What is most important to you?

[darkstar]

Hello AAEC!

My name's Rob from DarkStar Vapour and I'm a new member/vendor on the forums.

I wanted to get your opinions on what the most important things are to you when buying from an elqiuid vendor, both as sort of market research exercise and as a matter of interest as it is something I spent a lot of time thinking about while setting up my business.

Obviously all these things are very important but I would like to know what you think is the MOST important.

Looking forward to seeing and reading your responses.


Rob - DarkStar

[Steve (VapeStorm)]

Welcome Rob

[darkstar]

Feb 4, 2014 1:33:58 GMT Steve (VapeStorm) said:

Welcome Rob

Thanks, it's good to be here!

[Balllsy]

Hi Rob, welcome.

I think most experienced vapers would expect all of the above as a standard from a quality juice vendor so I couldn't vote for just one thing.

In order of importance for me would be:

1. Quality & consistency of liquids
2. Customer Service & speed of delivery
3. Good range of flavours
4. Price of liquids & shipping costs

[tominmids]

Hi Rob and welcome to AAE-C

[Balllsy]

And at that price it would have been rude not to place an order ! Looking forward to trying your wares

Any plans to offer concentrates in the future ?

[darkstar]

Feb 4, 2014 1:55:32 GMT Balllsy said:

Hi Rob, welcome.

I think most experienced vapers would expect all of the above as a standard from a quality juice vendor so I couldn't vote for just one thing.

In order of importance for me would be:

1. Quality & consistency of liquids
2. Customer Service & speed of delivery
3. Good range of flavours
4. Price of liquids & shipping costs

Thanks, that sort of answer's actually much more useful than the format in the poll above. That's pretty much how I would rank them myself although I would probably switch 3 and 4 but that's just my personal opinion.

Not that a good range of flavours isn't important; the only reason we have comparatively few is due to limitations on stock being a new vendor 

[darkstar]

Feb 4, 2014 2:03:12 GMT Balllsy said:

And at that price it would have been rude not to place an order ! Looking forward to trying your wares

Any plans to offer concentrates in the future ?

Haha, thanks for the order!

I should probably be careful as I don't want to break the vendor rules, but I think it's safe to say that concentrates aren't something on my immediate list of priorities although in the longer term it's definitely on the cards.


Rob - DarkStar

[Balllsy]

Wrong smilie inserted btw. I think it was supposed to have been a shopping icon not an angry one ! Sorry

[Balllsy]

Feb 4, 2014 2:11:21 GMT darkstar said:

Not that a good range of flavours isn't important; the only reason we have comparatively few is due to limitations on stock being a new vendor 

I completely understand Rob, "From small acorns, large oak trees grow!"

Good luck with your venture.

[lairey]

Hi Rob and

I agree with Balllsy, price is less important than a finding a good vendor that you trust to put things right with minimal fuss when, on the hopefully rare occasion, things go wrong.

I'm happy to pay a slightly higher price for a premium product.

Many of us have turned our hand to mixing our own, and the vendors that sell their recipes in premixed concentrate, or "one shot" form are very popular

Good luck

[darkstar]

Feb 4, 2014 2:39:22 GMT Balllsy said:

Feb 4, 2014 2:11:21 GMT darkstar said:

Not that a good range of flavours isn't important; the only reason we have comparatively few is due to limitations on stock being a new vendor 

I completely understand Rob, "From small acorns, large oak trees grow!"

Good luck with your venture.

Thank you, I like that quote

[darkstar]

Feb 4, 2014 2:46:09 GMT lairey said:

Hi Rob and

I agree with Balllsy, price is less important than a finding a good vendor that you trust to put things right with minimal fuss when, on the hopefully rare occasion, things go wrong.

I'm happy to pay a slightly higher price for a premium product.

Many of us have turned our hand to mixing our own, and the vendors that sell their recipes in premixed concentrate, or "one shot" form are very popular

Good luck

Thanks lairey,

I completely agree. There's a thing known as the lifetime value of a customer, and the way I see it the cost of putting in that extra bit of effort or sacrificing a small amount of stock to ensure someone has a positive experience buying from you is well worth it in the long term. Not only that but it gives you a good feeling to be doing the right thing and making people happy.

That's two of you who have mentioned concentrates in the last few posts and I've now made a highlighted note of it in my 'research' list. Watch this space

[lairey]

Feb 4, 2014 2:53:50 GMT darkstar said:

Feb 4, 2014 2:46:09 GMT lairey said:

Hi Rob and

I agree with Balllsy, price is less important than a finding a good vendor that you trust to put things right with minimal fuss when, on the hopefully rare occasion, things go wrong.

I'm happy to pay a slightly higher price for a premium product.

Many of us have turned our hand to mixing our own, and the vendors that sell their recipes in premixed concentrate, or "one shot" form are very popular

Good luck

Thanks lairey,

I completely agree. There's a thing known as the lifetime value of a customer, and the way I see it the cost of putting in that extra bit of effort or sacrificing a small amount of stock to ensure someone has a positive experience buying from you is well worth it in the long term. Not only that but it gives you a good feeling to be doing the right thing and making people happy.

That's two of you who have mentioned concentrates in the last few posts and I've now made a highlighted note of it in my 'research' list. Watch this space

Exactly the attitude that gets vendors recommended on the forum

The one shot concentrates of your own popular recipes would be the way to go IMHO, rather than just stocking different brands of flavourings, unless you have the space and the capital to stock a wide range of both different brands and flavours.  We are all looking for that one stop shop for our mixing supplies and we all have favourites from many different brands.  Catering to that would be very pricey I would imagine

[darkstar]

Feb 4, 2014 3:02:58 GMT lairey said:

Feb 4, 2014 2:53:50 GMT darkstar said:

Thanks lairey,

I completely agree. There's a thing known as the lifetime value of a customer, and the way I see it the cost of putting in that extra bit of effort or sacrificing a small amount of stock to ensure someone has a positive experience buying from you is well worth it in the long term. Not only that but it gives you a good feeling to be doing the right thing and making people happy.

That's two of you who have mentioned concentrates in the last few posts and I've now made a highlighted note of it in my 'research' list. Watch this space

Exactly the attitude that gets vendors recommended on the forum

The one shot concentrates of your own popular recipes would be the way to go IMHO, rather than just stocking different brands of flavourings, unless you have the space and the capital to stock a wide range of both different brands and flavours.  We are all looking for that one stop shop for our mixing supplies and we all have favourites from many different brands.  Catering to that would be very pricey I would imagine

Well since my starting aim with DarkStar was to become an elqiuid specialist it makes sense that these are the sort of things that we should offer eventually. I'm not sure what form this will take yet exactly as I am really just focusing on the core of my business at the moment which is the premixed range of eliquids. In time we will probably offer a range of liquids which have a 50:50 PG:VG ratio to go along with the 70:30 that we are currently selling, and we will be expanding the range of products to include PG and VG in various quantities, so the flavour concentrates follow very naturally from that.



Thanks for the advice. I've definitely taken it on board