To decorate or not to decorate

[Happysoap]

Does decorating (layering, swirling, embedding etc) influence your soap sales at all?

My soap selection is not always steady in appearance. Sometimes they are beautiful with clear bright swirls and sometimes things just don't go the way I want them to. Regardless, soap seems to sell so I am wondering if the visual appearance of soap makes any difference in sales.

Share your experiences?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

You're not in the big ol US of A, are you, Happy?

Here is the EU people are enjoying my soap (I'm not selling yet!) regardless of how it looks

 

[seven]

i guess there are different markets for different types of soap. some don't care for fancy soaps (swirls, layers, whatever), they focus more on the purpose of the soap itself, the ingredients. while on the other end, there are those who likes colors, nice scents, fancy swirls.. and doesn't really care what the soap is made of...

for example... my customers (middle aged moms) who adore lavender will still buy the soap even if it's black. they don't care as long as the nice lavender scent is there one of my latest lavender batches, i failed to get the purple i wanted and ended up with grey. it bothered me so much, but still, the soaps flew out of the shelves so fast, lol!

 

[pamielynn]

I think it should look "nice" - not all lumpy or covered in ash. Fancy soap photographs amazingly, but for me, personally, plain (but still nice) soap sells better than anything layered, covered in botanicals, or glitter. I have a few bars that are swirled, but I don't think it's a selling point when you get right down to it. Scent, quality and presentation seem to bring them back more than anything else.

 

[Happysoap]

I am not in US of A. Originally, I am Canadian but I am in the Balkans right now. I will be in EU by the summer, where I don't know yet.

That is interesting. So appearance has little to do with how your soaps are perceived. Maybe I should concentrate on the content and not the visual. hmmm....

 

[mel z]

I would say: do both, see which ones go faster in your area, but, I simply enjoy making soap and playing with anything I can to do with making soap, lol.

Purchasers buy for all sorts of reasons. Scent, ingredients, color, design.

So, you area may have more purchasers that want - say - lavender, or it may be some that want fancy pretty soap for the guest bathroom or b/c it is a special treat so they want it pretty, or they may want a pretty color with a nice scent, or some may want lard or all vegetable oil. It really does vary from place to place what sells better, and the best way to find out is to try different types as you can and see which ones do best for you.

Good luck, I'm sure some have customers that are very specific and can chime in.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

It's partly aimed for - for a soap to be as efficacious as a gentleman should be, it needs to look okay but it is certainly playing a supporting role in the story of life. Function over form, certainly, but maybe one colour soaps or two tone. Scents, though, are also important.

For The Admirable Lady range, I think colours can be more important, unless it's aimed at the purer side of things.

To be honest, I have seen some soaps that are so busy with so much going on that it just seems over the top, which is not my thing at all. All depends on who you're aiming for.

 

[Saponista]

I really dislike soaps that are too busy too, I want something that I can wrap my hands around and get a nice lather, not something with a load of embeds sticking out the top or florals that are going to just get washed down the drain after the first use.my purpose of buying soap is to use it though. I think customers that like the really pretty stuff are more likely to just put it on show in the bathroom. I think there is a market for both though and some of the busy soaps really do look beautiful and take a great deal off skill and experience to create.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

............ and some of the busy soaps really do look beautiful and take a great deal off skill and experience to create.

Amen!

 

[shunt2011]

I have both plain and swirled/layered soaps. Most customers purchase by scent and then by how pretty they are. I think a lot of people purchase them to put as a decoration in their bathrooms.

 

[seven]

I think a lot of people purchase them to put as a decoration in their bathrooms.

as a matter of fact, i have one lady who specifically bought my lavender soaps to be placed in her office. she said the smell is so calming it helps her during work, lol..

 

[judymoody]

I find myself agreeing with Pamielynn, EG and Saponista - really good points made by all.

I make "fancy" soaps for a couple of reasons - to prevent boredom, because it's exciting when it comes out as I hoped, and for special occasions - gifts, weddings, etc. I don't really sell except the occasional odd bar to a friend or relative.

I find what attracts people most is scent.

I also think a clean, professional bar is really important - uniform size, clean cuts, consistent weight, no massive air bubbles or obvious quality issues. I don't bevel, but I do trim off that edge you get sometimes when you cut your soap. My packaging is really simple - cling or shrink wrap with labels on front and back. It lets the soap speak for itself.

Overly busy soap with embeds and glitter and whatnot generally don't appeal to me although I can appreciate the work and thought that went into them. I also don't really care for stamps unless the bar is a very plain one. To my eye, stamping a fancy swirled bar breaks up the visual impact and is distracting.

 

[paillo]

Wow, really interesting responses. Appearance makes a HUGE difference in my retail markets. With Etsy it doesn't seem to make as much of a difference. But in stores and shows, the pretty ones sell well. Anything beige or brown sells poorly, no matter the fragrance or the label appeal. Hence, as an example, I have a LOT of lovely fresh pumpkin beer soap to give away, I love it but it didn't sell.

 

[cmzaha]

I am with Judy. I also do the swirls, colors etc mainly to not become bored, but periodically I will have a customer looking just for design not necessarily scent. My soaps are all cut with my wire cutter and always poured in the same molds so all are uniform. no botanicals on top and very seldom glitter. At Christmas I did try two embedded soaps where one batch had gingerbread babies embedded in the bar and a baby standing on top, second batch only had the baby embedded inside the bar. All the bars without the top baby sold, I ended up giving away a bunch of the others. They were fragranced the same so that was not the issue. I have sold at a holiday fair a couple of years ago and accross from me a soap maker had cake slices, decorated tops etc. Unfortunetly for her, and hers were a lot of work which I have no time or patience, but she did not even make her booth and I had a very profitable show that day. I do like to do a table of my daughters decorative soaps during holidays which usually sell, but do not take them very often to my farmer markets.

 

[Moody Glenn]

Hello! For me, I go more for the simplistic. A major reason is I am terrible at making swirls or patterns. The majority of my sample-making swirled soap turned into a soapmakers version of 'fifty shades of grey'! :sick: By being in business I can not afford making two good looking swirled soaps out of twelve or twenty four so I bite the bullet and make single color soap which has a greater potential to sell. I really envy all of you who can make consistent, beautifully, swirled soap.

Another important point to those of you who are considering to sell is to project or promote what your business relates to or stands for. For instance, I "try" to promote bathing with handmade soap as an enjoyable, energetic experience. Thus, I use bright colors, "happy" fragrances and such. A swirled soap would be great but I don't have that talent so I try to market myself in other ways. I learned long ago that just because it appears everyone makes swirled soap does not mean you have to do so. Be a trailblazer and make an expressway out of your own creativity based on what your soap represents. If you like to make rustic creations then bright swirled colors would look out of place. But, if you can manage it, you could make a mottled colored soap with earth tones or even - and I seen this once and regret not purchasing both - bars that looked like tree bark and have the appearance of tree rings. If you are not artistic, hey...don't fret. Practice when you can but don't worry about it. I have found, like what has also been said, that people go more with function over form but a killer of a fragrance certainly helps!

 

[MzMolly65]

I think it absolutely depends on the local market. I live in a combination area of righteously rich, leather wearing fashionistas and earthy recycling, crystal loving hippies so when I walk the farmer's market some people want artsy fartsy pretty things and others want plain, unscented, recycled, simple stuff. If I ever decided to sell soap here I think it might be easy to sell just about anything, you just have to wait for the right customer to come along.

 

[clhigh29]

I think it also comes down to what comes out of you naturally. If you're not an overly ornate personality, I would think your simple soaps will naturally be better than the ones you try to make busier. I'm only soaping now for close to 6 months, but I'm finding that my two-color soaps are the best balance for me, because then I don't forget the fragrance. It gets bad for me when there's too much going on. People will buy what it good.

 

[jcatblum]

Here it is smell. I wrap my soap & I put out a few unwrapped soaps so people can see what they are getting. No one seems to care ask or hardly notice. They like the smell. Then there are the soaps that the name has them saying it is there favorite scent before they even sniff it!

 

[green soap]

The artistry is mostly to amuse ourselves, but there are practical sides too. I make either plain uncolored or natural colored soaps stamped with an acrylic stamp I made. The other option is usually a fairly plain two color swirl (with a couple of exceptions). I figure it is about the same amount of work (to stamp or two tone swirl) and the customer gets a little 'art work' either way. The different colors and designs also help me visually differentiate my soaps when I work on them or pack them for market.

Both options sell equally well based on the appearance alone. People mostly care about scents. However, when people look for gifts, they will chose the prettier soaps I have noticed, even when they choose plainer ones for themselves.

 

[green soap]

Wow, really interesting responses. Appearance makes a HUGE difference in my retail markets. With Etsy it doesn't seem to make as much of a difference. But in stores and shows, the pretty ones sell well. Anything beige or brown sells poorly, no matter the fragrance or the label appeal. Hence, as an example, I have a LOT of lovely fresh pumpkin beer soap to give away, I love it but it didn't sell.

Two of my best selling soaps are a plain dark brown, and I have several tan best sellers. They just smell really good to their aficionados.

Also wanted to add that at least with us the priority with customers seems to be:
1. scent - or NO scent if they are looking for that.
2. Ingredients. Something they are looking for and like, it can be goat milk, sea or himalayan salt, beer, calendula, certain butters or oils. Many people avoid certain ingredients for many different reasons.
3. Color or design.

So design is lowest priority with most, but as I said, they get appreciated more during gift giving times.