Developing Australia's First Monthly Dessert Box Subscription - Need Help!

Ljollybeggar on 20/03/2016 - 22:19
Last edited 20/03/2016 - 23:18 by 1 other user

Hi OzBargainer's,

I need your help. I'm developing a monthly dessert box subscription service for Australia (the first that I know of). The plan is to deliver a selection of gourmet, Aussie-made sweets to customers each month (e.g. shortbread, artisan cookies, high-end chocolates and truffles, fudge, nougat, brownies, etc). I need some feedback on the concept, the price, and the website. Currently the cost for a single box will be $29, $59 for a 3-month subscription (i.e. $19.66 per box) and $222 for a 12-month subscription ($18.50 per box). Shipping will be $4-$5 per box. I'm currently searching for partners who make incredible gourmet sweets (made in Australia) so if that happens to be you, or you know someone who is, please send them my way.

Thanks for your help!

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • altomic on 20/03/2016 - 22:27
    +3

    i can't tell what I'm going to buy.

    it's too vague; i.e: quantities and items.

    show a photo of what someone would expect to receive.

    have an ingredients list for the products.

    would you offer gluten free, or sugar free, or dairy free options, etc?

    • jollybeggar on 21/03/2016 - 08:02

      Very good point. I'm working on this. I'm expecting each box to contain 5-6 items and once each partner signs on, I plan to have a section on the site called 'What's in the Box' which will highlight each item. I realise that without this information the offer is not very compelling.

      Not sure about offering gluten free, sugar free, etc because it could be very difficult to source enough products to be able to put together 2-3 different boxes each month (especially as I would need to sell a large volume of each to make it worthwhile) but I'm fairly sure that individual featured products would be gluten-free, sugar-free, etc as they become available so each box may have1-2 of these items. Thanks for the feedback! Really helpful!

  • No on 20/03/2016 - 22:29
    +1

    How much can we expect in each box?

    • jollybeggar on 21/03/2016 - 08:03

      I'm expecting to have 5-6 items in each box. Estimated retail value of the items would probably be $25-$45 in each box, depending on the items.

  • the-mal on 21/03/2016 - 07:45
    +5

    This is personal opinion only but I really think the whole "mystery box" thing is a business plan that's doomed to fail longer term.

    Yes, people sign up and love the idea at first "Just a few small payments a month and I get something new? Great! It's like a present for myself!" but then as the months go on you realise that you're paying for something you never wanted, given to you by someone who doesn't know you - so it's always going to be relatively hit and miss.

    And then after the initial impulse buy comes the reflection…what problem is the purchase actually solving? What's the alternative? Going to the local bakery/patisserie when you actually want a dessert and picking the exact one you want at the time? Is that really such an inconvenience? You don't have to pay postage for that and you get exactly what you want.

    This needs to be the first question asked and answered with every single business plan: "What problem am I solving and how am I solving it?".

    I love sweets. But why pay postage and a subscription cost to get something random as opposed to going a few hundred metres to my local patisserie and picking up the sweets of my choice when I want it?

    • jollybeggar on 21/03/2016 - 08:10

      Valid point and I appreciate the feedback. Part of me asking for help from the OzBargain community is to validate whether this idea will work so your thoughts are helpful. Some other feedback I've received is that people would give this as a gift, and love to receive it as a gift, but may not purchase it for themselves, which echoes your point about why pay postage and a subscription when you can just go to your local patisserie and pick up something you actually want.

      I think the concept could work if the items sourced are truly gourmet and possibly less available nationally (i.e. from smaller businesses from around the country) and obviously this would appeal more to someone who is excited about trying something new and different so perhaps I need to highlight that part of it. Also I could see this appealing to people who don't live near a nice patisserie/bakery and who would benefit from delicious sweets being delivered to them. Helpful thoughts though - thanks!

  • Hellfire on 21/03/2016 - 09:24
    +1

    So for $33 I'm only going to get $25-$45 RRP value in each box. You are going to have to do a lot better than that to win over OzBargain. Even the 12 month subscription isn't compelling.

    • jollybeggar on 21/03/2016 - 19:59

      True story. Thanks for the feedback.

  • fruit on 21/03/2016 - 10:29
    +1

    Make sure it's vegan and gluten free as hipsters like that.

  • try2bhelpful on 21/03/2016 - 17:53
    +1

    This is not so much a dessert box as a confectionary and biscuit box; if you say dessert people are going to think they are getting chocolate mousse. Maybe talk to some of the higher class places that do "pamper" weekends and see if they would like to include a box of your products as part of a multiday package. Give them that extra bit of luxury. If you get some quality stuff together and box it up nicely they might be interested to impress the guests.

  • jollybeggar on 21/03/2016 - 20:00

    Thanks everyone. This is really helpful. It seems this may not be the killer business idea I've been looking for. But I'm thankful for the feedback that's helped me to figure that out sooner rather than later. Cheers

    • scrimshaw on 21/03/2016 - 23:09

      There's already an idea of a 'sweets' box, see
      http://www.trytreats.com/

      However outside of the US the shipping charge is involved and it becomes costlier.

      If you want to do something like this, I recommend first working out what products you're going to put in it. Things like brownies and biscuits are going to need packaging, protection and proper sealing — if not done properly, they break up during transit into little crumbs. Not going to be great for presentation. Chocolate too, will also melt during the summer, so you might be shipping truffles but by the time it gets to the recipient it's a sticky, goeey mess.

      The product also needs to be unique. We're not just talking mouth-watering "gourmet", because that novelty only lasts a while and your subcribers won't continue, they'll cancel after they've seen all you have to offer. Each box needs to be different from the last (think — the Loot Crate, has a different theme each time).

  • PVA on 21/03/2016 - 23:22

    not to be negative (and its better than any idea I can think of) but I think these subscription style sites (dessert, fruit, razors, undies etc) just dont really work in Australia. I don't think its in our culture to subscribe like that - most would just go to local stores (even normal super market have great selections now and gourmet delis are everywhere) plus the big one is I dont think the population is big enough, you will only get a tiny fraction of a percent, thats fine in the US but here I dont think its sustainable..

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join