What sells best?

[SoapBro]

Not asking for recipes, just interested in what types of soaps sell best, goats milk? soaps high in olive oil? castile? fancy oil combos? simple ones?


thanks. :mrgreen:

 

[DeeAnna]

Smell sells.

Really, truly.

 

[SoapBro]

Smell sells.

Really, truly.

thats.....disappointing, hearing that when im over here trying to formulate the absolute best soap recipe mankind has ever seen.. you're telling me oils dont REALLY matter, it comes down to the smell/label appeal? :x

 

[lsg]

Vegan soaps seem to sell well and as DeeAnna says a good fragrance sells well. The fragrance of a bar is one of the first things a buyer notices as well as appearance.

 

[Cindy2428]

I think you would probably sell your 1st bar to someone based on smell. They would come back for more for a good soap. Your enthusiasm about a great product will truly make it a winner.

 

[Dorymae]

thats.....disappointing, hearing that when im over here trying to formulate the absolute best soap recipe mankind has ever seen.. you're telling me oils dont REALLY matter, it comes down to the smell/label appeal? :x

When it comes to the general public- scent sells. It is the hook, then the look. I know it sounds terrible but until they try your soap they will not believe you make the best soap and if they don't like the look and smell they won't buy.

Now once you have them try it, then they will come back for the soap. However the scent and look will always have some bearing.

 

[ariella42]

I don't sell soap yet, but I've bought a LOT of it. For me, smell definitely sells a bar, but a well-formulated soap will keep me coming back for more. Beyond that, I think you'll have to figure out your target market and what you like making. I think there's a market for just about every type of soap, but you have to figure out how to tap into it.

 

[SoapBro]

thanks everyone.

 

[DeeAnna]

Sorry to be a bucket o' cold water, Bro. Everyone else is offering perspectives that I also agree with -- casual buyers are going to be pulled into buying by the scent first and attractive appearance second -- and this includes packaging, naming, and labeling as well as the look of the soap itself. Repeat buyers ... will come back for the SOAP itself.

I was looking at a soap display in my local grocery today. The soaps were from Australia of all places -- mind you, I live in the boonies of the upper Midwestern USA. The soaps looked like they were mass produced by being extruded from a machine. They had eye-popping stripes of color and scents that were obvious from three paces away. There was no ingredients list to be seen ... but they were bright and stinky. I can't say if they were good soaps, but I suspect they were from mass produced "noodles" not handcrafted soap.

 

[grumpy_owl]

I think it depends where you live and who your customer is, SoapBro. For me, cute designs and fun names that relate to my city sell well, because I sell in shops frequented by tourists. They won't be back; they don't follow up and buy my stuff online. All they do is bring home a pretty soap as a souvenir of their time here. The soaps I sell or give to friends and family are not as cute but are carefully formulated to be as skin-loving as possible, and I do a lot of special orders. These are my frequent flyers. The retail stuff sells well but does not generate repeat business.

 

[shunt2011]

Another one in the smell sells arena Scent and pretty colors. Most customers don't even look at the ingredients on the label.

 

[pamielynn]

Scent is what keeps L*SH in in business. Scent and killer marketing.

 

[BubblesnBears]

I'd say depends on who your customer base is and how you're targeting them...think about what's going to make the first impression on your customer. If you're selling face to face - in markets or whatever - people are going to in all liklihood smell first, then they'll look at your soap's appearance, texture, ingredients, packaging and such as a secondary factor. If you're targeting an online customer base (this is mainly how I sell - and by word of mouth) then I find that overall ingredients become more important - someone might be looking specifically for a milk soap, one made with locally sourced honey, anxious to know about ethically sourced palm oil, that sort of thing.

 

[navigator9]

Sad but true. I once got all in a huff and thought, "I'm going to make only unscented soap, until people start to pay more attention to the soap itself, and not how it smells!" LOL What others have said is true. It's the fragrance that draws people in. But if you don't have a great soap, they will not be repeat buyers. So stick to your guns and make the very best soap that you can, because that's what will keep people coming back over and over again. I find that repeat customers are the ones who become more interested in different ingredients. I worked for a long time on my basic recipe. It's just that, basic oils, but I tweaked it silly until it was juuuust right, and customers love it. Now, some of those repeat customers will ask for goat's milk, or my facial bar that has avocado in it. But lots of fancy, expensive oils are really not necessary, proportion and balance are key. Make a soap that is hard enough not to melt too fast, has enough bubbles to make customers happy, and conditioning enough to be really gentle on their skin, and you will do well. Oh yeah, and make sure it smells good!!!