An observation

[bfroberts]

The hubs and I are on winter hiatus. We always spend Dec-Jan in eastern NC.  I don't make or sell any candles here.  We've spent a lot of time lately shopping antique malls and local shops.  It's kind of a touristy area and shops are plentiful.  Every shop seems to carry at least one line of locally made candles, and of course I always have to check them out.  What I'm seeing is that they all, without fail, use the same supplier for scents....CS.  I know CS up one side and down the other and there's no mistake.    I realize CS is only 100ish miles away but dang.  No one is blending anything, and they aren't even bothering to rename the scents.  The large majority are even using the same containers. 

 

It's pretty flabbergasting to me that no one even tries to set themselves apart from their competitors.  

 

A couple of the nicer shops do carry some candles that look a bit more professional...basically just meaning they have better labels....but still, it's the same CS scents, same names, same wax.  Same everything.

 

My mind is blown.  So, what's the competition like in your neck of the woods?

[Quentin]

21 minutes ago, bfroberts said:

they aren't even bothering to rename the scents.  The large majority are even using the same containers. 

 

It's pretty flabbergasting to me that no one even tries to set themselves apart from their competitors.  

It's just a fact that some people are lazy and/or don't have any creative thoughts so they copy what they see. I always, at the very least, TRY to come up with another name. For example, I buy "Island Nectar" from Peek but I use the name "Island 40 Nectar" on my labels. It's sort of a local thing. I live just a hop, skip and jump from the Mississippi River. The section of the Mississippi River down south here is loaded with islands. So many islands, that most of them don't have names. They just number them on the river charts. Island 40 is a well known hunting area. I've never seen it. I can't even tell you exactly where it is! I've only heard of it. Even people who have never heard of Island 40 MIGHT have their interest piqued by that name. Some will. Some won't.   

 

The people on this forum are a little smarter than the average dog. That's why you're baffled when you see the stuff you described. I see the same things you saw when I go in the shops around here. I always ask myself, "Self, can't they come up with anything else?" I always answer myself the same way, "No, they can't."  All they can do is copy what they see and think that's the road to success. It doesn't mean they're not intelligent. They just aren't gifted with the creative mind for the type things we do. They may be talented in other ways and be able to do things I could never dream of doing. I can't play a musical instrument. I'm not good at any sport that requires good eye-hand coordination, so I ran track in school. Electronics is a mystery to me. I would love to be able to weld and I tried it. I just wasn't gifted in those things.  Rub your finger across the lid on one of their jars and see how much dust is there. You've hit on a very important point. If we don't do something to set us apart from the others, no matter how small the detail, our products will sit beside theirs and collect just as much dust.

[GailC]

@bfroberts, I know of one other local candle maker, in the next small town west of mine.  He has a booth in the same flea marker that I used to rent a bookcase from to sell my candles and melts.  He uses jars and tins.  I quit that flea market 3 years ago or so.  A few months later, I was contacted by a lady who was opening a farm to table store and wanted locally made products. And she wanted to buy my candles wholesale, which was a lot better than trying to make a profit after paying $45 a month to rent a bookcase. 

 

Last summer I was contacted by an acquaintance whose husband was opening a meat shop in the next town over.  They had bought my candles in the farm to table store and liked them.  So now I have 2 wholesale accounts, although the meat shop is a very small one.  I'm just glad they evidently hadn't heard of Pittsboro Candle Company right there in their town.   No offense to the Pittsboro candle guy if you're on this forum.   

 

[CorgiCaper]

I rewrite descriptions on my web (with same scent notes, but some with humor, some with wit added and make the scent descriptions fun to read.  I also rename 95% of the scents I use and trademark a lot of my names through USTPO.  I cannot tell you how many customers are drawn to the names .... it's a conversation piece and then they want to smell and sniff test.  It's an amazing marketing tool if you have imagination and creativity 😍

Cheers!

CC

[Laura C]

22 hours ago, bfroberts said:

It's pretty flabbergasting to me that no one even tries to set themselves apart from their competitors.  

 

A couple of the nicer shops do carry some candles that look a bit more professional...basically just meaning they have better labels....but still, it's the same CS scents, same names, same wax.  Same everything.

 

My mind is blown.  So, what's the competition like in your neck of the woods?

 

Wow, that is flabbergasting. Sounds like creativity is MIA in that area. LOL

[Sarah S]

A while ago I did a show where there was another wax vendor selling melts. All she did was melts, in soy wax, with about 100 different scents. And it was all fragrances from the same company, basic scents, names unchanged. Maybe her product was great, I am certainly not judging, but gosh, that just sounds soooo boring to me as a maker.

I totally agree with @Quentin, that creativity is something that not everyone can apply, but that is what sets apart those who run a business from those who market their passion. @bfroberts, girl, certainly those business can't hold a candle to your level of creativity, pun intended!! 😆

[CorgiCaper]

Can you all tell me how chandlers do all soy wax melts when soy is so dang soft?  I use a coconut & soy blend and they would never pop out of the clamshell ... it's more like use a butter knife and dig it out ... sorry ... off topic 🙄

[Sunday]

On 1/11/2019 at 8:57 PM, Quentin said:

t's just a fact that some people are lazy and/or don't have any creative thoughts so they copy what they see. I always, at the very least, TRY to come up with another name. For example, I buy "Island Nectar" from Peek but I use the name "Island 40 Nectar" on my labels. It's sort of a local thing. I live just a hop, skip and jump from the Mississippi River. The section of the Mississippi River down south here is loaded with islands. So many islands, that most of them don't have names. They just number them on the river charts. Island 40 is a well known hunting area. I've never seen it. I can't even tell you exactly where it is! I've only heard of it. Even people who have never heard of Island 40 MIGHT have their interest piqued by that name. Some will. Some won't.   

 

The people on this forum are a little smarter than the average dog. That's why you're baffled when you see the stuff you described. I see the same things you saw when I go in the shops around here. I always ask myself, "Self, can't they come up with anything else?" I always answer myself the same way, "No, they can't."  All they can do is copy what they see and think that's the road to success. It doesn't mean they're not intelligent. They just aren't gifted with the creative mind for the type things we do. They may be talented in other ways and be able to do things I could never dream of doing. I can't play a musical instrument. I'm not good at any sport that requires good eye-hand coordination, so I ran track in school. Electronics is a mystery to me. I would love to be able to weld and I tried it. I just wasn't gifted in those things.  Rub your finger across the lid on one of their jars and see how much dust is there. You've hit on a very important point. If we don't do something to set us apart from the others, no matter how small the detail, our products will sit beside theirs and collect just as much dust.

Quentin...I have to think that perhaps their skill is in business...like they say you don't always have to reinvent the wheel. Although I'm not a big fan of knock off products I think there is something to be said for this type of business. Aldi knocked of Jo Malones expensive candles.. labels are similar scents are spot on and prices are ridiculously low  so they are flying off the shelves. I wouldn't mind if my candles were flying off the shelves...I'm gonna guess I'm just more artist than business woman...at least that's what I'm telling myself.

https://www.housebeautiful.com/shopping/a20631053/aldi-jo-malone-candles/

 

[TallTayl]

54 minutes ago, CorgiCaper said:

Can you all tell me how chandlers do all soy wax melts when soy is so dang soft?  I use a coconut & soy blend and they would never pop out of the clamshell ... it's more like use a butter knife and dig it out ... sorry ... off topic 🙄

Might depend on the brand. C3 is really quite “hard” in texture for instance. 

[CorgiCaper]

Thank you @TallTayl

[CorgiCaper]

19 minutes ago, Sunday said:

Quentin...I have to think that perhaps their skill is in business...like they say you don't always have to reinvent the wheel. Although I'm not a big fan of knock off products I think there is something to be said for this type of business. Aldi knocked of Jo Malones expensive candles.. labels are similar scents are spot on and prices are ridiculously low  so they are flying off the shelves. I wouldn't mind if my candles were flying off the shelves...I'm gonna guess I'm just more artist than business woman...at least that's what I'm telling myself.

https://www.housebeautiful.com/shopping/a20631053/aldi-jo-malone-candles/

 

Uuuggghhh ... ridiculous on the Aldi thing 🤨

[MilosCandles]

@CorgiCaperI use GW 444 for my candles and melts,  works great for both.  GW 464 would never work.

[Candybee]

The majority of my candle scents are my own blends, but I do have a limited few and at least a couple of these I keep the same name as the supplier's just because I like it. It just seems natural to me to be creative with names I think because there used to be so many other local chandlers I wanted mine to stand out. Now there are much fewer chandlers around but the urge to be competitive just stuck. Maybe I should count my blessings?!!

[Quentin]

14 hours ago, Candybee said:

The majority of my candle scents are my own blends, but I do have a limited few and at least a couple of these I keep the same name as the supplier's just because I like it. It just seems natural to me to be creative with names I think because there used to be so many other local chandlers I wanted mine to stand out. Now there are much fewer chandlers around but the urge to be competitive just stuck. Maybe I should count my blessings?!!

I do that too. With some fragrances like Patchouli, for example, I label it just like that. Then for people who don't know what Patchouli is, I label it as "Flower Child". Lavender is a little tough for me to rename. I usually just go with Lavender. If the color comes out differently than expected, I might call it "Purple Lavender", "Dark Lavender" or  "Light Lavender", etc. I tried to make a dark red rose the other day. I was going to name it "Reddest Rose". However, it never came out the right red I was hoping for,  so I named it "Enchanted Rose". 

[bfroberts]

I guess what's so mind boggling to me is that even with all the competition no one seems to be going the extra mile to set themselves apart. 

I keep a few suppliers names as well, and I do use a bunch of scents straight/no blending.  But I can't imagine wanting to be one of a dozen stalls under one roof with a shelf of "Macintosh Apple, Clean Cotton, Very Vanilla and Oakmoss & Amber."  

There's so much amazing creativity on this board.

 

I feel so fortunate to have found Craft Server.  It's definitely made me a better candle maker, and it's made me want to go that extra mile.

 

[kandlekrazy]

I can so relate to them for shopping local for supplies...however, I'm one that likes to see what's out there and be different if I can in my area.  It's hard to even imagine that they all chose the same container when CS has many to choose from but maybe it's the most appealing?  IDK some don't research at all I guess.

[Jcandleattic]

14 hours ago, Candybee said:

The majority of my candle scents are my own blends, but I do have a limited few and at least a couple of these I keep the same name as the supplier's just because I like it.

this is my experience as well. 

 

I rename mainly because I have too. When I blend I rarely blend less than 3 scents, and typically it's usually 3-4, and if I named my candle all the names of the scents I use, it would take up the entire label, and people would probably just look at it and be confused (I have some really strange FO combinations, that seem like they shouldn't work, but they do) 

[Quentin]

16 minutes ago, Jcandleattic said:

this is my experience as well. 

 

I rename mainly because I have too. When I blend I rarely blend less than 3 scents, and typically it's usually 3-4, and if I named my candle all the names of the scents I use, it would take up the entire label, and people would probably just look at it and be confused (I have some really strange FO combinations, that seem like they shouldn't work, but they do) 

Many times I too HAVE to change the name just to get it to fit on label without making the type so small you'd need an electron microscope to read it.

[Candybee]

3 hours ago, Quentin said:

I do that too. With some fragrances like Patchouli, for example, I label it just like that. Then for people who don't know what Patchouli is, I label it as "Flower Child". Lavender is a little tough for me to rename. I usually just go with Lavender. If the color comes out differently than expected, I might call it "Purple Lavender", "Dark Lavender" or  "Light Lavender", etc. I tried to make a dark red rose the other day. I was going to name it "Reddest Rose". However, it never came out the right red I was hoping for,  so I named it "Enchanted Rose". 

 

Why not call it Don Juan?... There is a red rose named after him and I used to have a Don Juan red rose bush in my backyard. Everytime I think of red roses I think of Don Juan..sigh!😉

[Quentin]

8 minutes ago, Candybee said:

 

Why not call it Don Juan?... There is a red rose named after him and I used to have a Don Juan red rose bush in my backyard. Everytime I think of red roses I think of Don Juan..sigh!😉

That's another good one that could be used. 🙂

[Laura C]

On 1/13/2019 at 1:36 PM, Sunday said:

Quentin...I have to think that perhaps their skill is in business...like they say you don't always have to reinvent the wheel. Although I'm not a big fan of knock off products I think there is something to be said for this type of business. Aldi knocked of Jo Malones expensive candles.. labels are similar scents are spot on and prices are ridiculously low  so they are flying off the shelves. I wouldn't mind if my candles were flying off the shelves...I'm gonna guess I'm just more artist than business woman...at least that's what I'm telling myself.

https://www.housebeautiful.com/shopping/a20631053/aldi-jo-malone-candles/

 

 

On 1/13/2019 at 1:56 PM, CorgiCaper said:

Uuuggghhh ... ridiculous on the Aldi thing 🤨

 

Ouch, that's hard to look at!

[Faerywren]

On 1/13/2019 at 11:43 AM, CorgiCaper said:

Can you all tell me how chandlers do all soy wax melts when soy is so dang soft?  I use a coconut & soy blend and they would never pop out of the clamshell ... it's more like use a butter knife and dig it out ... sorry ... off topic 🙄

You would do a blend of container soy and pillar soy.

[Paintguru]

In some ways, I understand using the same name for traditional scents like "Clean Cotton" or "Apple Cinnamon", but for the more unique scents, why wouldn't you change things?  Part of the fun of this is coming up with names, designs, stories, etc. to set yourself apart.  

[Quentin]

On 1/13/2019 at 6:56 PM, MilosCandles said:

@CorgiCaperI use GW 444 for my candles and melts,  works great for both.  GW 464 would never work.

I seem to have bad luck with both of these waxes. I like them because they hold large amounts of fragrance. What I don't like is I never get a nice smooth top from either. Maybe that's impossible. If so, I can accept that and proceed. Is that just the nature of the these two waxes? I hope I'm not opening up one of those contentious pouring temperature discussions again.

[Quentin]

8 hours ago, Paintguru said:

In some ways, I understand using the same name for traditional scents like "Clean Cotton" or "Apple Cinnamon", but for the more unique scents, why wouldn't you change things?  Part of the fun of this is coming up with names, designs, stories, etc. to set yourself apart.  

I like to come up with new names too. Even when it comes to things like "Clean Cotton" or "Apple Cinnamon", I at least consider another name. My thinking behind this is how many more "Clean Cottons", "Amish Harvests", "Apple Cinnamons" or "Pecan Pies" does the market need?