what are your bestseling products and why?

[Guest]

Hello all! I have a long way to go before I start selling soap (I want to wait at least one year from now to get all my suds in a row) but I wanted to know what your most popular soaps were, and why. Is there a specific soap that customers ask for more than others, or they say they just "can not live without?" Also, what about essential oils and plant colorants vs. fragrance oil and pigments? Do your customers seem to mind if you use fragrance oil, do they like organic/plant soaps better than pretty/smelly good soaps? Do you carry two lines (one organic/plant and one pretty/smelly good)? It seems that you would have to charge significantly more to make the soaps from higher quality oils and plants.

 

[Tabitha]

My best selling soap or scent won't be yours. The research I did to find my bests will not be valid in your market. You must pinpoint your specific customer base & reaserch their needs, wants & likes. If you are selling to cowboys, leather scented soap will be a big hit. If you are selling to hippies they won't touch a bar of of leather scented soap. If you are selling to gothic young adults, a bar of soap called bloodbath and pots of black lipgloss will sell very well, if you are selling to blue haired little older ladies, bloodbath and black lip gloss won't go over.

You will have to define your customer base first, then you will have to survey them, not us.

 

[carebear]

hmmm. I spent considerable time and money getting to know my customers. even if I was willing to tell you the result of all my research, it wouldn't mean much unless you lived next door, and probably not even then. you will have to do your own. there are probably some good books in the library on market research. start there.

 

[AmyW]

Yep, make a business plan, market research is a huge part of it.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabu ... 38290.html
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217345

 

[judymoody]

I don't sell, but I recommend that you soap to please yourself. Develop your own recipes, style, and confidence in your product rather than trying to please a hypothetical audience. Only when you put your product out there will you know if you need to make modifications and if so, which ones.

 

[AmyW]

In theory that's good advice judymoody, but execution would result in a lot of frustration (not to mention lost profits and possible business failure). Knowing your target market well before you start helps you cater your advertising and other practices to them.

Like Tabitha said, if you have a line of soap that is very feminine but you market to older business men, you better be marketing it to encourage they buy for their wives/significant others, or you aren't likely to get a lot of business.

If you're on facebook and you're marketing to housewives/mothers, your posts would be better off "speaking their language" - friendly and more girl-talk, vs if you're marketing to, we'll say Tabitha's cowboy, which you're less likely to talk girly and "fun".

Rough examples. Knowing your market is critical. It's a common misconception that you can do whatever and the business will come, but unless you have some amazing skills that most small business owners don't, it won't work and you won't stay in business long.

 

[Relle]

I soap to please myself and sell what I make. A lot of the time customers don't know what they want.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the quick responses everyone!

I have my target market(s) identified and I have a business plan. I am even talking with a marketing research professional to help with logo design, web design, and product placement. Selling soap is 90% packaging after all (maybe even 95%) and the rest making soap. People want to buy things that are pretty, especially when it comes to bath products. This is the MAIN reason I want to wait so long to start selling my soap (well that, and I want to see what its max shelf life is ;P) - gotta get the design and marketing perfect before you start!

So I realize that I have to pinpoint my target market I was just curious to see what customers have given you all in terms of feedback. For instance, if you are planning on marketing to cowboys, and make four or five leather fragranced soaps, and have your logo design incorporating a hat and a lasso, did you ever have any cowboys come back and say, I wish you would offer XYZ instead of what you are carrying now? Did they ask for girly soaps for their wives when you were not initially planning on marketing to women?

So, with this in mind, your target market can also expand - or it can be large to begin with - say 15 - 34 year old females (AKA Victoria Secret), people on a budget (Target or Wal-Mart), etc. or you can get quite specific - people with skin sensitivities that want absolutely no fragrance or colorants. Also, I was really wondering if anyone had marketed to two different target markets at the same time, by offering an organic essential oil soap and also with a fragrance oil, colored soap.

 

[Tabitha]

Judy & Amy, you are both right. You would probably be included in your target market therfore soaping to suit yourself should suit your target market as well. If you are a goth at heart, your target market probably wouldn't be a hippie market. You are best targeting your market twords a group you fit in or wished you fit in and have an understnding of.