Direct Sales candle companies...Scentsy, Gold Canyon, etc

[scifichik]

We've been doing the local vendor/crafter circuit and have noticed that it seems EVERYONE has a Scentsy rep in their family, work place, church, etc. How can they sell anything when it seems the marketplace is saturated with reps? I've noticed that they are highly competitive (translate: not nice), particularly with one another and find it interesting that some events will allow more than one rep from the same direct sales source. Also, they are expanding their product line with Grace Adele (putting them at odds with the Thirty-one Gifts gals).

Gold Canyon was a new name to me and I only just encountered it this past weekend. They promote themselves as "upscale" home scenting. They had container candles with lids, about the size of your standard votive starting at $8.75.

It's been a while since I've heard mention of PartyLite, although a couple of years back, everyone was teaming up to to Pampered Chef/PartyLite/Lia Shophia parties. Talk about pressure from friends, and it was like a chain letter parade to host parties for each other. I typically travel frequently for work, and could always gracefully decline party invitations, but would offer to host a "silent party," which consists of putting their catalogs in the break area at work.

We were running a show special on our clams, 4 for $10 or $3 each (which is our normal selling price) and did well. The other candle folks, not so much.

My cousin is a rep for "For Every Home" and they have some sort of soy/parasoy blend that seems to be a "green" Yankme wannabe. Their prices are lower than Scentsy.

[Judy, USMC]

More & more frequently I've been getting the question "Will these work in a $centsy warmer?" Since I do hand-made craft fairs I can't sell the commercially made warmers and welcome the fact that more & more people have gotten their warmers either from $centsy or WalMart. Last fair there were 3 of us selling our melts. Although you can consider us competitors we aren't really - we independently select our FO's and didn't seem to duplicate aromas. Some do clamshells, or mini cups, or baggies of molded melts.

It's obvious to buyers who comparison shop that their cost is always less when dealing with a manufacturer than the price charged by a direct seller/market rep. And it's a real plus for them when they get a higher quality melt for less.

The real kicker comes from the fact that 2 local $centsy reps regularly get their melts from me. I just hate to see the company over-saturate an area with their reps ... somehow it seems unfair to the reps who are just trying to make a little money.

Edited November 26, 2012 by Judy, USMC

[SherriLynn]

I'm sorta thinkin this is another company that will "melt" itself down quickly. Seems many of these bizes go down the tubes rather quickly once saturated with sales reps that don't make the money they want. They have done me a load of business though...Many compare my tart warmers in pricing to theirs... it won't cost ya $50 for a wamer and 3 clamshells here. Plus my clam shells fly off the shelf at $4.oo each or 3 for $10....gosh even at 3.33 each I'm still making almost 5x cost of product.. gotta luv it.

Edited November 28, 2012 by SherriLynn

[scifichik]

I'm sorta thinkin this is another company that will "melt" itself down quickly. Seems many of these bizes go down the tubes rather quickly once saturated with sales reps that don't make the money they want. They have done me a load of business though...Many compare my tart warmers in pricing to theirs... it won't cost ya $50 for a wamer and 3 clamshells here. Plus my clam shells fly off the shelf at $4.oo each or 3 for $10....gosh even at 3.33 each I'm still making almost 5x cost of product.. gotta luv it.

I hear you. We sell for $3/each clamshell or $10/4 and still make a nice profit. We have good product with repeat buyers.