanese people are very camera shy. For example on social networks in Japan, most don't show their face in profile pictures. I did meet one guy who was the total opposite, so I managed to make a video with him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb7PP2z3nnw The thing with these videos is that I need to make two per month, and I'm not sure how I would source that many people to agree to appear in the videos. But…

Email me

rm at innofvafy dot com

If anything we can talk about ides and maybe find something that works.

Re: Candy Japan April Income Report

#70

Post by famousactress » Thu, May 17, 2012, 6:45 PM UTC

I love it, but I'm really curious about taxes/export-import-duties/regulations, FDA, etc. I guess I always assumed there'd be some strict rules that would make starting this kind of business kind of hairy. Not so?