no. 12: the candy consumer.
a conversation with founder of lil sweet treat, on all things sweet, set active, parke, and the modern consumer.
if you are on tiktok, you probably have seen lil sweet treat owner, elly, on your for you page. this week, i got the chance to talk to elly about the candy craze she has created, amassing over 400,000+ likes on tiktok already. lil sweet treat is the newest addition to west village for sweet treats, sourcing high-quality candies from all over the world. at launch, lil sweet treat will have candy from spain, germany, sweden, and belgium, and it opens on september 7th. you will certainly see a line that wraps around the store (plus a few blocks).
like myself, elly comes from a background in product in tech. we both share a similar perspective on how brands can create meaningful experiences and drive growth before a launch. lil sweet treat is a true masterclass in marketing, which is why i am thrilled to share my takeaways from our 2-hour-long nerd-out conversation on all things product, brands, and tech.
#1: the modern-day consumer wants to be involved.
as a small business owner, elly stated “it’s 100% important to have an incredible product, but consumers today also deeply care about the story behind the product.” today’s consumer wants to be not only engaged, but we want our opinions to matter. we want to feel a part of something bigger than ourselves. we are itching to belong to a brand, a community, an idea. i like to call this sensation we have seen in the last few years, the “involved consumer.” it’s evident social media, specifically tiktok, is the platform of choice to grow on, with the most monthly active users:
back to lil sweet treat - the reason elly has amassed a serious following is because she is authentic about the journey of building a retail business as a small business owner. when i saw her page, i noticed that she has at least 5 videos highlighting mistakes and learnings from the process. elly’s background as a product manager has helped her iterate quickly. elly has shared every stage of lil sweet treat: asking for advice on bag sizes, color swatches, and candy selections.
#2: pre-launch is more important than post-launch.
i fundamentally believe before you launch anything (a candy store, a feature release, or any product) you have a massive opportunity to engage potential consumers. why wait until your product is ready to get feedback? start talking about it before, get customer feedback, and engage - take a page out of elly’s book!
think about how common this is in the fashion industry - companies are constantly teasing launches weeks, even months in advance these days. this should apply not only to the fashion industry but also any consumer brand, as long as it is done tastefully - see set active’s launch teaser below:
#3: a brand is worthless without a community.
when elly and i discussed brands that have built incredible communities, we referenced ones we admire, like
’s set active and chelsea parke’s parke.
tiktok has transformed the way the world communicates, which is why lil sweet treat is solely building a community through tiktok pre-launch. elly stated “lil sweet treat was created to spread the joy and excitement of trying a new sweet treat to a larger community, and building community is one of the most important things to me. we’ve been lucky to have people from all over the world tell us how excited they are for us to launch.”
when consumers feel a sense of connection, they become more loyal, with 57% increasing their spending and 76% choosing the “connected” brand over a competitor. perhaps this is why we have seen brands like parke, set active, and now lil sweet treat become so successful paired with a really good product.
elly has even coined the term “candy connoisseurs” referring to her curating each candy from all over the world. she calls her community on tiktok the “candy connoisseur club,” so that they all feel part of the experience she is building through lil sweet treat. elly is engraining her brand into every aspect from the packaging of her product to the slogan; she is meticulously crafting an experience that will bring you back over and over again to lil sweet treat.
outside of growing a community on tiktok, instagram is next in line. this why we have seen so many influencers take up instagram’s chat feature - in addition to following them, you can now be in essentially a “group chat”. why is instagram’s chat feature so popular with brands and influencers? it’s creating the sensation that you know them intimately, and creating a false sense of proximity to them1. in the case of chelsea parke, she provides special access to sneak peeks of upcoming drops in her instagram chat.
by the way… lil sweet treat opens september 7th in west village! if you enjoyed this feature and have other examples of brands doing similar things, let me know in the comments! 🍬🍬
📚 what i have been reading lately, linked here for you:
a piece I really enjoyed on consumer behavior by
an article by forbes on how to strengthen your business community
see more on this concept of human-like marketing in “Everywhere But Nowhere” an awesome piece by
Ok love!!!! I’m not on tik tok at the moment so I didn’t know about lil sweet treat and now I cannot wait to go! 🍬
Hehe love that you also pre-launched this piece. Great inspo for future posts.