sugarspunmelts Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 I made candles 7 years ago and did pretty well selling to friends and family. I am recently divorced and have a lot of free time on my hands and need extra income so I was thinking of starting up again but going from hobby to business.While I have ZERO desire to do full blown candles again (the though of dealing with wicks makes my skin crawl lol). I do however LOVE the idea of a business in which I only sale "melts" or "tarts". I'm thinking of doing a bakery/candy shop theme and just doing bakery/candy scents. I'm thinking "Scented Brittle Melt", "Candy Melt Bars (clam shells)" and "Cups" (a play on reese's peanut butter cups) ie. Blue Berry Muffin Cups, German Chocolate Cake Cups etc. and wax melters aka "candy jars" of course. Everything will be packaged in Candy or Bakery type packaging. Anyways now to my questions. Is it possible to build a business on melts alone? I would be doing mostly craft shows and online sales and maybe a few "Tasting" parties a few times a year. Anyone out there save a solid business on melt alone?Thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country bee Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 I made candles 7 years ago and did pretty well selling to friends and family. I am recently divorced and have a lot of free time on my hands and need extra income so I was thinking of starting up again but going from hobby to business.While I have ZERO desire to do full blown candles again (the though of dealing with wicks makes my skin crawl lol). I do however LOVE the idea of a business in which I only sale "melts" or "tarts". I'm thinking of doing a bakery/candy shop theme and just doing bakery/candy scents. I'm thinking "Scented Brittle Melt", "Candy Melt Bars (clam shells)" and "Cups" (a play on reese's peanut butter cups) ie. Blue Berry Muffin Cups, German Chocolate Cake Cups etc. and wax melters aka "candy jars" of course. Everything will be packaged in Candy or Bakery type packaging. Anyways now to my questions. Is it possible to build a business on melts alone? I would be doing mostly craft shows and online sales and maybe a few "Tasting" parties a few times a year. Anyone out there save a solid business on melt alone?Thoughts.I mainly sell candle tarts in a large variety of styles.I do fairly well.Not enough to support my self and nothing else .Tart parties are favorite of mine-although it is not me that starts them,friends ccall up and say we are having you a tart party and the sales are great.I sell at the farmers market and do well there,on line is another story.Some have great luck on line,it takes time to build a good customer base.Good luck,it is so much fun and expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugarspunmelts Posted December 12, 2013 Author Share Posted December 12, 2013 Since I'm just starting up I am still in the planning stage of things so this is all kinda new. So you do farmers markets? There are a few near my home that I would like to do. When you do the craft shows or farmers market how much inventory do you take? I'm thinking of starting out with 10 scents and taking 10 of each scent and doing single cups, bags of bark and clam shells. Hmmm that would mean an inventory of 300 items. Is that okay for a craft show/farmers market?How many melts do you typically sale at the farmers market? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubure Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 (edited) I think you can build a business with only melts/tarts. Two or three of my customers who have decided to start their own melt business after having made melts for the first time in their life seem to do pretty well. They are my direct competitors in that online mall we have our shops in (what a joke!)....anyway, they sell amd they have melts and nothing else. Sliver is right, you have to build your customer base with time. I myself have restarted this summer after several years without being able to take care of my business. And some of my oldest and most loyal customers have found me again and keep on buying. So, quality is they key and good service (whereas I see that others are much faster than me - they sell more than I do). So be good and quick and it will work out. Edited December 14, 2013 by ubure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scented Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Well yes it's possible, because Scentsy did it ... difference is that you just make better tarts than Scentsy, which shouldn't be hard to do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Absolutely possible. You don't even have to have a "better" product. You need only to be better at appealing to, reaching and selling to your niche market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcuset Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Sadly, you are absolutely right. Look at YC. Their money is in their marketing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Sadly, you are absolutely right. Look at YC. Their money is in their marketing.It's truly a bonus if your product is actually better. How many people do we know that have outstanding, Best In Class products and packaging, but cannot reach their ideal customers? The most difficult part is marketing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country bee Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I agree ,and you have to listen to who ever visits your booth,they know whats hot and whats not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annie123 Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 That's how I got started but back then we did not have Better Homes and everybody else selling melts at Walmart for $2.00. But Scentsy is a good example of marketing to sell overpriced melts to people who don't know better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 I think the melt market is so much more diversified today and certainly more popular. Because of companies like Scentsy melts are more of a household item along with traditional candles. Since its so diversified, you can make a whole business selling fluted tarts, clamshells, portion cups, etc. Then theres meltors, wall mount meltors. You could even add on wickless candles, flameless candles, sell the bulbs for flameless candles. Then there's reed difusers. You could easily fill 2-3 tables of product for a craft show and still not have enough room.I find that if you have an attractive table and set up and you are a good sales person you should do very well in that market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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