Starting an online tea shop

[VacheRadioactif]

Hello all, I'm starting an online tea store and would appreciate your input.

What could we do to ensure you had an exceptional experience every time you shopped there?

Thank you!

[Deryn]

1) Don't name it RadioactiveCow.

 

2) Since your site will be one of hundreds of thousands of similar sites (and stores), don't expect people to have 'exceptional experiences' there. You will be lucky if they even happen upon your site (unless you are willing to put out large sums of money, search engines won't list you anywhere near the front page!) - and it is probable that however different or 'necessary to human life' you believe your teas will be, they will not be as unique as you think they are (but they better be top quality merchandise for a very fair price and not too expensive to ship - you will have to love this business because you won't get rich doing it!).

 

3) Be professional. Spend the time and money to make sure your interface and shopping 'system' are easy to read, complete/accurate, logical, clear and simple but comprehensive, and everything is spelled correctly and flows well. Test, test, test, and test again. Don't try to use a cheapie 'packaged' solution and open up after a long weekend of work. Additionally, you may want to spend a year or two first writing a blog (preferably about teas - which I hope you are an expert in) and garnering a large audience so they can be your first customers when you open this 'store').

 

p.s. For many (like me) buying online is about TRUST! A new crappy looking site with questionable merchandise is not going to get me to part with my credit card # and $. Ensure your site is SECURE.

 

Edited June 8, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[gfron1]

I've used so many over the years and assuming quality and value are as good as my favorites, then the one thing I've always looked for is a tea concierge. Should be easy to do with keywords and algorithm connections. For example if I like Giddapahar Special Summer Black (one I've ordered from Teabox) which has flavor notes of "The liquor is soft and starts out sweet. Mellow notes of fire wood and dried red fruit, similar to dried apricots and peaches, emerge in the middle and stay for a while. The flavors are clear, layered, and feel ample in the mouth." then the system should not only show me other blacks and other darjeelings, but line up the flavor notes based on ratings I've given other teas. I haven't found that sophisticated of a site yet. The far extreme example is Upton who has way too much info to sort through. This is the benefit of going into a bricks and mortar shop - you can say to the clerk "I like this tea, what else would you recommend."

[liuzhou]

I live on a street which has, by my last count, 47 teashops. They are highly competitive. Yet, they don't appear so. They are havens of peace.

I'm not a great tea aficionado, but I like an occasional treat. These shops sit you down and explain the teas' origins and their manufacturing processes. They let you smell the teas, then go through the ceremony and ritual of brewing each tea to perfection. Different teas have different rituals.

After tasting and comparing vertically and horizontally, I make my choice and it is lovingly wrapped. I hand over my cash, go home (without shipping charges) and I'm sorry to say, probably don't do the teas the justice they deserve.

Now, I know not everyone lives in China or Japan or India, but I also know there are good, knowledgeable teashops in western cities, too.

I would never buy tea online*. Unless perhaps the online site also had a physical presence.

I guess my main point is that only people who are seriously interested in tea would be your target audience. A small, select breed.. You would really have to have something truly special to stand out from the crowd, then prove you had that by offering tastings etc. I don't see how you can do that online.

*I'd make an exception for PG Tips.

Edited June 8, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[pastrygirl]

Check out Squarespace and the other website builders - Shopify, Weebly, I'm sure there are more. You do need to invest some time into writing content and creating images, but if you can do that you can put together a decent site without having to pay a website designer. I use Squarespace for my website and it works pretty well for me. I'm sure it could use a few tweaks by someone with that specialized knowledge, but it's intuitive enough for those of us who aren't tech nerds to upload content, adjust inventory, and ship orders. 

 

Chances of launching a website and starting to make a living overnight are slim. You will need to do further SEO, marketing, advertising, outreach, etc. 

 

What do you think will make your site exceptional?  Selection? Quality? Price? Tea of the month club? Fast shipping or fancy packaging?  If you're not already in business, consider what you want your brand to represent before you build the site. 

[Lisa Shock]

Some small businesses have done well opening an Amazon shop. At least there, your products will be shown in amazon searches for tea.

[pastrygirl]

6 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

Some small businesses have done well opening an Amazon shop. At least there, your products will be shown in amazon searches for tea.

 Amazon would definitely be worth looking into. They ask for different percentages based on category, IIRC its 10-20%. Definitely worth the reach that amazon offers. I've been meaning to explore it more myself. 

[Deryn]

What though really makes for an 'exceptional experience' on a website? I honestly can't say I think I have ever had an 'exceptional experience' (which is what the OP asked I think - not really where to host the site or how/what to sell, etc.) in an online store - other than it was perhaps great to find they stocked whatever it was I was looking for and the site was easy to move around, gave me the information I was looking for, the price was right and the transaction was secure, and the merchandise was as high quality as it was touted it would be and was delivered as promised. Do all those things make those online store visits 'exceptional' though or merely meeting what I think the basic standard should be? I guess it is really all relative .. and a site will stand out especially if everyone else's sites are mediocre or bad.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[VacheRadioactif]

Thank you all for the replies!

 

@pastrygirl / @Deryn -- I think an exceptional experience involves a few things:

 

- Responsive, respectful customer service

- Timely shipping

- Lovingly sourced product; likely fair trade and without chemical pesticides

- Site owners that know your preferences (algorithms are great, however it's difficult to replace Amazon and likely less costly to hire and train CSRs)

- Dedication to iterating design, usability

 

Full disclosure: I'm a UX consultant that loves tea - hence the urge to put my expertise to good use with something that I have a passion for

 

@Deryn what sort of content would you like in that blog? 

[Deryn]

What is a UX consultant?

 

I was just thinking you will need some customers for your site - that you 'direct' there yourself through some other presence and evidence of your expertise or passion perhaps displayed through a blog of some kind - to get you started. A form of 'advertising' but very subtle and cheap - and it would also enable you if you allow comments to find out what your potential customers want/like, etc. Could be very useful to an entrepreneur in a crowded business area.

 

If you were a great baker and wanted to develop/sell baking accessories or flours, etc. you might start a baking blog of some kind. If you are a tea lover and want to sell teas as well as talk about them, learn about them, etc. it would seem logical that you would have a 'tea blog' of some kind. There are many others out there but if you have a different point of view and/or a friendly writing style or great research skills that enable you to carefully assemble info gleaned from other places on the web to 'discuss' with 'followers' or otherwise think you can generate new ideas to excite tea lovers with, why not start there and then as time goes on, add a link to your tea store or carefully mention it in various articles, etc. If you want to sell to or buy stock overseas for resale, you have a lot of work to do just developing the site anyway - lots of things to consider and know about. You could get the blog going a lot faster and then work towards your eventual sales goal as well, learning all the while about your customer base. Anyway, that is how I would approach it all - but of course if you are well funded and have already done your research now and know how to reach your target market already then perhaps it isn't necessary.

 

http://www.blogmetrics.org/Tea

[AlaMoi]

http://www.infragistics.com/community/blogs/marketing/archive/2013/01/25/what-is-a-ux-consultant.aspx

[Lisa Shock]

I have been an eBay seller since 1998. I can tell you that the most important thing to customers is getting their items quickly and in good shape. Test your local post offices to see which seems to process packages faster. (found one in my area that always gets things out a day sooner than any of the others) Do not rely services picking up your packages for you, that adds a day or two to the shipping time. Get a packaging system where the tins you are using, or whatever, don't arrive crushed. (Remember, at least here in the US, regular parcel services carry items up to 70 pounds. Imagine a 70lb box of tile being dropped from a height of 5 feet onto one of your boxes...)

 

Make sure that your website is updated live as items sell, and reflects what is actually in stock. Nobody wants to pay for overnight shipping for their mom's birthday only to get a reply email 12 hours later informing them the item won't be in stock for 40 days.

 

The second most important thing to customers is price. It becomes more important the less delicate an item is. No one really cares how carefully I package socks. But, they pay more for antique china from me because not only do I describe it accurately, flea bites and all, I pack very carefully. So, keeping an eye on competitors and the market in general is important.

 

As a customer, I want the site to be fast and not require me to go through too many hoops to order. If you accept paypal, then do NOT additionally ask me to type out my shipping address or set up an account.

[Deryn]

Thanks, AlaMoi. I see it is simply a new term for an old job - which I actually did myself for many years in the Air Traffic Systems arena. Not really sure what that has to do with tea but maybe the OP was pointing this out because he/she is perhaps skilled at user interface design.

 

All Lisa's points are excellent. As a customer though I still want to be able to both find your site (which means if I am looking for tea, the search engine better bring it to me in the first few listings no matter how many other stores there are in the world that also sell whatever kind of tea I searched for) and once landed there, I want to know that you run a professional shop (but then, if you are a UX consultant, you will make it look just like W-S I am sure so my confidence is built) and that others 'trust' you and your merchandise, etc. as well. I don't often buy from sites I am not already familiar with in some manner or for some reason (was I referred there from a trusted site might be enough) if I can help it.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[VacheRadioactif]

Lisa, Deryn, again thank you for the feedback. Really excited to get this started! 

[quiet1]

Old but just came across this - if you are selling decently expensive tea, I want to be able to buy nicely packaged samples. I do not want to have to spend $$$ on a new to me tea only to find out it isn't to my taste at all and then I have the hassle of returning it or getting a refund, or I'm stuck with tea I don't like. I'd far rather pay a small premium for the extra work of packaging nice easy to use samples so I can try a tea for a few cups and decide if I like it or not.

 

And packaging the samples well helps too - not only are they less annoying to use, but honestly if they are attractive enough I will buy samples to give as gifts to other people I know who enjoy tea, and as add-ons to other gifts (if I give someone a mug, perhaps) which not only gets you money from me, but potentially nets you a new customer if they like the tea and want more.