I recently returned to Pakistan and me and Laura were wondering whether to start something for chaichai in Pakistan. Pakistan is an interesting place for tea consumption. Pakistanis like their tea strong, with milk and it should be very sweet. Also sales of organic products are on the rise here as more and more people become interested in the quality and health benefits of the foods they put in their stomachs. A number of organic outlets are springing up around the country in the larger cities. There is a certain type of customer in Pakistan that actually goes out and buys organic products because most people, as in the rest of the world, are usually concerned about price when they go out to buy products. I may be generalising here but a lot of people look at the price of an item before they decide to buy it. So we started thinking could chaichai's products sell in a market where organic products are not mainstream yet and also where people are very concerned about price. We have decided to test the market by pushing a very small number of products into the market and waiting to see what the result is. Will people buy our chai at our price point or is it too high, will people like the taste and strength of our tea and will people become repeat buyers? As with any product the answer to these questions will come in time. We'll keep you updated, keep drinking and enjoying your chai.
Recently I have started to get heavily involved with Social Networing websites. Hot and heavy if you catch my drift. The different types of social networking and social bookmarking sites out there is crazy. Now I have profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo, Twitter, Digg and StumbleUpon.
Last week I hadn't even heard of Twitter or Digg. Slowly I have started to expand my social networking wings and after a few false starts I am soaring pretty well now. Years ago when everyone started to get on the MySpace bandwagon, I resisted getting a profile on any social website and I still don't have a MySpace page. Then Facebook came around and it was a huge phenomenon, it just didn't seem possible not to have a profile on Facebook. Facebook is great for ChaiChai too as we have a group for it and we also advertise on Facebook that drives a lot of traffic to our website.
After reading an article about Barack Obama having a Twitter profile, I had to see what all the hype was about. It is a great little site for telling your friends what you are up to and how you are feeling. But not so great for ChaiChai. LinkedIn is another good social website but again comes up short in the amount of people that are on it. People have flocked like crazy to Facebook. I would reccomend that anyone with a small business should get a Facebook page for their business. It is a great way to get some free marketing for your fledgling company. Also if you have some money for your advertising budget to spare, I would suggest advertising on Facebook, it is a great way to reach a very targeted audience for your products.
In the war for dominance of the social web world Facebook remains king, until something bigger and better comes along. The near future though looks likely to remain the time of Facebook.
While in Edinburgh this weekend, Laura introduced me to her favourite cafe in the city; a small cute place called Forest. It was a freezing day when we went looking for the Forest Cafe, and we had to wait outside for ten minutes before they opened. It turned out to be good because we got a chance to read what the cafe was all about. Basically it is a not for profit charity supporting local artists and being run by volunteers who also run a small arty cafe funding the whole thing. We thought that is a fantastic idea that everybody working in the place are volunteers from the local area, they work only on the tips of patrons of the Forest. Also at the front of the cafe is a free shop where people can donate anything they don't need and anybody can pick up anything they need from there. If anyone who reads this is in Edinburgh anytime please go and check it out it is located at 3 Bistro Place or check it out online at www.theforest.org.uk.
