Need feedback!

[jimmyechelon]

Just launched an online coffee retailer and would love some feedback!

orobru.com

My email is on the site and I am looking for any feedback and marketing opportunities.

 

[Jaycamp]

21 bucks before shipping and tax is not a price I would pay. If your coffee was featured in the New York Times...sure, but being a noob with no street cred. I'm here to say that will be a tough sell. You may want to consider a break on multiple pounds or free shipping with 2 pounds. Just a thought...either way, good luck.

 

[peterjschmidt]

Even if the price was better, I wouldn't buy from someone who joins a coffee forum in order to promote their business.

 

[jimmyechelon]

Even if the price was better, I wouldn't buy from someone who joins a coffee forum in order to promote their business.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the feedback! This is CAD so it is much cheaper for our American friends.

And Peter, I wasn't soliciting but asking for feedback from people who buy coffee on a regular basis. I was hoping to get feedback on coffee range, description and other aspects to my website and not how I went about getting that feedback but again, thank you!

 

[ronaldlees]

I'm a commodity coffee drinker for over forty years, but recently have been experimenting with local organics and the like. So - my opinion may not be very useful. Anyway, I've noticed that a couple local roasters have worked for maybe ten years to build a reputation for their products, and they manage to sell coffee at premium money in local stores. There are quite a few other roasters who operate locally and have no name recognition, but have managed to get their products put into shops in the "local and homegrown" sections that a lot of stores reserve for locals and newbies. The bottom line is I see the unknown/newbie stuff on the shelf, but can't buy it because it's so far past its expiry date. The two brands that have high name recognition have in-date packages (usually).

I bet the same thing works on the internet. But - it's probably more difficult to get a brand going on the internet than as a local merchant. If you put a sign up in a pretty decent locale, you'll get tons of drive-bys, and probably some who stop for your coffee. Then, if they like the stuff, you'll start building your cred just like the two local roasters have done here. I think most sellers start with a local presence, and then do some online retailing. Most of the ones I've seen have done it that way. Do you have a local presence already, or are you going online cold-turkey style?

 

[ronaldlees]

If you think about it, most of the online retailers are huge (like Amazon, and spend billions on advertising) - or are very niche markets that are so unusual that buyers have to search for them in earnest (specialty papers for book binding might be an example, or special batteries for hobby robotics, etc) But - coffee - no matter how it's roasted or how it's marketed - is just not a niche market product. IMO. You'd have to advertise with google or yahoo ($$$) or you'd have to make thousands of forum moderators mad at you to do it the cheap way. You could use FB and social networking, if you have that savvy (understanding group and fad think). Maybe you do. Good luck.

 

[jimmyechelon]

If you think about it, most of the online retailers are huge (like Amazon, and spend billions on advertising) - or are very niche markets that are so unusual that buyers have to search for them in earnest (specialty papers for book binding might be an example, or special batteries for hobby robotics, etc) But - coffee - no matter how it's roasted or how it's marketed - is just not a niche market product. IMO. You'd have to advertise with google or yahoo ($$$) or you'd have to make thousands of forum moderators mad at you to do it the cheap way. You could use FB and social networking, if you have that savvy (understanding group and fad think). Maybe you do. Good luck.

Thank you for the feedback! It is greatly appreciate. We have some small local retail presence and that helps drive our traffic online and helps create a buzz that is worth sharing and organicly grows.

 

[BloomSay]

Love it, really clean design

 

[namballe]

agree with BloomSay. i like your website. not all cluttered up, and easy to navigate through. Orobru= gold brew. great name!