Minimum Purchase

Why is there a minimum purchase of two on everything? I can’t try anything on this website for less than £50, that’s a lot of money for something that I might not like. The bars come in boxes of 15, you have to buy 2, that’s a lot of money and product that I might need to throw in the bin if I don’t like the taste, same with the powder. Don’t tell me it is not worth it to post something for less than £50, plenty of business do it. Why force me to buy more of the stuff I don’t even know I would like, if I like it I would come back and maybe use bigger quantities discount, but £50 for two bags of stuff is too much for people to try.

There are a few other threads that complain about the same thing. I’ve gone ahead and listed them:

By the way, I’m totally with you. I just don’t think they want to change. But I won’t go on and on about my opinion.

you can buy bars and RTD drinks singularly from some chains of supermarkets and online food retailers - the powder bags currently not.

I appreciate that right off the mark it’s not easy to have a sample of Huel.

  1. We have upsell to try single products on both normal site and in the account area.
  2. You can return unopened bags and boxes of bars and opened boxes of RTD if it’s your first order of them.

Could we charge for shipping and sell single bags? Yes but doesn’t make sense from a business POV. We’ve got to balance what’s best for us and you and we certainly find that those that make Huel part of their daily lifestyle get more out of Huel, than those who just try it a couple of times – Huel is a lifestyle change, few will try some and love it instantly and want more! Honest but largely true I think! By buying two flavours you’re also way more likely to find a flavour you like.

Could we offer mix and match i.e. 1 bag of powder and 1 box of bars? Yes but don’t have the technical setup to enable this right now. For items like Bars and RTD we are available in retail stores where you can get single bottles of RTD and bars to sample and that network of stores selling Huel is only growing.

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thats a good point actually…

one shake isnt enoughto really Try Huel…

it is a lifestyle choice…

personally im comfortable and glad Huel has a good business head on it, otherwise it might not even work…

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Thanks Matt, really appreciate that. It’s worth noting what Julian has said in other posts that Huel is currently not profitable and we’re working hard to get there. We’ve always offered a two pouch minimum, so changing that now when we aren’t profitable would likely be an own goal.

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got it.

important info for people to read .

Of course you’re confortable with it, you already tried it and like it, makes sense buying bulk, but for the rest of us, buying so much doesn’t make any sense, it is also wasteful.

I’m not asking for samples, I could buy one bag, that’s already £25 which is not nothing, most of your returning customers would still buy in bulk or even subscribe for the discount, but for us first timers buying one bag or one box of bars makes more sense. You can remove the free t-shirt and mixer for first timers and allow them instead to buy one bag before committing to all that product that might end in the bin if tastebuds don’t agree.

gosh, so sorry.

if you dont like it spend your nectar points on a sainsburys own brand pizza and enjoy the shit nutrientsin that.

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not being malicious…

tim explained the reasons for the current business model, now ironically your self gain attitude to a cheaper product would probably mean huel not existing in the first place.

consider that my darling.

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You could add some sort of weighting system to allow it. I’ll quote my suggestion from another post:

I see those changes being made in the subscription area and the new samples being added. There’s good work being put in! I see some potential for mix and matching to make its way in. Ultimately it’s your choice whether it gets pushed for. Maybe you’d need a custom extension? Or to re-do your cart/product pages a bit? It’s certainly a challenge but not an impossible one.

The White+Black pouches are good upsells, but the single products are poor upsells. You can’t just buy them outright - they require something else already in the cart. The ideal option would be to have a taster box (one for Bars, another for RTDs) as individual products, rather than selling single products as upsells.

Realistically, many people would end up binning it and cutting their losses. We all know it’s a hassle to return products.

With the weighting system, it would allow at least 2 units of any product, whether that’s pouches, bars, etc. That means you won’t ever send out a single pouch and get to retain your 2 unit minimum.

Here’s my take on the profitability: If you offer customers more variety, it makes them more likely to convert. You’d see gains all across the board. It keeps the entry barrier high (which you want) while providing customers with more potential products to choose from (which we want). Hopefully, I don’t come across rude - I’m only trying to challenge you! I have nothing but admiration for the Huel team.

Both the powder and the bars last for a long time, so you can certainly keep it in storage as emergency food in case of some world-wide pandemic happening. Plus it’s food, you can be creative with it - don’t just throw it away.

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the powder can also be used a flour substitute in baking if you didn’t want to drink it - there are many recipes on the forums here.

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Yes you are being malicious, I’m not talking about prices or me being cheap, I’m simply talking about minimum quantity for people who haven’t tried it yet, I don’t understand your defensiveness as if I was attacking you in any way, you like Huel, I get it, I’m not saying it is bad or even expensive, I’m simply talking about quantities, I’m simply asking if it’s possible to buy one bag (which is still a lot) for the first time before going at it full.

Where do they sell the bars? I have the 3 main main supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose) near where I live, none of them have any Huel products, I looked online and only Sainsbury’s sells the ready bottle but no bars, not even Amazon sells any Huel products.

Ocado sell the bars, but they’re kinda snowed under these days so it’ll be a pain to get any that way. I don’t think any actual shops stock them.

no i am not malicious.

i can defend huel if i want. i want huel to continue growing. i am excited by huels development.

do you understand now?

as i said and tim said its the current business model.

question answered.

stop moaning get on with it.

maybe you should be more positive and helpful to the situation and find out the reasons for this and contribute to it actually happening rather than complaining as if there is no reason for it.