How I decided the price for my Japanese candy subscription service | Hacker News Reader

How I decided the price for my Japanese candy subscription service

bemmu.posterous.com

57 pointsbemmu33 comments

As you grow the service, you'll have the opportunity to dramatically reduce costs. You can buy candy in bulk, have it shipped by the wholesalers directly to the US, and so on - there's no reason your costs shouldn't be just a few dollars (for shipping) more than domestic candy prices, in sufficient quantities. After all, most domestic candy is made overseas anyway. :)

In the interim, can I suggest the following for your customers grouped in a single country (I'm using the example of the USA since that's what I know best):

- Find a friend in the states

- Set the boxes up so they're ready to ship from your friend's city to the subscribers' destination (you can do this with USPS online printable mailers in the states)

- Ship them all in one big box to your friend

- Have your friend open the big box and dump the contents directly in the outgoing mail

I think this would save dramatically on postage.

In the case of the US, you can improve this further:

Find a friend who lives near a Mitsuwa, JAS Mart, or similar Japanese grocery (there are several here in NYC).

Have him buy the candy there in bulk (enough to fill all the US-bound orders anyway), and use the relatively cheap USPS flat-rate shipping to send it to US subscribers.

i.e., avoid buying in Japan (which is more expensive b/c of VAT) and avoid shipping from Japan; the chain groceries have done the hard work for you, so you can reap the benefits.

But then the product he's delivering isn't special, and if he did that I would never subscribe.

Well, the candy sold at Japanese groceries in the US is no different from what's available in Japan (it's all imported from there, after all).

His service would only make sense for you if you're not within driving distance of such a store yourself.

There are a lot of seasonal candies that are not available out of Japan. I don't live in the US anymore but when I did I never saw any of the more original candies in the Japanese groceries... For example, at one time, they had wine kitkats in Japan.

You can find the low-hanging of the Japanese pop snacks (Pocky, Yan-yan, Koala's March) at any Asian market in a top 100 major US city; but you won't find, for example, limited edition Soda flavored Kit Kats or Meiji Wintertime Fuwafuwa chocolate or anything crazy cool like that.

That's where a service like this would shine, I reckon.

Are there candies sold only in Japan that I can't find here?

Last time I visited Tokyo I couldn't really see a difference (then again, I'm not exactly a candy coinesseur).

There are lots of seasonal and limited edition candies in Japan that I think is difficult to find elsewhere.

Dunno, I haven't been in a candy shop in the US in a long time. Do you have choco-mochi?

I guess if you do this you'll have problems with tariffs and import/export regulations.

Yes, but don't use the non-functional US postal service. UPS or FedEx work fine. There's a reason why knowledgeable shippers (such as Amazon) use the USPS only for rural parts of the US, and use private couriers exclusively for the coasts and large cities.

Very interesting idea! I tried to think of the similar in Russia, but came to conclusion that there is nothing interesting to export subscription way, we are consuming only country.

What about soviet pop culture art? magazines? Oddities?Russia seems like such an interesting place, I would reconsider your idea.

The Soviet era is over. In my home town supermarkets are opened in the buildings of closed plants and filled with imports. Authentic Soviet artifacts are rarities.

I think the site itself should show a few pictures of the packages.

Also a small/medium/large subscription for comparison.

I like candy.

As someone who also like random candies, I wonder if it is cheaper to just order candies straight from Japan (Amazon Japan or maybe Ebay?) I am stealing idea here, but that would be another way to get more candies.

Hi Bemmu,

I am not sure if this will be of any help, but I have noticed there is a fashion trend among some young people, mostly girls, to dress like babies, you know with ping dresses and stripped stockings, baby aprons etc. They always seem to be currying some lollipop-type candy with them. I have seen them in Tokyo/Osaka but it seems very possible that this trend exists abroad as well. They seem to behave like a tribe, so they should have their magazines, events, web-sites.

Maybe if you could get in touch with that tribe and advertise yourself properly there, you may have chances of good conversion there.

They exist outside of the Japan too. It's called Lolita Fashion - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_fashion They have lots of different sub styles - Gothic Lolitas, Sweet Lolitas. Generally from what I understand they're their own sub culture outside of Japan, but they're not uncommon at anime / manga events. The retailers at these events already sell Japanese sweets, even the seasonal and limited edition ones. In the US JBox.com – and their NSFW parent company JList.com are probably the biggest retailer of such candies in anime / manga fandom.

JList buy candy in bulk from wholesalers and advertise heavily to anime and manga fans. They have a generous affiliate banner ad scheme too, which means lots of sites link to them. As Candy Japan expands I imagine JList would be a primary competitor for selling Japanese Candy. They already have the market share and infrastructure in place, with offices in Japan and the US. I'm sure there is plenty of room for competition, but I'd be aware of them as a business rival in this market.

I'd sign up but none of the candy listed seems very unique or special, it seems like stuff you could pick up at your local Asian grocery. I think if people had a bit more of an idea what they were actually getting they would be more interested in putting down $. I don't want to pay 4x what I would pay here just so I could say it was 'shipped from Japan'.

The fact that it's a recurring charge alters the economics. You could probably reduce costs considerably by sending fewer international shipments and distributing locally from there.

Anything from Israel that people might want to subscribe to? I was thinking maybe wine.

Connoisseur olive oil maybe. But at least where I live that market is already saturated (with greece stuff I think).

I wonder what the price difference would be for one shipment a month vs two?

I bet you could cut the price to $15 for once a month and increase margins and potentially sales (A/B test this one!) in the process.

love the idea!

i think one shipment a month is plenty... you don't want people to get overwhelmed - this should be considered like a treat and will probably help with shipping and labor costs too.

enjoyed this line: "This leaves a pre-tax profit of 3.39 EUR / month per subscriber if I calculate it Groupon-style, totally ignoring marketing costs."

Anything you may need from Spain monthly?

Awesome! just signed up :D

I'm so tempted to use your service that I might give it a try, even though I think the price is a little too high due to what appears to be a shipping channel problem. I can get a lot of Japanese candy at my local Asian supermarket (kiwi gummis and pocky) but I'd really be interested in seeing a list of what goes in the envelopes prior to committing.

My guess is that shipping costs could be reduced substantially if the number of subscribers in a country/region gets very big: send one large package and have them shipped individually from there.

Yes, I concur with your answer. Maybe start serving one location first and them expanding to others once you have a working system in place.

A lot of people seem to have said/thought this whenever this particular business comes up. What about a "premium" level for a higher price that allows for a better profit -- show the customer a list and allow them to pick two or three things from that list? It's a bit more hassle, but that's what the customer is paying for.

Living in Japan here, WHY on earth does this make sense to the "180"?

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