Candy Japan 2017 Year in Review
I am following Candy Japan for years and I like the idea. In its early years the landing page was super charming despite its bootstrapped style. Now in 2017, it just looks aged. I mean the entire presentation, the dull white packaging without any branding and the still unexciting pictures feel like somebody lost all motivation and ambition. No offense, just my perception.I just googled competitors and all of them feel way more vibrant + being more active on social media (I checked Instagram for the first two):https://www.japancrate.com/https://tokyotreat.com/https://wowbox.jp/http://www.kawaiibox.com/https://www.sushicandy.net/Building a slick landing page which is also responsive can be quite some work but looking at that competition it's a must, sorry. Look, it's not that people really need a monthly candy box, it's not a rational decision, it's something emotional—an impulse buy. So, if the landing page isn't even thrilling what should then trigger the buy?Social media in particular Instagram might be a significant marketing channel because Japanese candy and its colourfulness is tailor-made for Instagram.Maybe the business model is also the problem. There are little lock-ins/network effects and a low-barrier market entry for Japanese entities, thus all these competitors. There might be opportunities to pivot the business or extend into new fields/models. The first thing which comes to mind is licensing successful products for exclusive import/distribution to key western markets. Different game but highly scalable. Maybe there more unseen opportunities. If not then selling the business could be an option (after a final revamp re presentation and SEO).However, Candy Japan has still one major strength: Frequently placing stories on social news sites like HN and Reddit which always hit top 10 positions and generate tons of free traffic (should be 20-30k visits per placement which would translate in 200 to 300 subs at 1% conversion).