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by sparknlaunch12 5140 days ago
$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?.
2 comments
bemmu 5140 days ago
I started this to learn and to provide some basic source of income in addition to software, so it has worked well for that purpose. It has involved writing more software than I expected, though!

Earlier posts are at http://www.bemmu.com/ with currently no easy way to see only the Candy Japan related things. I was still feeling a bit undecided where to put them, wondering if it's a good idea to expose customers to income-related posts.

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sparknlaunch12 5140 days ago
Absolutely awesome blog. Pretty sweet ( excuse the pun) execution of an idea into a profitable business.

Do you think you automate the packing and shipping?

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bemmu 5140 days ago
It's already outsourced, which I'm very happy about since it was very time-consuming when we did it ourselves. I've gradually grown a nice relationship with the nearby supermarket, it's almost a drop-ship operation at this point, although I do still meet with them face-to-face every week as our process isn't totally perfected yet.

If you mean automated as in having robots do it, that would be fun, but moving oddly shaped objects from sealed bulk packages into narrow envelopes isn't a very easy task to automate that far.

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sparknlaunch12 5140 days ago
Interesting. Packaging and shopping seems to be your biggest pain point and cost. Reduce these and you have an easier business to manage and can focus on getting more customers.

Good luck. I imagine there are other goodies from Japan you can offer.

No robots, but rather outsourcing.

Edit: just read your recent post on face book adverts. Really clever. Would you share more details on conversion numbers.

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bemmu 5140 days ago
Long story short, I am not planning to expand my FB advertising efforts at this point. In my best ever campaign I managed to get 6 conversions after spending $280 which is getting close to breaking even, but not quite there yet. Just to reach this almost-breaking-even point I've spent probably close to $2000 on various ad networks.

Another one that came close to working was bidding on SMBC comics ads through Project Wonderful.

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smiler 5140 days ago
Yup, www.graze.com for healthy snacks in the UK
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sparknlaunch12 5139 days ago
> 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.

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