CTAnton
Well-Known Member
...and my first rant.This thread is coming about in some ways from the knowledge that Carolyn's daughter is having to move on from her soap making business due to competition and DIY sites....
I've made mostly MP soaps for the holiday...peeps and eggs..all with SFIC bases shipped freight across the country to improve my profit margin.I wholesale to one shop and 2 of my friends have them in their shops. All have been well received and quite novel at least to this area.Just a little merchandising tip...I gave a bunch of them to the gals at the post office to decorate with; customers are told where they can buy them.
The last couple of days I've spent playing with the numbers as they say...breaking down what my costs are and applying all the various formulas presented on this forum as to what to charge . I've also checked out the local competition, mostly a CP goat milk soaper that has this area so sewn up it astounds me. I totally understand her marketing strategy...one general soap formula amended with different colors and scents with none of the artistry displayed here by so many. Packaging is a cigar band which in some in venues, with flocks of chickens 100 feet away , albeit outside, sort of doesn't rock my boat. Locally I've only seen 1 glycerin soap line being carried, very plain jane ; basically a 3 ounce square of soap shrink wrapped .
So where am I going with this? Simply this is at times a daunting business adventure. Thank goodness I love making soap. I live in a what I call a high rent district but there is a lot of resistance to anything over 5 dollars a bar retail. By the time I pay my business expenses there's not much left over . I'm checking my expectations currently and pulling back dramatically. Product recognition and loyalty is going to take years to develop. It's NOT the case, simplistic as it may seem, that if you make it they will buy it.
So there's my rant . Again, thank goodness I love making soap. But as I like to say, reality has reared its ugly head and I'm reassessing my expectations.
I do want to thank you all for all the information provided so freely; in this political year where as a nation we find ourselves moving from the school playground to the circus, this forum has renewed my faith in my fellow man.
I've made mostly MP soaps for the holiday...peeps and eggs..all with SFIC bases shipped freight across the country to improve my profit margin.I wholesale to one shop and 2 of my friends have them in their shops. All have been well received and quite novel at least to this area.Just a little merchandising tip...I gave a bunch of them to the gals at the post office to decorate with; customers are told where they can buy them.
The last couple of days I've spent playing with the numbers as they say...breaking down what my costs are and applying all the various formulas presented on this forum as to what to charge . I've also checked out the local competition, mostly a CP goat milk soaper that has this area so sewn up it astounds me. I totally understand her marketing strategy...one general soap formula amended with different colors and scents with none of the artistry displayed here by so many. Packaging is a cigar band which in some in venues, with flocks of chickens 100 feet away , albeit outside, sort of doesn't rock my boat. Locally I've only seen 1 glycerin soap line being carried, very plain jane ; basically a 3 ounce square of soap shrink wrapped .
So where am I going with this? Simply this is at times a daunting business adventure. Thank goodness I love making soap. I live in a what I call a high rent district but there is a lot of resistance to anything over 5 dollars a bar retail. By the time I pay my business expenses there's not much left over . I'm checking my expectations currently and pulling back dramatically. Product recognition and loyalty is going to take years to develop. It's NOT the case, simplistic as it may seem, that if you make it they will buy it.
So there's my rant . Again, thank goodness I love making soap. But as I like to say, reality has reared its ugly head and I'm reassessing my expectations.
I do want to thank you all for all the information provided so freely; in this political year where as a nation we find ourselves moving from the school playground to the circus, this forum has renewed my faith in my fellow man.
