PommieKaren

Hi,

I am in the process of starting a mail order / internet business supplying all the little British nibbles we love and miss i.e. Walkers crisps, Hellmans mayo, Walnut whips etc etc.

Initially my target market would be NZ (as that is where I now live) with perhaps including Aussie once I become established.

I would appreciate your comments and feedback to this. Would you use this kind of service?
I'm just trying to do a little market research really before I commit too much to it.
Thanx

podgypossum

Hi Karen

I had thougt of the same idea when i lived in NZ. One of the main reasons i decided against it was costing.
If you can manage to get the products at a very good rate wholesale, then yes it could be a very viable proposition, but also taking into account the bad exchange rate of NZ dollars and peoples income, i think that this service would only be an option for well heeled poms out there!!

i miss walkers crisps like mad...i still crave for them at times!!!

Good luck with it anyway!

NoodleSYD

It's a good idea but certainly as far as Australia goes there are very significant and arduous customs and quarantine barriers regarding imported foodstuffs. I think it's much much easier for the Australians in England to get their tim tams than for the poms over here to get their ambrosia rice pudding. The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service www.aqis.gov.au is an invaluable first stop.

bondipom

British food is not something that I miss. I prefer the local food (barring curries) but I doubt you will be able to satisfy that desire.

xpat19

Hi - A year ago I'd have jumped at the chance to buy some UK goodies but now have adapted to NZ food and have stopped missing the food that I used to sallivate over ! So I guess your idea would be more popular with fairly new immigrants who have yet to learn to enjoy over sweet, salty baked beans and packets of crisps that only contain about 5, and just taste of cooking oil !

cherry6

There is a little shop in Rockingham, Perth that sells UK choc/crisps, when I first went to Aus I used to nip in there, but they were so expensive I could never buy much. If someone could sell the items at an affordable price there would be some interest amongst new migrants, but at the moment it is too expensive to buy and you end up getting used to the local fare. I think your taste buds just change.

Best of luck though, if you do start one up I would buy a few things, so make sure you pm me when you are ready

wilko_1984

Sorry to be the purveyor of bad news, but they already sell hellman's mayonaise in Oz.

Cherry, i know the shop you're talking about, i live just down the road. Haven't been in there yet, but i'm told Mcvities jaffa cakes are three times the price! I prefer the Tesco value jaffa cakes anyway!

Take care,

Wilko

NickyC

Same here. I loved Cadburys chocolate in England and the Aussie version was nice but tasted different. Now I think the Aussie Cadburys is lovely and the English one tastes odd.

It's just what you're used to.

Coles supermarket experimented with Tesco branded stuff some years back (they put in the same aisle as the foreign food!) but it didn't last very long. People just won't pay twice the price for something imported that they can get a cheaper local version of.

About the only peculiarly English things I buy regularly are Heinz 'English Style' Salad Cream and 'English Recipe' Baked Beans - but they're both made locally so are reasonably priced.

cherry6

Wilko, I am coming back to Rockingham in 2 weeks so will have a look at their jaffa cake prices

owieb

There's also one down at Hillarys marina, but you can still buy quite a bit of the stuff at the supermarkets such as hellmans, hp sauce, marmite etc.

The prices they charge at the Hillarys shop are really expensive; I certainly wouldn't pay twice as much for a bag of crisps just because they were walkers.

You soon find that you get used to the local products and don't need UK stuff anymore.

DaisyNZ

After 12 years I have adapted too. I threw away a jar of English Marmite the other day that had been brought over for me a couple of years ago, I used to love it loads more than the bland NZ variety, but now I love the NZ one, as do my kids. I find that I have visitors often enough to bring me out the few things I miss, definitely the crisps, of all kinds. My kids can't wait for Grandad to get here each time so they get a suitcase of Hula Hoops. NZ doesn't have much variety, and even the different variety's are basically the same (rashuns, twistees, biguns etc). Walkers Crisps would be what I miss most, followed by the different crisps like French Fries and Hula Hoops. Next it would be the sweets but it's better for the waistline not to have them too often anyway. NZ make crap sweets, they really are very bad, and being 20 weeks pregnant I'm not getting that craving satisfied!! Jelly Babies, opal fruits, cola cubes, white mice, sherbert lemons, etc etc. Too many to mention. Next would be breakfast cereal, Ready Brek, Quavers (is that the name?), and what are those brown crisscross square things, Yum!!

So the answer is that yes I do miss those things but I doubt I'd pay online to get them, my visitors bring them in. But back in my first few homesick years here I would have paid anything for them. Just a thought, did you know that New World do a mayo like Helmans, can't remember the brand offhand but it's very similar.

Vegemite Kids

PommieKaren,
sorry to disappoint but there are already internet companies providing this service. Unless you are planning to do it considerably cheaper it might not be worth your efforts.


http://www.hungryexpats.com/home.htm

http://www.britishfood4expats.com

http://www.britishmailorder.com/food.html

peppi

And Tesco's mayo to hellmans....

PommieKaren

Thanx for your reply. Yes, there are lots of these companies around but most are based in the UK (or USA) and the freight costs are mindblowing! I am looking to bring products over in bulk and therefore reduce the overall shipping costs.
The actual items will be more expensive than the British prices but the customer would save on the postage costs. My main target customers would be in NZ and as that is where I am then postage would be minimal.

Graham & Kath

I'll only order if you can get chicken flavour supernoodles!!!

(thats the only one mine like)

Kath