4 ms·

Alright I'll bite... $49 is some cheap entertainment and I'm totally intrigued at this point! My only fear at this point is that it's completely legit and some

by pbnjay 10y ago

Alright I'll bite... $49 is some cheap entertainment and I'm totally intrigued at this point! My only fear at this point is that it's completely legit and someone actually thinks this is a good business. Subscription confirmation: http://imgur.com/PKVip3w http://imgur.com/PKVip3w

gotrecruit 10y ago
jesus christ... seriously? a few months ago, i started a subscription box service with a friend and so far we've made only one single sale. our product is food related, and although we have plenty of competitors, we believe we offer some of the best value for boxes out there. yet, no matter what we do, it seems we have difficulty converting sales. our price tiers start at only 10 bucks! and yet, something like this... which seems ridiculous to me... people are actually willing to pay $49 just for "entertainment"? just for fun, to see what comes in the box? damn it... that is some serious marketing magic. you even think it's "cheap"! i'm genuinely either impressed by the person who started this (or stuff like this), or just baffled by those who actually pay for it.
- pbnjay 10y ago
  TBH If it's a food-related box for only $10 then I wouldn't expect to be getting quality. Don't compete on price! There's no "entertainment" value in eating cardboard (no dig on you, i have no idea what your value prop is or any details beyond "food related" and "only 10 bucks"). I also have plenty of opportunities to eat well where I am. For $49 I'm getting something I can at least wear for a year. I know a lot of people (not me personally) who would pay $49 for a good t-shirt from some fashion brands. I'll get a few more things than a t-shirt. The "marketing magic" certainly piques my interest, but lets face it you can't even get decent seats at a concert for $49. Also I want to be clear: if this sucks and isn't worth $49... I'll clearly cancel after one month. There's no committment period that I agreed to...
  - gotrecruit 10y ago
    Actually, we really do ship out quality products even for our lowest tier box. I sell candy boxes, and we never procure second-rate products for our boxes - always premium brands, premium products. our goal from the start is that, because our business model is designed not to profit from the candy sales but from other derivative or peripheral services instead, we have absolute zero concern about making profit on our boxes. which means that we will always find the best ratio between shipping weight and box weight in order to make sure our customers get the most value for their money, which is to say for what you receive, you are unlikely to be able to put together the same box for the same price. not to mention, as we source directly in asia, we get access to interesting seasonal or limited edition flavors only available in asia, which as a candy lover myself can be really awesome and exciting.
- Eric_WVGG 10y ago
  Link?
  - gotrecruit 10y ago
    i hope it's kosher to post it here but here goes: www.supercandyshop.com why you should buy from us: we really intend to be the best value candy box out there, we currently have a break-even policy where we aim to only break even from every shipment. as long as we can find the right ratio of shipping cost to total weight of contents, we will fill em up with everything we can up until the cost reaches the price paid for the subscription(sometimes even a little past our cost). if you enjoy asian candy, give us a try you won't regret it. what makes us interesting: the reason why we aimed to break even on the sale of each subscription is because our business model is a little different from the typical subscription box business. we do not ever aim to profit from the sale of candy/subscriptions itself, so our customers can be sure that they will always receive maximum value in every single shipment. we believe there is more value in achieving a very satisfied customer base who enjoys every month's shipment, and that ultimately with enough scale, there will be profit.
    - pbnjay 10y ago
      I actually did one of these (oyatsubox) for about a year, and if you want my unsolicited feedback it'd be that it got old after a year. The DIY candy was fun (although deciphering the directions was a challenge in itself) but it all tastes the same. The Hi-chews and pocky and odd gummi things are good but I can get similar things here for cheaper if I wanted to do that regularly. I really did like the random flavored savory chips and things though, but I imagine these are not so cost effective to ship. I don't know if it was an issue of scale and/or other folks' tastes (e.g. could they only buy "safe" flavors at scale?), but after a while I felt like I had "tried it all" and it was increasing hard to justify spending that much every month. So if you're not planning on cutting a profit until you hit scale in a competitive market, I just wanted to provide the data point that LTV may not be as high as you hope and you might want to plan accordingly. I'm sure you've thought a lot about these issues, but since I can provide feedback from the customer perspective I thought I'd share as an N-of-1 sample. Good luck!
- mysterydip 10y ago
  I've gotten similarly flabbergasted in the mobile game dev space. Someone who just spent $6 on a coffee will scoff at 99 cents for an app they could get hours of entertainment from.
- kazagistar 10y ago
  "Boxes" have never been about value.
  - gotrecruit 10y ago
    then i certainly hope to change people's perception of boxes!
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

by pbnjay 10y ago

gotrecruit 10y ago

jesus christ... seriously? a few months ago, i started a subscription box service with a friend and so far we've made only one single sale. our product is food related, and although we have plenty of competitors, we believe we offer some of the best value for boxes out there. yet, no matter what we do, it seems we have difficulty converting sales. our price tiers start at only 10 bucks! and yet, something like this... which seems ridiculous to me... people are actually willing to pay $49 just for "entertainment"? just for fun, to see what comes in the box? damn it... that is some serious marketing magic. you even think it's "cheap"! i'm genuinely either impressed by the person who started this (or stuff like this), or just baffled by those who actually pay for it.

pbnjay 10y ago
TBH If it's a food-related box for only $10 then I wouldn't expect to be getting quality. Don't compete on price! There's no "entertainment" value in eating cardboard (no dig on you, i have no idea what your value prop is or any details beyond "food related" and "only 10 bucks"). I also have plenty of opportunities to eat well where I am. For $49 I'm getting something I can at least wear for a year. I know a lot of people (not me personally) who would pay $49 for a good t-shirt from some fashion brands. I'll get a few more things than a t-shirt. The "marketing magic" certainly piques my interest, but lets face it you can't even get decent seats at a concert for $49. Also I want to be clear: if this sucks and isn't worth $49... I'll clearly cancel after one month. There's no committment period that I agreed to...
- gotrecruit 10y ago
  Actually, we really do ship out quality products even for our lowest tier box. I sell candy boxes, and we never procure second-rate products for our boxes - always premium brands, premium products. our goal from the start is that, because our business model is designed not to profit from the candy sales but from other derivative or peripheral services instead, we have absolute zero concern about making profit on our boxes. which means that we will always find the best ratio between shipping weight and box weight in order to make sure our customers get the most value for their money, which is to say for what you receive, you are unlikely to be able to put together the same box for the same price. not to mention, as we source directly in asia, we get access to interesting seasonal or limited edition flavors only available in asia, which as a candy lover myself can be really awesome and exciting.
Eric_WVGG 10y ago
Link?
- gotrecruit 10y ago
  i hope it's kosher to post it here but here goes: www.supercandyshop.com why you should buy from us: we really intend to be the best value candy box out there, we currently have a break-even policy where we aim to only break even from every shipment. as long as we can find the right ratio of shipping cost to total weight of contents, we will fill em up with everything we can up until the cost reaches the price paid for the subscription(sometimes even a little past our cost). if you enjoy asian candy, give us a try you won't regret it. what makes us interesting: the reason why we aimed to break even on the sale of each subscription is because our business model is a little different from the typical subscription box business. we do not ever aim to profit from the sale of candy/subscriptions itself, so our customers can be sure that they will always receive maximum value in every single shipment. we believe there is more value in achieving a very satisfied customer base who enjoys every month's shipment, and that ultimately with enough scale, there will be profit.
  - pbnjay 10y ago
    I actually did one of these (oyatsubox) for about a year, and if you want my unsolicited feedback it'd be that it got old after a year. The DIY candy was fun (although deciphering the directions was a challenge in itself) but it all tastes the same. The Hi-chews and pocky and odd gummi things are good but I can get similar things here for cheaper if I wanted to do that regularly. I really did like the random flavored savory chips and things though, but I imagine these are not so cost effective to ship. I don't know if it was an issue of scale and/or other folks' tastes (e.g. could they only buy "safe" flavors at scale?), but after a while I felt like I had "tried it all" and it was increasing hard to justify spending that much every month. So if you're not planning on cutting a profit until you hit scale in a competitive market, I just wanted to provide the data point that LTV may not be as high as you hope and you might want to plan accordingly. I'm sure you've thought a lot about these issues, but since I can provide feedback from the customer perspective I thought I'd share as an N-of-1 sample. Good luck!
mysterydip 10y ago
I've gotten similarly flabbergasted in the mobile game dev space. Someone who just spent $6 on a coffee will scoff at 99 cents for an app they could get hours of entertainment from.
kazagistar 10y ago
"Boxes" have never been about value.
- gotrecruit 10y ago
  then i certainly hope to change people's perception of boxes!

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]