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Introducing My Business Idea: International Snack E-Commerce.

Idea threads

simpo

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Hi guys, I'm an startup board member from S.Korea. One of my teammates brought up an idea of international snack Ecommerce.
It's like, an Ecommerce in where you can only sell and buy international snacks.
I would be grateful if you give me some opinion how do you think about this idea, do you like this idea? do you think you gonna try this as a customer? or do you think it's a shitty idea? Anything will be helpful no matter it's negative or positive. Also, if there's any similar web service, please let me know in any country.
To give my thought first, I think it would work. But I gotta do market research first and do some MVP experiments.
I figured other people who have traveled foreign countries or studied abroad, have good memories about the countries also. Local snack can be a good throwback for them. Also I've seen many people who like to try foreign snacks and food. That's why we came up with this idea.
Feel free to give me feedback about my idea please :)
Thanks in advance
 
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bilkar1985

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Good luck with that! As someone who has been working close to the food industry, how can you assure the quality of the food and that it will be delivered at the highest quality possible to the buyer? Also, there are allergies and other stuff that you have to take into consideration. Just my 2 cents
 

BellaPippin

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I'm always looking for my Argentinian snacks, Amazon sells some, and a couple businesses in Chicago have some too. The price though makes it a luxury... >_> I'm better off pigging out on Tiramisu Cake.

That said if you could make it a bit more affordable you would have my $$. Give me a subscription box with Argentinian snacks. Lol
 

Boychamp

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I can't remember the name of the company off the top of my head (I'm sure a quick google search would find it) but I know there's a couple companies that do subscription boxes for snacks . Some do rotating places so you get a "taste of the world".

All to say, the idea is definitely viable. I'd look around and see what others are doing. Figure out what would make you guys unique/different/better than what already exists.
 
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Champion

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I really like the idea in theory and think it has potential. I would suggest you start out by focusing on one country that has famous snacks/food stuff. Then, try to find out, which country has the most tourists visiting there (thats the audience you can market to).

Best
 

simpo

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Good luck with that! As someone who has been working close to the food industry, how can you assure the quality of the food and that it will be delivered at the highest quality possible to the buyer? Also, there are allergies and other stuff that you have to take into consideration. Just my 2 cents

Hi bilkar1985
That's actually good points. Appreciate your advice :) I did some research concerning your advice and found that something like chocolate could melt down in summer or break into pieces. So I gotta make a list of snacks which is not fragile. Also allergies and ingredient issues are demanding. It seems I need to have sellers to translate the product description. Thanks again for your tips.
 

simpo

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I'm always looking for my Argentinian snacks, Amazon sells some, and a couple businesses in Chicago have some too. The price though makes it a luxury... >_> I'm better off pigging out on Tiramisu Cake.

That said if you could make it a bit more affordable you would have my $$. Give me a subscription box with Argentinian snacks. Lol

Yeah you're right. International snacks are bound to be quite expensive given its long journey from its original place to your home and I'm trying my best to figuring out how can I reduce logistics costs. Hopefully I can get you Argentinian snack subscription soon haha.
 
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simpo

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I really like the idea in theory and think it has potential. I would suggest you start out by focusing on one country that has famous snacks/food stuff. Then, try to find out, which country has the most tourists visiting there (thats the audience you can market to).

Best
Good point! Starting off from one country. I'm thinking to sell S.Korea snacks firstly.
 

Kid

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Snack for expats? Might be some demand there.

Get familiar with Lean startup tactics (google it up and read).
 

Matt_2190

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Hi Simpo, not bad the idea of the expats, but I'll give you another feedback.

There is a lot of people who like to taste ethnic food, even in the form of snacks.

In Europe in these years a lot of e-commerce stores started to sell American snacks (PopTarts, Fluff, etc.) or Japanese (Mochi and other weird Japanese snacks). This type of snack in many European countries wasn't sold (or were sold in very little-known shops). Selling them through e-commerce, many have gained a prominent position in the market, achieving great success (yes, I buy these ethnic snacks too sometimes!).

Obviously for this type of sale you have to sell particular types of snacks. I don't know anyone that would like tasting Vietnamese or Korean snacks: maybe they are good, but so little known that they have no appeal for many and a lot of people don't search for them.

But a lot of people want to taste the snacks seen in American movies or Japanese mangas. And anyway, you could sell snacks from other parts of the world: a person who came in your e-commerce to buy Japanese mochi might also want to try other "strange" things from other countries.

You can sell to expats too. But cross-sell them to fans of ethnic snacks can be a good choice too.

Of course, it's just an idea. I hope it will be helpful. ;)
 
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Bhanu

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I would love to try snacks from other countries just to check how they taste. But how you are going to make sure quality is top notch , how will you deal with custom department of different countries, what about people allergic to different kind of foods , what if someone fell ill due to snacks you provided (there may be litigation in respective countries ). Kindly look into this matter. One small suggestion: why do e-comm for just snacks only ? Can you increase scope of your business and include non-food items in your business. Like I would love to buy Original Russian fur hats , Wine from France, Chines paintings, Fashion products from South Korea etc. (Currently I would have to go to multiple websites to find these, why not create one stop shop for such products )
 

ecommercewolf

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I can't remember the name of the company off the top of my head (I'm sure a quick google search would find it) but I know there's a couple companies that do subscription boxes for snacks . Some do rotating places so you get a "taste of the world".

All to say, the idea is definitely viable. I'd look around and see what others are doing. Figure out what would make you guys unique/different/better than what already exists.

I believe the company you are referring to is munchpak.com or @munchpak on Instagram. I've seen other people post about it and they sell international snacks on a subscription basis... same idea as the original post.

I'm sure @simpo can get some ideas from their profile and website.
 

James90

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Hi guys, I'm an startup board member from S.Korea. One of my teammates brought up an idea of international snack Ecommerce.
It's like, an Ecommerce in where you can only sell and buy international snacks.
I would be grateful if you give me some opinion how do you think about this idea, do you like this idea? do you think you gonna try this as a customer? or do you think it's a shitty idea? Anything will be helpful no matter it's negative or positive. Also, if there's any similar web service, please let me know in any country.
To give my thought first, I think it would work. But I gotta do market research first and do some MVP experiments.
I figured other people who have traveled foreign countries or studied abroad, have good memories about the countries also. Local snack can be a good throwback for them. Also I've seen many people who like to try foreign snacks and food. That's why we came up with this idea.
Feel free to give me feedback about my idea please :)
Thanks in advance


I frequent Japan very often and are very fond of their snacks. Japanese snacks offer an incredible amount of variety and the vast majority of them I've had, it has never disappointed. It was then, I discovered a website www.Japancrate.com just like what you described that you may purchase a subscription, and they'll ship you a variety of snack packs once a month. Not only do they offer snacks, but a variety of Japanese toys, skin-care products, ramen, etc. It works awesome as a gift because their packs contain so many varieties, and each month it changes.
 
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Minuz

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I'm always looking for my Argentinian snacks, Amazon sells some, and a couple businesses in Chicago have some too. The price though makes it a luxury... >_> I'm better off pigging out on Tiramisu Cake.

That said if you could make it a bit more affordable you would have my $$. Give me a subscription box with Argentinian snacks. Lol
Which ones you like? Im from Argentina lol
 

minivanman

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When my wife goes to other countries she always brings everyone back a gift, she gets me any sweets with chocolate & raspberry. Hong Kong had one of the best ever!
 

BellaPippin

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BellaPippin

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Guys idk if it was you but I got an ad served for this exact same thing a few days ago. Sorry I didn’t remember the name. Someone is doing it.
 

meanjournalist

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Edit: I should have read the thread, others have beat me to the punch with the idea.. but again do it better:

You gave me a great idea, but I will share it here instead since I would have never thought of it without this post.

You know those monthly sampler packs you can sign up for various things like toys, makeup, clothes, pet toys, etc?

Do it with candies or snacks from all over the world (or user defined interests like Japan etc).

Sure, I bet someone is already doing it.. but DO IT BETTER than they can.

A lot of hard work at first, but could pay off in the future. The Japanese candy/snacks would be very trendy with the 18-24 demographic. Make it viral using social media like Youtube. "Mystery Box Openings" etc.

You can apply it to all the other countries, items, and snacks you think would be popular.
 

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