[bemmu]

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.

[sparknlaunch12]

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?

[bemmu]

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.

[sparknlaunch12]

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.

[bemmu]

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.