Selling your handmade soaps and skin care products
I am asked that question a lot. I suppose there are better people to ask, given that I sell supplies and not finished soap and skin care products at SoapCrafters.com. However, that being said, I deal with people who sell their homemade soaps and skin care products all the the time, so I do know a little about it.
This morning a new soap maker emailed me and asked that question. She has been making soaps for Christmas presents and now she wants to do it ‘for real’ and get her freshly manicured toes into business for herself. So, I shared with her what our customers at SoapCrafters.com have shared with me.
I think the first thing you really need to do is to connect with others who make soaps and lotions at home and have already started selling their homemade goods. The Internet is the best way to hook up with these soapers.
If you are on Facebook, we have started a new Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soapcrafters/117333044956790
and a group for soapers:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soapcrafters/117333044956790#!/group.php?gid=102818496429626&ref=ts
once those get going, there will be discussions about this.
For right now, we have an email chat list where hundreds of soapers are subscribed, just ask a question on there on how to get started:
http://www.soapcrafters.com/soap_maker_mailing_list
Soon, we will have a huge forum running on meltandpour.com, but it isn’t ready yet.
Most people start selling just by accident. They start making gifts, as the girl who emailed me this morning did, and their friends and family start begging for more. They also tell their friends and then they want to buy too. Most people in a home soap business didn’t intend to go into business, the demand for their homemade soaps and lotions pretty much just put them into business.
Most towns have a Farmer’s Market these days or at least a Flea Market, so go get yourself a booth there and start giving out little samples and start selling there. You can build up a great customer base by having booths in those places. Make sure you show up every weekend, so people can depend on you being there. If you have a website, make sure you hand out small business cards with your website address on them. Put hanging tags on your items so there is a better chance of people saving the information. If it is on a label on a bar of soap, it will naturally get thrown away when they open the soap up to use. Make sure your phone number and website address is on all your labels of your products! If your happy customer can’t make it to the Farmer’s Market when they need more, they will give you a call or visit your website to buy next time.
Listen to your customers! If you keep hearing the same thing over and over again from them about what they want, then you start making it for them. Be careful not to get into the big ego of what you want your business to be. It is your customers who are going to determine that, not you. If your customers keep telling you that they want a rose scented lotion, then you are going to make that if you want to be successful.
When I started SoapCrafters.com all those years ago, I laugh now at what I thought the company was going to be. I thought it was going to be only natural herbs, essential oils, and some vegetable oils. If you look at it now, you can see that those items are just a small part of what we sell. Our customers demanded melt and pour soap, fragrances, colorants, containers and premade bases. So, I gave them what they wanted to buy, and we went on to win a couple of awards in Utah for being in the top 100 fastest growing corporations. In 2003, we were the thirteenth fastest growing company! Give them what they want and they will make you a successful business person. I am continually developing new products like our Soap Noodles shredded soaps to make soap easy to make, our Super Concentrate shampoo bases that is the foundation for many successful business’s products, and lately our line of pure and natural body creams and lotions.
Other ways you can start your company is by asking hotels, bed & breakfasts, gift shops, and small stores to buy your product for resale. Make sure you can create your products inexpensive enough for them to add a 50% mark-up to it. Sometimes you will have to put your products in the store on consignment, which means you will get paid when they sell it. Consignment can work out nicely, but other times it is sort of a nightmare of paperwork and keeping track of stock and damaged or stolen goods.
If you sell dog shampoo, then go to dog shows, grooming salons, or even volunteer at the local humane society. Try to get them to carry your products. If you sell soap, shampoo and conditioner, then approach the local beauticians and tell them you’ll design products just for their shop with their name on it!
One important thing to always keep in mind, is you have to make your products inexpensively so that you can make money after all this work. Buy the largest sizes of your ingredients that you can. Make things by scratch if you can. If you are buying mail order, place large orders instead of a lot of little orders in order to save on shipping costs. Make your own labels and business cards on your home computer instead of using a printing service.
Packaging is what sells products! Really doll up your goods and it will totally pay off! People buy by the look of an item if they are unfamiliar with it. Shoppers like bright colors and heavenly scents. So, get your artistic creativity juices flowing. You are going to need to be an artist!
Pricing is the weirdest thing on earth, seriously. People will buy something all day long for $19.95 and they will pass over the exact same product priced at $11.95. You would be wise to develop your products with prices like $9.95 and $19.95. People were brainwashed by advertising many, many years ago that the value was $19.95 or $9.95 and now the 99th monkey has kicked in and this is how you’re going to sell a lot of stuff. Sure, $19.95 is only five cents away from $20, but trust me, use $19.95, if you want big sales. Use $20 if you want to sit all day and sell hardly anything. If you’re selling wholesale to stores, this pricing isn’t going to necessarily work for the stores. This is retail, on the shelf pricing I’m talking about. So have your suggested retail prices at $19.95 and smaller stuff at $9.95, and deal with the store’s pricing the best you can and still end with a .95 on the end.
I could go on and on, but I’d like you soapers who sell your goods to add some ideas on how you do it! Please use the comment button to share your experience with those who are just starting out.
