Some feedback as a user:
I canceled my subscription recently after about half a year. Some things I didn't like with the service:
- The service said that candy was shipped bi-monthly. I assumed it would come like every two weeks, but it always arrived quite simultaneous for me, a few days to a week later once a month.
- Maybe it's me, but the flavors often ranged from weird to inedible (like rose flavored candy)
- There is no way to re-order candy that I actually like. Actually, it's hard to even gather the name of the candy often enough in order to search for it.
- The cancel subscription link / process was hard to find on your page.
International mail is a bit unpredictable, even post office says the packages can take 2-4 weeks, so it is possible there could be overlap.
I try to balance between easy to eat and truly bizarre. Sorry you didn't like those rose flavored ones, but many people actually loved them. Taste preferences are so varied I can't hope to keep everyone happy. I would rather sometimes shock and sometimes dazzle instead of just keeping it safe.
Definitely looking into starting a shop in the future to re-order more of the good ones.
Cancel instructions are in the FAQ, they are complicated a bit because I don't have user accounts on the site (need to verify you have the subscription you are trying to cancel). Easiest way is to drop me an email and ask for cancel.
I haven't used your service, so I be making some wrong assumptions here, but if some users would like to be able to find some of the candies they have eaten, you could include a list in their account with the name of candies they have received in Japanese (and English or Romaji) and a photo. Probably should wait until after they receive the package to maintain the element of surprise.
Additional feedback, if this is appropriate: the coupon link in the footer results in a blank page. It's 404, but I had to check an inspector in the absence of any 404 text. Hope this helps.
air ship the bulk candy to the US and individually package and ship from here should greatly speed up distribution, making deliveries regular and predictable.
> - Maybe it's me, but the flavors often ranged from weird to inedible (like rose flavored candy)
Rose flavored as in flavored with rose water[1]?
That's a fairly normal flavor in deserts and candies. Common as a primary flavor in Turkish Delight. Alton Brown demonstrates how to make your own in the episode where he makes baklava—one of the ones currently on Netflix in the US, I think. It's pretty much what you'd expect from the name.
> - There is no way to re-order candy that I actually like. Actually, it's hard to even gather the name of the candy often enough in order to search for it.
This! I even contacted Bemmu about ordering some of them that I really liked, but the required quantities were a bit high and I had some trouble finding more people to order them with.
Congrats Bemmu - I love the 'overnight success story' that was 2014.
In my experience, businesses tend to grow in jumps with a plateau in between and it looks like 2014 was that sort of year (as a deserved reward for the years of platform investment you had made). Best of luck getting over that 1,000 item milestone and then the next big jump beyond!
If I could just keep at 1000, that would be great success. I think if somehow the site doubled again, it would become possible to even hire full-time help.
Interestingly not all sweets makers are that interested in selling in bulk. My approach seems to need some tweaking. Currently I would just send an email like "hey I'd like to buy 1000 of these cute candies you make, how much would it be?". But instead of a price, I just get "we don't sell wholesale". It's strange to me as I would imagine they would be happy to sell more of their product, but apparently a more gentle approach is called for here. My first hire would likely be someone who is really good at this, unless I can somehow turn into that person myself during this year.
Explain what you do. Tell them it's a one-off. A lot of small manufacturing businesses would be happy to do a one time bulk order but don't want to (or can't) scale their business to a size that lets them do large orders regularly. You'll still get a lot of people saying no because some people see bulk orders as compromising quality, but you'll get some successes too.
Speaking as a longtime JP expat, this might be a matter of nuance and phrasing. If you have a business-type salaryman in your sphere of friends, it might be worth getting them to vet your form letter to make sure it conveys the right impression (that this isn't speculative, your business is established, based on response you might purchase again, etc.).
I suspect (and it could alternatively just be cultural business nuances I'm not familiar with) it's likely just not worth the effort for most businesses to create a new, once-off 'wholesale' channel when they're presumably selling tens of thousands of items per month through their existing retail channels. Which is understandable.
Having heard some stories of foreigners in Japan (cf: patio11 being interrogated as a bike thief for being 1/ a foreigner and 2/ on a bike), it is possible a local assistant may have more luck by seeming less 'suspicious'[1].
[1] Not quite the right word - 'less curiously and slightly unnervingly conspicuous' perhaps?
Are there Costco-like outlets in Japan? Places that sell in bulk at a lower cost?
Just signed up for a trial. Really looking forward to it. A couple of things:
1. The sign up process is SO EASY. Fantastic - wish other sites would make it so simple. Choose your level of service, pay, done. Fast and quick.
2. Email newsletter signup? Didn't notice one. Would be a great way to keep people who pay for gift subscriptions in the loop.
3. Provide a custom email for people who have bought a gift subscription. At the moment, it's just the link. If you provided a page or sample email that was like 'Hey, I've bought you a subscription to Candy Japan!!!! Here's what happens... etc etc' - I think it would make the impact of the gift greater.
I know in Korea that some of the big "traditional" style markets have shop fronts that are only wholesalers and won't sell to regular customers. If there's an analog where you live you might want to hit those up. I wouldn't at all be surprised if there's a wholesale confectionary market of some sort that meets once a month or whatever.
My sister-in-law ran a small store for a few years and she'd go to a local convention center/stadium and buy all kinds of inventory at such places.
Great write-up, Bemmu. Glad to hear Candy Japan is still going strong. I had a subscription for a couple of months last year, I got my first batch right after we met on a warm sunny day here in Amsterdam!
Unfortunately I had to cancel the subscription, though. This is because the frequency was just too high for me. Although I do love all the weird and funny types of candy, I'm not that much of a sweet tooth and some of the candies kept piling up! If 2015 also brings different types of subscription, I'll probably sign up again for once a month.
I still love this idea Bemmu. One suggestion - I think you should invest in design and copywriting for the homepage. What you're selling is an emotional experience but it isn't being presented that way.
To Americans like me, Japan is mysterious and fun. I actually don't WANT to see what the box looks like. If you play up the mystery more, it becomes less of a transaction and more of a emotional experience which will help justify your higher price.
Maybe you play off Japanese cartoons, with characters like this: http://drbl.in/bTYf
Or maybe you could have loud and over the top illustrations of the candy like this, but 10 times louder http://drbl.in/kgdq
Since your product is candy, I would go for the playful/quirky/over-the-top aspects of Japanese culture. Lots of fun color and illustrations. As opposed to the traditional, serious, craft focused parts of the culture.
I think it would also be beneficial to get better shots of your products. It shouldn't be too expensive to get a decent DSLR, macro lens, flash and a lightbox. It will make a world a difference in the pictures you are getting.
I quite like the simplicity of the site. Yes, it may not play up the mystery, but it's cute and straightforward. I think that may inspire confidence in it.
feedback from current customer (approx 20 months): i set up a subscription for my small team of devs--try to convince them i'm a thoughtful, generous manager, or at least buy their love. They "care packages" are a huge hit with this gang--every candy type (a team of six with varied tastes so not too surprising). Initially, when the twice-monthly shipments arrived, i would but the box on a bookcase in our area; i don't think the candy ever lasted more than 24 hours. After the first couple of months, they began retrieving them directly from the mailroom, then putting the box on my desk once it was empty. I would love to try some, or even one, but you see why that hasn't worked out so far. About a months or so ago, one of the devs on the team told me how awesome she thought were these sweets, and kudos to whomever orders them for the whole team.
I have stumbled upon Candy Japan about half a year ago when I was moving house and said I'd try it after I settle down. I have recently come back to this topic and did some research on different Japanese snack subscription options.
- Most services cost around $25 monthly.
- Candy Japan seems to offer the most frequent service, with almost all of the other options only offer monthly delivery.
- But Candy Japan also offers the smallest amount - 282 grams (141 grams * 2) compared to others who usually offer 1lb (450 grams) monthly.
Has anyone tried other subscription services? How do they compared to Candy Japan?
After some comparison, looking at sample boxes, weighing pros & cons, I signed up for a taste box from TasteJapan, and I'm very excited to see what it's like!
I have noticed a similar graph on Twitch viewership - you hover around 1000 viewers for a year or two, and then suddenly start gaining hundreds of viewers, and in just a few months, you may have doubled your numbers.
I love Candy Japan but do have a couple of suggestions:
- The email you send out is great, but it often arrives well after I have received the package. One arrived a couple of days ago and I really want to wait on the email, but my willpower is usually no match for (possibly) delicious candy :/
- The email always goes to spam. Maybe check your DKIM settings or contact MailChimp? Or maybe it's just me? (Gmail / Google Apps)
- A small card with the name/photo/short description of each item would be great. If they were well designed and of decent quality I'd even collect them!
One anecdote: one of his shipments had quite a variety of candies. While other boxes were unopened by customs, this one had stickers all over it. Upon opening, I noticed that one of the candy boxes had been opened, which happened to be the one with candies that looked like white round pill-like things. I assume it was flagged as suspicious and a sample was taken. It had a sticker with the word 'food' (in Portuguese) written on it.
There are a few regulations regarding 'food' imports. I even expect to run into some trouble because of the regular deliveries. I suspect the amounts are small enough that it hasn't hit any triggers yet.
I've built a relationship with a supermarket owner. He gives me a discount and also does a lot of the work of calling around manufacturers to see which candies he can get. I suspect he probably makes a nice profit, too, compared to if I did all that sourcing myself.
The biggest challenge is that many items are region bound or limited time sales, so practically we cannot get them. If I took the train to various prefectures in Japan and chatted with manufacturers, I could probably get even more variety going. I was thinking of starting a new tier (Candy Japan premium) for that, but still thinking about it.
It does take time to prepare the packages. First of all we don't know exactly how many subscribers we'll have until the last minute. Then we want to order an amount of items that best matches that count. That takes more time than if we pre-ordered. Then stuffing the boxes takes about 3 days. I think the post also takes an extra day for them to calculate all the postage for a pile of 1000 boxes. So yes there are currently some delays, but from the customer point of view they get something every 2 weeks, only the initial shipment being slow to arrive.
You might consider preordering extra so you can cover your count, and sell additional boxes/ordering of individual items as one off items. A one off box of some of the same stuff you shipped out might make a good gift or a way for a person to get some more of a box they really enjoyed, or a way to try out the service (perhaps at a slight discount) without subscribing.
I did a "test run" with a subscription for my mother. She enjoyed it as a gift/novelty idea, but the quantity was too much for her... I am now considering (prompted by the post of some other customer in the thread) to get a subscription for my office.
But ... one of the shippings to my mother included some crazy "hamburger facsimiles" that you had to prepare by mixing different powders, pouring in stamps, cooking in microwave and then cut up and assemble.
While fun, this is impractical for office use, I'd prefer to be sure I get actual candies mostly (salted snacks would be ok, too, but anything involving such a preparation would be wasted on us).
Finally: I was really disappointed when you canceled the stationery project... I had at least three people who could get this as a gift (and possibly renew on their own after the first run).
What is the real quantity? All I could find is a photo of two empty envelopes from a distance and a single nicely done box of candies (what does it have to do with envelopes?).
Sorry but I am far away from her home and cannot check - I am just reporting her reaction after 3-4 shipments.
(And this is not criticism about the service: it was me who had misjudged the situation - anyway she was happy about the idea, it is just that she prefers not to eat "too much" candies for health reasons).
I'v very recently (few days ago) launched a service with the same business model but for Japanese tea, called Tomotcha: https://tomotcha.com
I'll most certainly do a Show HN soon, just a couple of things to fix before. For instance the price is currently only listed in EUR, but if you prefer to be billed in USD just drop us an email saying so and we will bill you in USD ($25/month).
Looks interesting. I'm certainly interested in Japanese teas and like being able to sample a variety ( http://gwern.net/Tea - might I encourage you to also explore the world of oolongs as well as greens?), but looking at your current front page, my first thought is 'it sounds like a good idea, but how do I know the tea they send will be any good? What have they sent in the past and/or plan to send for launch?' You have a listing of families, but not the specific ones.
@bemmu, Non-subscriber here (Although potential subscriber). Could you start a mailing list for the website that would feature new stuff or offers that you may have. It's a wonderful service, but my memory defeats me often 'coz of which I may miss out on new stuff or simply forget about the service, so, please consider the option.
Hi Bemmu, I found something similar on PH some time ago (japancrate.com), although is seems more recent, do you know them? How common are these 'subscription box' services (I had no idea this was a thing)? Do you have more subscriptions in Europe or the US?
Idea: Gift subscription should have an option to send the first package to you, so that you can wrap it up and physically give it. Then they can add their mailing address.
I tried launching one site called Pen Japan. But what I realized is that any time I considered putting in some effort to promote Pen Japan, I was better off putting that effort into promoting Candy Japan instead. If I look for bloggers to reach out to or write guest posts, I can't justify doing it for the new site when I would much rather promote the existing one.
Why would I prefer promoting existing one? Two reasons: running two sites is almost twice the work. Why launch a new site and promote that, when I could instead push the existing site? Secondly, there are some minor scale benefits when shipping a lot of the same item. You can get a better margin when buying 1000 pieces of the same item vs. 500 pieces of two different items. So it makes sense to push hard on just one direction.
If the sites were somehow less related, but with some synergy benefits, then that would make sense. For example if I launched a buy-and-ship reshipping service where customers can request any item they want from Japan which I then go out to buy and ship to them. It would make sense to promote that, because the avenues to promote it would be different enough not to compete against Candy Japan. It would also make sense in that those services could be cross-sold, so that is something I might consider. But not really wanting to start a "Candy X" where X is just some other country.
- The service said that candy was shipped bi-monthly. I assumed it would come like every two weeks, but it always arrived quite simultaneous for me, a few days to a week later once a month.
- Maybe it's me, but the flavors often ranged from weird to inedible (like rose flavored candy)
- There is no way to re-order candy that I actually like. Actually, it's hard to even gather the name of the candy often enough in order to search for it.
- The cancel subscription link / process was hard to find on your page.