Managing Inventory

[FarmhouseSoap]

I am just at the beginnings of selling my soap. I have been making soap for about a year and making sure it does well over time, have my bookkeeping in order, made sure my label was compliant and have come up with the soap variations I want to sell.
I have a list of friends and family that are anxiously awaiting my soap to cure, one friend who has a shop and wants to carry some of my soaps and a winter market coming up in December, January and February.

How do you all forecast inventory? I am starting off with about 150 bars of 8 different varieties. Now, I am at the point of trying to forecast what I will need, what might be popular, and making sure I have enough on hand to satisfy my customers. I would hate to run out of a particular bar and have to tell someone they have to wait 6 weeks for my next batch to cure.

Any suggestions will be so very welcome!
Thanks

 

[Ancel]

What have been your testers and family's favorites? Those are probably the ones you need more of. You still have time before Christmas to make batches, focus on those you like the best, or look at etsy and pinterest to see which soaps are the most popular, that should give you some idea of what the 'trend' or general preferences are. Also it will depend on where you are located - what's a popular soap in Portland Oregon, isn't necessarily going to be the same in rural Ohio, or Miami. Who are your potential customers, and what is the style / culture of your client / show base?

Hope that helps, basically you need to have a good inventory done before you sell and keep a close eye on what's moving, and how quickly.


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