The thrill of the hunt, the same reasons yard sales are so popular
Excellent thread, thanks so much for asking - pellet vendors usually dont ask to begin with....
Me personally, I would love not to hunt and have to try many bags just to find Mr Right, so one of the things we would really need is a standard (a real one). Currently the quality of pellets vary widely (my personal scale is Instant Heat to Barefoots) at costs of 150 USD to 350 USD (geography, seasons, brands).
For a commodity product thats supposed to heat my house, thats a lot of price difference per ton - in fact unacceptably high given the market you are in.
Discussion forums like these are designed to break up information barriers that ultimately cause this redicoulus braod range of qualit and price. Go Team....
You have a valid point, the hunt is part of the fun and for sure what we truely do is trying to find the somewhat cheaper pellet that gives us the most bang for the buck....until one gets tired of it and sticks with the brand that worked great at one point ...until we leave that brand because they crank up the price to unacceptable levels because they 'added value' or the 'market demanded it' or some other nonesense that hard to believe and difficult to proove.
I am glad you are asking what people would like to see to make the whole thing easier. Well, here are some thoughts - and since I am working in a different industry you get the ideas for free
:
- tear down the local market barrier: Pellets are heavy and so transportation is expensive causing local markets that inhibit true competition on a larger scale. Eg, I cant get Oakies in my area other than for prohibitive transport costs. Sure I can buy a truckload on the internet, but 15-24 tons is just a bit too much for me to store. I love your PODs idea - imagine US wide POD shipping of any pellet flavor you want to any location within the lower 48....you will piss of all the local dealer, you have flattened the market and true competition will weed out the crap pellets and cause mighty more business for the good guys....ooops, they might not be up to the demand...darn
- pellet bags: I personally dont care as long as they dont stink like chemical, I have never had water issues with my pellets so sealed pellets are no extra value for me. Recyclable bags would earn you extra points since greener, bags useful for something or composting would be even better. Having a kid paint the outside is fine, if you make it a school competition and draw a winner with a price it gets you extra points for community active....but by and large I dont care too much
- I have a big garage and can easily store my 6 tons of pellets, in fact storing in bags is easy, felxible, clean - easy and clean to carry into the house, through in teh hopper ect - I have zero need for bulk delivery and or single pellets. bags can be stacked up high along a wall - if anything bags are the preferred storage for me
- ANother thing that truely sucks IMO is the difference in delivery cost. Not only do I have to price shop for the pellets, no I need to price shop for the delivery service as well, in my area they even have different models (initial delivery, how many tons, stacking fee, basement fee vs ground level ect). I can end up paying 150 USD for a delivery or choose my own delivery guy who does it for 60...so that part of the pellet business sucks as well - I have to control way too many parameters to get to my pellets at a satisfactory price. Imagine a web site where you fill out a form and the next day a truck shows up with 5 guys asking you where to put them and the price was all included in the per ton price...I would like that...brings me back to your PODS idea.
- POD...love it the more I think about it, only caveat, I would need to drop the POD somehwere and it would be outside to get at in Winter, but I could self unload if I feel like it....you are on to something there...
- I am not so good at thinking outside the box, so lets start with peoples motivation for pellet stoves....well its simple: safe money heating the house. Yes there is also some environmental aspect and some remnant of a fire/cozy feel - but the majority is safe money. SO any marketing effort arguing to shell out more money is an uphill batlle. Maximum warmth for minimum money is the motivation....hard to innovate around this other than making top pellet at lowest price possible.
- I would love to see a bamboo based pellet, sustainable wood source with minimal environmental impact (grass is OK too, but did not seem to work well from what I saw) - I would be willing to pay extra for that (if grown in US that is).
- asking your customer would be a simple start. I am not on any companies email list (never got asked for), people love getting asked their opinion, makes them feel good (look at all the amazon reviews out there !)
- cut the middle man, why do we need local pellet distributors if you could drop ship to me directly (saves money). Well its the bagging handling thats in the way...need to find a way around AND the shipping cost for small units...
- make drop ships with a 22 ton truck and offer residential delivery....with different flavors to choose from...and no minimum order....would be a start.
- generate a label on th ebag thats really informative and adheres to standards (makes it comparable and the competition has to live up to your standard !), dont give 20 % range in BTU thats not helpul.
- generate loyal followers: dont raise the price 100 % over three years just because you can...that is as bad as making a terrible pellet and will burn your name
- dont generate a new brand name becasue the last one is burned due to bad quality and its box store distribution, make a solid quality product and stick to it, make consistant pellets - no customer wants to gamble 6 tons of winter warmth based on bad reputation
Wow, this is getting to lengthy already, anyway, loved your posting and this thread, maybe some people will think about pellets as a product a bit more. If anyone needs a product manager let me know...just kidding