I get quite a few that just want to sniff. A large percentage end up buying a bar. I just tell them sniffing is free. Enjoy it.
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I get quite a few that just want to sniff. A large percentage end up buying a bar. I just tell them sniffing is free. Enjoy it.
A
amd
The same thought has crossed my mind as well (although I can still stand to do a bit of organizing - if not for customers then at least for me when I set up / tear down). I try to direct those people who want to smell everything to the fragrances that they might like more, or if they say they're overwhelmed to ask them what they like - one lady told me she wished she could buy one of everything, lol - and if they don't / can't tell me what they like I take that as a hint that they are, as Carolyn put it, lookyloos. If they still seem stuck, I make sure they get a business card or a free sample so if they decide they can find me again after the show, but I don't count on them coming back. yep, it can be a graceful way for people to bow out of a sale and I'm ok with that. I was just surprised that I've heard it a few times this year when I haven't heard it before - although my lineup has almost doubled from previous years.
My purpose of posting this back in May comes down to this: This year my sales have really been hurting. I've been told by about half of my regular customers that they aren't buying because of the price increase I made at the beginning of the year - they were ok paying $5 a bar, but don't like $6 a bar. It seems crazy to me that $1 really makes that much of a difference to them, but it does. The end of July I decided to go back to $5 a bar to bring back customers, I'll lose a dollar of profit for every bar but if I sell more bars I'm actually making $3.50 more that I wasn't making by not selling it. (My soap costs aren't actually $1.50 a bar, I usually shoot for $1.25 or less per bar.) I'm still working on bringing costs down - looking at different fragrance suppliers, different ways to reduce costs without giving up quality, tweaking recipes, and even changing how / where I spend my "behind the scenes" money and time. When I was looking at all this in March/April/May and then came across the blog post linked in the OP, I wondered if cutting back to six fragrances is true for all sellers and that's how other soapers increase their profitability. Your responses tell me "not so much"! So I'm still running numbers and figuring out what I really need. 2019 will look drastically different for me, but I think it will be a better different for me. Less shows, creating an "off-season" for myself to do a bulk of the soapmaking, doing the shows I really want to do rather than "any and every show" - and still carrying a whole bunch of fragrances
My purpose of posting this back in May comes down to this: This year my sales have really been hurting. I've been told by about half of my regular customers that they aren't buying because of the price increase I made at the beginning of the year - they were ok paying $5 a bar, but don't like $6 a bar. It seems crazy to me that $1 really makes that much of a difference to them, but it does. The end of July I decided to go back to $5 a bar to bring back customers, I'll lose a dollar of profit for every bar but if I sell more bars I'm actually making $3.50 more that I wasn't making by not selling it. (My soap costs aren't actually $1.50 a bar, I usually shoot for $1.25 or less per bar.) I'm still working on bringing costs down - looking at different fragrance suppliers, different ways to reduce costs without giving up quality, tweaking recipes, and even changing how / where I spend my "behind the scenes" money and time. When I was looking at all this in March/April/May and then came across the blog post linked in the OP, I wondered if cutting back to six fragrances is true for all sellers and that's how other soapers increase their profitability. Your responses tell me "not so much"! So I'm still running numbers and figuring out what I really need. 2019 will look drastically different for me, but I think it will be a better different for me. Less shows, creating an "off-season" for myself to do a bulk of the soapmaking, doing the shows I really want to do rather than "any and every show" - and still carrying a whole bunch of fragrances
penelopejane
Well-Known Member
AMD
It makes sense to me to limit the number of soap varieties you make. Especially if that will save money.
Do you think you could put your price up by 50c but have 4 for $20 so the regular customers still have the same $5 price?
It makes sense to me to limit the number of soap varieties you make. Especially if that will save money.
Do you think you could put your price up by 50c but have 4 for $20 so the regular customers still have the same $5 price?
I upped my price from 5.00 then went to 5.50 and this year went to 6.00. However, I still do 4 for 20.00. I've been having a pretty good year though the 3 large venues I do have dropped a bit. I have been able to make up for it by doing wedding/shower favors. My website doesn't do a lot of business but it helps as many of my regular customers are not local to me.
Next year I'm going to jump in with both feet and sign up for one of the biggest venues (most costly I'll ever have done) to see if it's worthwhile. It has the potential to be a huge success but may also be a bomb. They get over 300,000 visitors and have 400 vendors. I stopped doing every show I could last year and it's a lot less stressful for sure.
Next year I'm going to jump in with both feet and sign up for one of the biggest venues (most costly I'll ever have done) to see if it's worthwhile. It has the potential to be a huge success but may also be a bomb. They get over 300,000 visitors and have 400 vendors. I stopped doing every show I could last year and it's a lot less stressful for sure.
Speaking for myself, that's not necessarily true. As a card carrying geeky introvert, I get overwhelmed by too many choices even if I know without a doubt that I want to buy. Sometimes I just have to walk away to get some breathing space so I can let my brain cool down
but that doesn't mean I've given up -- I'm likely to come back later.
jcandleattic
Well-Known Member
I've had my prices at $6.00 per bar for the last 4 years, and also still do the 4/$20. Most people don't even bat an eye, and I do very well at the shows I do. (but only do 4) I've been thinking of possibly raising my prices to $6.50 a bar, however, - I just don't know if that will scare people away. I'd hate to ruin a good thing, but shipping is getting spendier and spendier every time I do an order, so I need to start covering those costs somehow. ..
A
amd
I've thought about that... but it comes down to being lazy - I don't want to have to carry around a couple rolls of quarters to make change. Dumbest.reason.ever. I don't want to deal with quarters.
Holy moly! 300,000! I'll be interested to hear your process for preparing for that show. I've been thinking about doing our state fair, there's one soaper there from IOWA (not to diss Iowa but it's a state fair so you think they could get a soaper from our own state, right?), so I think I would have the potential to do well especially if I advertise "made in South Dakota". I just have no idea how to setup and stock for such an event.
@DeeAnna For some people it is very true! I had one lady at my 2 day show who said she was overwhelmed, took my card and a sample, and then came back the next day. She liked the sample and browsed through my Etsy store to help make her decisions. I think her problem was more that there were too many that she liked, but she didn't want to buy all of them.
@jcandleattic I hear ya on shipping! I'm hoping if I cut some of my costs I'll be able to keep prices stable... because I do spend a lot of money on stupid stuff - molds that I think I'll use and then never do, ingredients that would be cool to use that never get used. I learned alot from posting this thread - namely that focusing on six fragrances is going to be limiting myself too much, and I do need to focus more on what works.
jcandleattic
Well-Known Member
Not dumb! I don't bring coins with me to my shows. My prices are such that the tax is built in, and it's a nice even amount (another drawback to the $.50 increase) 90% of all my customers at shows use cards, so it probably wouldn't be a problem, but there are those, that only deal in cash. Right now I take at least $100 in small bills such as $1's, $5's and $10's. If I did the .50 increase, I would also have to get a roll or 2 of quarters, and nope, like you I just don't want to deal with that.
MySoapyHeart
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Lol, totally stealing this from you @shunt2011
I am working on my assesment papers and want to be able to sell eventually. If I ever get to a point where I get to sell at a market I will make a sign saying:
Sniffing soap - FREE OF CHARGE
Eating soap - YOU EAT IT, YOU BUY IT (Want fries with that?)
Eating soap - YOU EAT IT, YOU BUY IT (Want fries with that?)
NsMar42111
Well-Known Member
That sign would be hilarious! Don't Eat The Soap!
Chiming in with I also do $6 each or 4/$20. The regulars get 4 + and the one timers do the one or two bars deal from what I see LOL
Chiming in with I also do $6 each or 4/$20. The regulars get 4 + and the one timers do the one or two bars deal from what I see LOL
Lin19687
Well-Known Member
Since my bars are huge compared to what I have seen sold around ($5 for a 3.5 or 4.5 oz bar) I have to charge a bit more, only $7 for a 6+ oz bar.
My 4 day fair is in a small town in the middle of my state and I am debating on selling for $6. But I can not find any other people to compare to out there
Screw quarters. I stopped that.
BTW, I don't mind smelling of all the soaps. But Tuesday I had 2 groups of kids that came by.... I think I am all done with kids. I was very nice and chatted with them all but really 3 kids all grabbing and dropping was a bit much. Next time I will say to be very careful and maybe the 'guardian' will get the hint.
I am also changing over to a full sliver, meaning the full face of the bar so you can see the swirl or what ever, for smelling and not a full bar.
My 4 day fair is in a small town in the middle of my state and I am debating on selling for $6. But I can not find any other people to compare to out there
Screw quarters. I stopped that.
BTW, I don't mind smelling of all the soaps. But Tuesday I had 2 groups of kids that came by.... I think I am all done with kids. I was very nice and chatted with them all but really 3 kids all grabbing and dropping was a bit much. Next time I will say to be very careful and maybe the 'guardian' will get the hint.
I am also changing over to a full sliver, meaning the full face of the bar so you can see the swirl or what ever, for smelling and not a full bar.
My bars are 5.5 oz. I don’t mind people just smelling. I enjoy talking to the majority of them. I don’t let kids go smelling a bunch unless they are with an adult.
A few years ago I went up from $6.00 per bar to $7.00 per bar and really never had any complaints. I like even numbers so I do not have to carry a lot of change. So no fifties... I do sell 4 for $25. My bars average around 5.5 some bigger some smaller since not all decide to pour evenly. My customers like to find the largest bar. Even at 5 oz I have no problems with $7 per bar. But I am not in a small town, but in a very small market.
Shari, I hope your big show turns out big. I had an invite to one of those big ones a couple of years ago that I turned down. Glad I did because it was a horrible bust. This was at the Anaheim Convention Center during the Christmas Season and cost over $500 to attend. Do not remember the actual cost but I do remember it was over the $500 mark. It takes a tremendous amount of $5 bars to make the space back let alone make money
Shari, I hope your big show turns out big. I had an invite to one of those big ones a couple of years ago that I turned down. Glad I did because it was a horrible bust. This was at the Anaheim Convention Center during the Christmas Season and cost over $500 to attend. Do not remember the actual cost but I do remember it was over the $500 mark. It takes a tremendous amount of $5 bars to make the space back let alone make money
cerelife
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Not only can you recognize them, but after selling for a long time, you can tell the ones who are 'serial sniffers' from the ones for whom our products are a luxury that just doesn't fit into their current budget.
I try to make the first group comfortable like you said, but the second group never leave my tent empty-handed. Karma is a powerful thing and I know that I'll never go broke by sharing my blessings with others.
This has held true in my business dealings, and at my largest yearly festival I average $1K/day in sales...immensely helped by word of mouth from locals who steer the tourists to my tent
Oh, and I had another soap name epiphany last week....I wanted to try DayStar's Blooming Violets FO since Irish Lass LOVES this one, but I didn't know what to name the soap. I'm driving to work thinking about this when Prince's "When Doves Cry" comes on the radio with the lyrics 'oceans of violets in bloom' - yep this soap will be named after the song...my third Prince themed soap!!
I have been a vendor at craft fairs and markets with my soap and also with products from my leather business. I have learned to keep a careful eye on the children. Most of the kids are just fine and most parents are good about keeping them under control, but there are always a few that cause trouble. I've had pop spattered over my wares (which taught me that soda pop on leather can leave permanent marks!) and my merchandise dropped, bent, or otherwise damaged. Grrr.
amd & jcandleattic, You can carry half-dollars instead of quarters. Yeah, I know, it's still silver, but if you raise prices by 50 cents instead of 25 cents, you wouldn't likely need any quarters. US Banks have them just the same as they have quarters.
jcandleattic
Well-Known Member
Almost all of my bar
My 'normal' bars average 6-6.5oz that I sell for $6 or 4/$20, I also have a "little hands" line where the soaps average about 4oz, that I sell for $4 each or 4/$15. I'm thinking of raising my prices this year. Just to see what happens.
This is me. Not in a small town but a semi-small market. The church on is both a small city and a small market, and it's my best show of the year by far.
My 'normal' bars average 6-6.5oz that I sell for $6 or 4/$20, I also have a "little hands" line where the soaps average about 4oz, that I sell for $4 each or 4/$15. I'm thinking of raising my prices this year. Just to see what happens.
jcandleattic
Well-Known Member
TBH, I'd rather carry quarters than half dollars.
I think if/when I raise prices, it will be on the whole round dollar than to have any change involved.
Lin19687
Well-Known Member
I will have 23 scents for the big fair and 8 that will be at the 4 week mark. If those 8 are hard enough I will bring them.
I think I will lower the price to $6 each, 4/$20 for this Fair as it is small town and very community geared which I love. Would rather sell a lot at 6 then not as many at 7.
I am the only soaper, only Avon, Mary K and Scentsy would be 'competitors'
I think I will lower the price to $6 each, 4/$20 for this Fair as it is small town and very community geared which I love. Would rather sell a lot at 6 then not as many at 7.
I am the only soaper, only Avon, Mary K and Scentsy would be 'competitors'
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I currently have about 20 scents in my inventory with about a few of them “seasonal”. (I.e watermelon for summer, hot cocoa for winter) so I end up with 16 at any one time. I do well at markets with that many and notice people typically stop sniffing after 8-10 unless they are looking for something specific. Personally, when I see a display with 40-50 scents, I walk away. My little brain just can’t handle that much variety and the overall scent of the booth gets to be too much. I also lightly scent my bars because that’s my personal preference and I get many comments that people like that. I think it’s possible to have a limited number of options, even in the US, and do well.
