I do a lot of shopping in general online. In terms of canning supplies, a
quick mental review of my purchases indicates that I buy locally what I can
easily get locally and everything else online.
I live in suburban Chicago, which is not exactly a hotbed of canning
activity. I can get jars in many places (grocery stores, Walmart) in the
late summer, and at Ace Hardware year-round. Pectin is usually available in
the grocery year-round.
Jars cost a lot to ship so I haven't even priced them online. I would
however buy specialty jars online -- jars I can't find locally. For
instance, if I perfect my hot sauce recipe (the trail batch I made last
summer tasted fine but looked like baby poop), I'll search for hot sauce
bottles that can be BWB processed so I can give shelf-stable sauce (with
funny labels, of course) to certain dear friends.
Purchases related to canning I have made online include:
My All-American Pressure Canner -- I got recomendations from this group,
found the model I wanted online, and gave the link to my household Santa.
Frankly I have no idea where I could have purchased this locally.
Jelly Bag and Stand -- I tried to find this locally, but struck out even at
kitchen specialty shops.
Tomato Press -- Bought on Ebay. Never seen any locally.
Various cookbooks -- Some were available locally at places like Borders, but
when I was already placing an order for books online it was easy and much
cheaper to buy them online. '
Which leads to a couple of suggestions for you:
1. Consider offering cookbooks as part of your product line. I'll bet
there are church groups and women's clubs and the like out there who have
done canning cookbooks or general cookbooks with extensive sections on
canning. Since these are usually fundraising activities for the groups, I
imagine they would be glad to get a good online retail outlet. And of
course cooks like me would be glad to get a good source for these books,
which often have the best recipes.
2. Consider offering a clearinghouse for used supplies.
Anny
"Edward Alfert" > wrote in message
. 4...
> I've been lurking in this newsgroup for a while now (and read archived
> posts) in researching the home food preservation market for a possible
> online business venture for a company that currently only sells to the
> local.
>
> I have done searches in search engines and found many online stores
> providing products for this market. But I'm not interested in knowing who
> the online competition is according to search engines.
>
> I'm interested in knowing:
> (1) Do y'all buy from online stores or from your local stores?
> (2) If you do not buy from online stores, why not?
> (2a) Product costs the same or lower in local stores?
> (2b) Shipping cost making online purchases too costly?
> (2c) Not wanting to wait the time it takes to receive product after an
> online purchase?
> (2d) Other reason(s)?
> (3) If you do buy online, what websites do you buy from?
>
> Thank you for your time and honest answers.
>
> --
> Edward Alfert
> http://www.rootmode.com/
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