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Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy

bemmu.posterous.com

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Re: Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy

#81

Post by irondavycole »

dotBen wrote: post #53
irondavycole wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a designer at Memberly — this is precisely what we do. If anyone has any questions/interest, feel free to contact me (email in profile)!

Asking here because I'm sure many people will have the same question... ...how much does your service cost? There's no pricing info on the site :/ Thanks!

Yeah, we're invite only right now so our sales & sign up flow is only given to people we let in. There's an application form if you're interested.

The pricing isn't a secret though, just not advertised. Memberly takes 5% (like Kickstarter) and then Amazon takes their payment processing fee which varies according to volume but is typically 2.9% + $0.30.

Re: Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy

#82

Post by dmitriy_ko »

dotBen wrote: post #10

Candy, coffee, cigars, women's shoes/accessories... There seems like a ton of subscription businesses around and I almost feel there might be room to create a white/gray-label platform that can handle the website, subscription management, payment and shipping labels to potential operators of these kinds of services. Wondering how big the addressable market is. UPDATE: http://member.ly already does this according the…

NetPlenish works on more or less exactly this idea: creating subscription service for delivering common products. Their service launches pretty soon, let's see how much traction it gets.

Re: Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy

#83

Post by tstegart »

bemmu wrote: post #64
scottyallen wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have to precommmit to the grocery store with how much candy you'll buy? If not, then really the only added complexity would be the label printing step - you just print some labels on different frequencies from others. If I were you, I'd be listening carefully to the feedback you're hearing in these comments - seems like there's a lot of demand for a less frequent/less expensive option. If you want more data on…

No, I don't need to precommit. There is nothing really preventing me from doing this. I want to say yes to this experiment, but immediately come up with more stuff that this would require that holds me back from adding it right now. With tiers you will eventually have people who want to upgrade / downgrade between the tiers (of course I can just say you can't do that). I need to change my scripts that scan PayPal to…

I agree, I don't think your churn rate is so bad that you need to offer any more levels. I would put all your work into acquiring new subscribers first. Every business is going to have churn, but the only way to grow is with new customers.

Re: Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy

#84

Post by tstegart »

bemmu wrote: post #75
tstegart wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of marketing are you doing to increase subscribers? Do you send out press releases to bloggers, magazines and news sites?

Thanks for the email template, I plan on using it as a base for reaching out to bloggers. Is there something that can help with this, besides hiring an expensive PR agency? I mean finding bloggers, contacting them with personally crafted messages and keeping in touch with them. I'm terrible at following up on emails when I happen to be in the coding zone.

Nothing free, as far as I know. Just an excel spreadsheet, some research, and a well-organized email inbox.

Re: Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy

#85

Post by md1515 »

You might try once a month. Do a poll and see how people would react. you have been so honest thus far, I think continuing to say that it will be very difficult to continue with the existing profit margin will allow subscribers to take a hit. Example: they pay $15 for one shipment per month. You will most likely keep most subscribers and potentially gain the cheaper ones who don't want to pay $24 for Japanese candy

Re: Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy

#86

Post by moswald »

bemmu wrote: post #39
jonknee wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon does this. It works well from what I've heard. http://www.amazonservices.com/content/fulfillment-by-amazon.... There's a full API: https://developer.amazonservices.com/gp/mws/index.html/177-6...

Actually I tried this. I sent Amazon one pack of candy and then shipped it through them to see how it would work and what it would cost. Had no trouble with the service itself, but it adds a slight cost for me since I have to ship to Amazon and then pay for shipping again. I sold a pack of candy there for $9.90. After Amazon's fees I got $5.60. Someone bought it from Amazon.com instead of me dispatching it through th…

The barcode you mention links your specific merchant account to the physical product's UPC/ASIN in order to properly track your inventory. Amazon can also handle the labeling of the inbound inventory for an added fee.

(Disclaimer: I work for Amazon doing FBA Ops)

Re: Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy

#87

Post by v01 »

If you are solely relying on the site to drive your subscriptions - it could use some work..

1. High-res pics of candy and call to action above the fold.

2. Registration/Membership on-site not just paypal sub link.

3. Video is great, but it would help to have, sorry to be frank, less amateur shaky cam in favor of something a little more pro that gives me confidence in handing over money every month to a person out there.

You should also consider reaching out to daily deals sites with a "discounted membership" deal that could really move the needle for you.

I think this is pretty awesome, I'd love to see how this develops...

Re: Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy

#88

Post by fadys »

dotBen wrote: post #10

Candy, coffee, cigars, women's shoes/accessories... There seems like a ton of subscription businesses around and I almost feel there might be room to create a white/gray-label platform that can handle the website, subscription management, payment and shipping labels to potential operators of these kinds of services. Wondering how big the addressable market is. UPDATE: http://member.ly already does this according the…

I launched http://teapeat.com a little over a month ago. I like to call it TAAS: Tea as a Service.

I've had a decent amount of signups since then, but it has leveled off. I hope to share what I've learned so far very soon.

Re: Shipping $36000 worth of Japanese candy

#89

Post by fadys »

AznHisoka wrote: post #9

Have you done any marketing towards otakus? Also, have you done about expanding it to other Japanese goods? like tea? dried fruit? cookies?

This can definitely work with other Japanese goods. I tried a similar service (after seeing Bemmu's early success) with tea (http://teapeat.com).

With only posting to HN, I had a decent amount of sign ups.

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