Category Archives: Craft & Soap Business

Quick and Easy Add-On item for your store

Want an easy, quick, add-on item for your store? Our wholesale bath bombs will do just the trick. Pair them with bars of soap and you’ll have some very happy customers!

Crazy Love and Very Valentine Bath Bombs!

Let’s face it bath bombs are fun! Often, bath bombs not the item that your customer has come in for but they’re too much fun not to add to their purchase. Especially if you drop a piece into some water! You can put them near the counter or we’ve even seen bath bombs in a bath tub near the front of the store. You may even want to bundle them as part of a gift set. Everyone likes the guesswork taken out of it for them! Especially when they’re buying for someone who’s hard to buy for, you know the one.

Wholesale Bath Bombs

If you’re not carrying these already in your store do yourself a favor and try a small bundle of our best sellers and see how you go. Most of our new bath bomb customers are back very quickly for more. Ask for a combination of our best sellers when you place your order. To test it out, go with the tried and true scents. Then add in any more that you want. Don’t know our best sellers. Not to worry, just ask our office staff and they’ll point you in the right direction.

Easy add-on item for your shop!

Call or email us to get some today! Start your new year with some wholesale bath bombs.

Your Next Best-Selling Handmade Natural Soap

Looking for your next best-selling soap? Want an up-and-coming “hot seller”? Looking for some fresh new ideas? We’re letting you in on a few of our secrets! 

Customers who are looking for a handmade soap want a natural soap alternative to the chemicals that are typically found in store-bought soap. For that reason, natural and uncomplicated continues to be a strong trend with our customers. Beyond our unscented soap, which continues to be popular, we have several others that fit the natural and uncomplicated bill. Another top priority for our customers is self-care and they are keeping that in mind when they are choosing scents and products. In terms of scents specifically, we are also seeing a large upswing in requests for unisex soap. This is a hot trend that is expected to be around for a while. Finally, those in the know are predicting an upcoming trend in the category of vintage, nostalgic, or yesteryear. Here’s what we’re seeing.

Natural

Natural and uncomplicated, or simple soaps include florals which connect us back to earth. Think of your grandmother’s garden and how connected she was with the simplicity of life and the beauty of her garden. Tried and true florals that remain popular with our customers are Lavender, Honeysuckle, Moonlight & Roses, and Plumeria. A trending floral soap scent to add to your shop this year is Sandalwood Verbena which offers a little bit of earthiness along with floral for a natural combination.

Self-Care

Soaking in a tub has long been a favorite way to add a little self-care in your life. Soaps used in self-care rituals generally contain deep, rich earthy fragrances as well as soothing fragrances. A perfect combination of earthy and soothing is our Lavender Patchouli. This scent continues to be a customer favorite and for good reason, we’ve added hints of sweet florals and exotic fruits to this one. Other tried and true customer favorites are our Dead Sea Mud Scrub, Oatmeal, Milk & Honey, and Cherry Almond. Trending soaps that fall into this category are Eucalyptus Aloe and Blue Sea from our Goat’s Milk line of soaps.

Unisex

Shoppers want to have the choice to be less traditional with the scent selections. Soap scents that appeal across-the-board to all folks are a strong trend as well. Some of our tried and true fluid unisex scents that are very popular with our customer base are Black Soap, Gobi Gold, Mountain Air, Cool Water and Kashmir. Trending unisex soaps that are taking off are Charcoal Aloe and Cedarwood Tea Tree. Add some of these hot sellers to the line of soaps you carry. Unisex is a must have category especially for the upcoming year!

Vintage

Think of yesteryear. There is a sort of timeless quality to the vintage pieces that we’re drawn to. Vintage pieces are familiar as something that once was yet elegant enough to still enjoy today. Sometimes they invoke a type of nostalgia and can bring a type of retro fun to our lives. Our Sweet Pea, Egyptian Musk, and Bondi Breeze scents all promote an elegant vintage combination while our Pink Lemonade brings more of a nostalgic feel. A trending soap that falls into the vintage category is Far Out, which is a strong, deep and elegant fragrance. Do not miss this one!

Not only are we starting a new year, we’re starting a new decade, so let’s get this thing kicked off right! We have over 200 scents to choose from and there’s sure to be something for everyone but if you’re looking for that next big seller, take a page out of our book. Our best market research comes from our very own customers. This is because we know that they will only reorder what’s already selling in their own shops. To get a list of our top 20 best sellers contact us today and we’ll take the guesswork out of it for you!

Tips to Make Your Soap Shop Tops

You’ve shown your friends and your family that you know how to make quality and original takes on soaps. You can make a quick batch and your neighbors keep coming back for more. In fact, you’ve even opened up your own online soap shop. Now’s the chance to turn this hobby into a full-time career, but you need to take things to the next level.

When you take photos of your soap, make sure they look amazing. The pics reflect your shop, so you’ll want to invest some time in getting your soap’s picture with the best light and angle. When dealing with customers, engage in a rapport. Send a follow-up email after they make a purchase, leave a handwritten thank-you note in packages, or toss in a freebie in order to get good word-of-mouth and repeat business. Lastly, be sure that you do whatever it takes to establish your brand whether it’s with a catchy name, an emblem, or something to distinguish your work from the rest of the pack. For more marketing tips, please click here:: Top 10 Marketing Tips from Full-Time Esty Sellers

Want Repeat Craft Shop Business? Sign Your Work!

Have you ever been complimented on a shirt you’ve worn, a scent they smell on you from a luxurious soap, or an art piece on your mantle? Usually the follow-up question after the compliment is “Where did you get that?” Well, what if you forgot and the shirt had no tag, the soap’s wrapper had no name on it, or the art piece wasn’t signed? You’d have no idea what to tell your friend.

So don’t let that be your shirt. Don’t let that be your soap. Don’t let that be your artwork. Too many craft and soap sellers don’t label their wares and it hurts them. Many miss out on so many word of mouth sales because they didn’t pack in a business card with the package they shipped, they didn’t sign their name somewhere discreet on the artwork, or they didn’t stitch a label with their brand name on their clothing. “Label” isn’t a bad word; it’s a good marketing strategy. For more on the importance of labels, click here:: Label Maker: Don’t Orphan Your Micro Brand

Give Craft Customers Another Option: Gift Certificates

Let’s say that your online craft or soap shop is doing well and word of mouth is spreading. Customers love your wares and want to send a gift to a friend or family member. However, you know that there are people in your life that are IMPOSSIBLE to shop for. That’s where gift certificates come into play.

Offering gift certificates for customers to buy at your online shop allows a great opportunity not only for a sale, but also allows the recipient to browse around your website to see all your wares rather than just receive the single gift from their friend or loved one. Just be sure that you offer an actual, tangible certificate and have methods in place to redeem balances if an item they use the certificate on is less than its worth. It’ll be a win-win for both the prospective buyer and your craft shop. For a full article on this topic, click here:: How to Offer Gift Certificates in Your Etsy Shop

Perfecting Policies for a Better Online Craft Shop

There are many important factors when setting up shop online. There is the obvious need of making sure you have quality craft products and soaps worth selling and have a stock of them. Marketing also needs attention. However, many budding craft shop owners neglect setting up a policy for their shop.

While it isn’t as fun as making soaps and shipping orders, a solid policy is necessary in order to protect yourself along with letting potential customers know what to expect when they place an order with you. Taking the time to write a simple and fair policy for sales and returns that are in line with local laws helps everyone involved. The sooner you do that, the sooner you’re protect, and the sooner you can get back to the fun business of running your shop. For a full article on this topic, click here:: Service Tips for Sellers: Creating Policies That Work

Selling Handmade Soap at Markets

One of the best ways for selling handmade soap is at local public markets or fairs. This article gives a ton of great advice for new soap businesses to help them achieve a successful, stress free booth! If you’re still new to fairs or markets, set up your booth at home so that you can estimate how much time you’ll need to set up, and also so you’ll know how to do it.

Once you’re there, check out the competition, and also bring someone with you for when you need to take a break to do that, or when you have to go to the bathroom. Another piece of advice is to dress for success; look presentable, but also invest in branding like an apron with your logo on it. Consider how you’ll accept payment, do you have a Square reader, or are you cash only?

Don’t forget that customer service is key, and that you can make a sale just by creating a relationship with the customer. Sell to the customer’s needs by asking them open ended questions instead of bombarding them with facts. See the rest of the article for more tips!

Read the full story here :: Selling Success at Fairs and Public Markets

How Use Twitter For Your Soap Business

Once you’ve got all of the products and knowledge to start your soap business, you’ll need to learn how to use social media to promote it. One of the many important social media sources is Twitter, especially for soap business owners looking to create an online presence. This tutorial teaches you how to set up and use a Twitter handle and why it’s an important business tool.

Read the full story here :: Bramble Business Series: How to Set Up & Use a Twitter Handle

Grab Those Last Minute Holiday Soap Shoppers!

Christmas is less than one week away, but it is still the prime time to get some last minute holiday sales before the end of the year. Many people have procrastinated and would love to purchase some of your soaps if the package can make it to their loved one in time. So what can you do?

You can consider expediting shipping orders for last-minute customers for an extra fee or offset the shipping fee if the customer purchases a certain number of your items. Be sure that you have the materials needed if you agree to either policy (Priority Mail boxes, tape, customs forms, etc.) and a nearby shipping station. You can turn into a lifesaver for procrastinators and win more business this way. For more information about last-minute shipping for shoppers, click here:: How to Lure (and Ship to) Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers

Product Pricing Guide for Soap Business Owners

Whether you’re making your own soaps and buying the raw ingredients or reselling wholesale soaps, you’ll want to know how to have accurate product pricing for your soap business. Are you considering your labor and overhead? Small costs are everywhere, even paper towels, so you need to be sure to account for everything.

In this guide, you’ll learn why if you don’t understand your product expenses and price your soaps accordingly, you’ll become very frustrated. You’ll learn how to determine your distribution model, which describes how you plan on selling your product. Then you’ll learn how to calculate the cost of goods, which is either the raw ingredients, materials, and labor, or the cost of pre-made soaps.

The final step requires a bit more math, but it explains how to determine your pricing strategy. Essentially you add the product cost of goods to the profit you are expecting to make and that’s how you get the price!

Read the full story here :: Guest Post: Pricing Your Products