Hi All-

It's my pride to announce that  the first ever south Asian online
grocery store is up and live, 100% owned by a Nepali.. There will be a
wide selection of Nepali groceries available on line.  Please add your
requests what Nepali products  you'd like us to carry on our site. No
requests is off the table..

Also get a 10% off your purchase, just enter a coupon code : [Disallowed String for - Ads galore]

Thanks:

www.annapurnastore.com

Let create a list so that I can include in my shipment from Nepal....

I have been buying Indian groceries online for last 3 years. I'd rather buy it from you now. looking forward for the Nepali products soon to add sun ma sugand. Please order sano kerau for me...

dherei ramro chan...lets go shopping, but do they have shikar..............( wont stick to others than Nepali`s very own  brand....he he he...)

you name it, I'll have it...or at least try my best to get it here as long as its allowed legally. Keep the list coming and thanks again for the feedback. I have also started to make changes as suggested above.
I need more product suggestion to fill a container. there are barely 20 items up there. How about:
Yak Cheese( although this is the toughest things to get by from FDA, still fighting with FDA to get approval)
Sukuti
All kinds of titauras
Gudpak
Nepali achar
Lapsi products
Gundruk bhatmas  sano kerau
BMC special masalas( momo, ,meat etc)
Nepali biscuits( list from above and my favorite, Kaju biscuits and orange cream)
chaklets( remember coke and fanta balls. BP an spout gums?
Sancho( oh this is my favorite) and other ayurvedic products
Cigarettes are on my list but I need to check how to sell out of states as every states has their own tax policy on it.


 

I like your Idea but I think it would be better if you will sell more stuff  unique  to Nepal, you have a lot of good suggestion from sajha users, try to sell stuff Nepali not Indian....since we can get that here anyways. Things I would buy that I cant get anywhere unless someone sends these from Nepal, Timboor, pustakari, durkha, chhurpi, titaura, pachaak, nepali garam masala, Postcards, magazines,Cigarettes, balwan chhap,  DVDs, CDs, VCDs etc thanks and Good luck.

Just a quick suggestion:
At first instance, try to get things that do not expire soon like so that even if they are not bought immediately, you can store them for future orders. Cheese is not a good option for initial period as you are not sure of customer response yet.

Good Idea bro,
Here are some of my suggestions, if u can import them, i will buy in wholesale and price won't be a matter because these stuffs are emotionally attached with me.
1. bijuli choorot  ( my  son likes it very much )
2. bateko dhoop  ( i am hardcore religious man)
3. puja sabun ( i wash my underwear by my own.)
4. jethimal ( my grand daughter has coughing problem.)
5. salaai ( nepali salai le kaan kotyaone anandai arkai cha.)
6. dhaal  (  this is my favourite brand since the age of 7)
HOPE WE WILL HAVE  MUTUAL BUSINESS DEALINGS.

sighrapatan--LOL...great list! I will try to get much as I can from your list but I like the reasons behind it.

llcolla,

Congratulation on starting your business online. I wish you all the best and hope that hope that you succeed.

I will not comment about the quality of the price of your product as this is a start up business but I would like to point out some technical issues.

Your website is developed with PHP and MYSQL backend (I am guessing on the database part) , a popular open source combination for building dynamic websites.

I navigated to your "Register" Page.

http://www.asianpantry.info/annapurna/front/index.php?action=register

Note that you are not using SSL certificate. You have to be certain that the data you collect from your customer are going to be secure but at this point  you are not using SSL certificate hence your data user send can be easily intercepted.

Especially when it comes to credit card information. Are you encrypting the sensitive information like such as credit card etc? Get hold of people who built your website and ask them if they are doing any kind of encryption since you are not using any SSL certificate there should have done some type of encryption.

There is much more I can write but got to go now.

Be certain to give your online customers confidence to buy online.


Later.

Incandescent- Thanks for your input. I will work on getting the SSL certificate now. The site hasn't been  launch fully yet. I did the soft launch with Sajha to get all the corrections made before doing a full launch. All of these feedbacks are very important for me to move forward.Currently, I am using paypal for the check out, so security of confidential information is not a big issue for customers yet as paypal keeps all the important information and they are rock solid. But for phase two, I'll have checkout on site feature and will definitely have all the security features in place.
Great comments guys: I am still looking for a longer list to bring your favorites from Nepal..  Please keep adding it:
If you don't want to post it on Sajha for privacy reasons, please visit:
http://www,annapurnastore.com  and email/skype us your requests.

Nepali style frozen momo :)

llcoola,

Good to know that you are taking notes on improving your website. There are two critical points I want to stress on for e-commerce website.

a) Buyers confidence.
b) Security


a) Check this link out: http://www.verisign.com/  If you cant afford the certificate they provide then your web hosting company might provide you with shared SSL certificate which will cost you less than $100 / year. The most important thing is you want your customer to be confident that they can put their information on the website.

b) I agree paypal is rock solid. However, let me give you a scenario:
 A user registers on your site, adds two items to his cart. Then goes to check out. So far so good. Now when they check out they will be directed to PayPal login to provide their credentials. When they are being directed the following information are also passed along to the paypal site.

a) Quantity
b) Price

Now what will you do if a hacker is sitting there and intercepting the information you pass to the paypal site? When the user hits "pay" or "submit" button your page, it sends a "POST" request to submit data to the paypal site. If you are not using any encryption someone can easily change the data you pass.

For example, lets say 13 year old kid in Turkey want's to have some fun with your website, he will simply change the quantity from 1 to 100. This can be done by intercepting the data while its on its way from your website to PayPal.

This will result in:
a) Angry Customers
b) Loss of confidence
c) Hassle of you if you already shipped the product or you have to issue a refund.

Overall a bad rep.


Stating my two cents here.

Finally, best of luck on your venture. Come back here after 3 months if you can and let us know how many customers registered to your site, How many registered customers made a purchase and  total items sold to date. It will be interesting to know.

I am a stat whore as you can see, Hence, I like numbers.

Good luck!

Incandescent.

Incandescent.
Thanks for your professional comments. I just copy pasted your comments to my developer and these types of comments/feedbacks are VERY important to me.  I will get this in place ASAP.

Hello All-
Thanks for your input, feedback and requests. I am about to place my order for  my first shipment from nepal and below is the list I have gathered so far. It will take me few months to get the shipments here and load it up in the website. Meanwhile, I am working on the secutiry of the site and other enchantments as suggested. Once I receive the shipments, the web site will be launched fully at the national Level.
Please continue to provide feedback and request more items before the shipment leaves Nepal.
Thanks you

chiura chhaiyo- Regular and Red
furundana
Titaura Varaities( Ratna Park Pau Bhandar)
BMC Special Masalas( Momo masala, Meat masala and other varities)
Nepalese Tea ( Mechi Chiya, Tinpate Chiya etc)
Nepali biscuits. Thin Arrowt, Soltee, Gulcose etc etc
Nepali Noodles  (Rara, Mama, Wai Wai)
Sano Kerau,
Nepali Jeera Marich,
Garam Masala( Not Indian)
Gundruk Bhatmas
Neplai Achars( Samjhana Brand, if possible)
Lapsi Items
Gudpak
Pustakari
Durkha
Pachak
Timur
Yak Cheese
Sukuti
Nepali Cigarettes and Khaini
Nepali Homeopathy- Sancho, Jaifal Bojoo Jethimal etc
Nepali Chaklets(Candies)
Postcards
Magazines
CDs/DVDs
Other Gift Items
Bateko dhoop
Nepali Soaps
Dhaal(by popular demand)

Thin Arrowt ho ki Thin arrarowt ho?

Tyo amita-bachhan candy pani paye lyaunu, with madhise.

I have no clue how someone can claim Nepali with just Wai Wai. 

Kiddo- I am not familiar with amitachan candy. Can you describe it?

I don't think its possible or not but can you try if you can bring some lakhamari, newari roti.. You might not be able to because it might get rotten by the time it gets here but still we can try. 

Lakhamari is possible in Vaccum packed  bags but not sure about the newari roti..I will check on that as well

SO llcoola when can we expect to start shopping...you seem to have a good list of things already....NOW lets see some action......Thanks

since you are doing bussiness online i want to buy nepali tshirt and some nepali brand mayos, .....how many type of news paper will be there in list?