thesoapbox Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Well I am an absolute PartyLite fan. (please take no offense candlemakers:D ) but I really love them and have bought from them for years. So, I am going to a show tomorrow night and just got their new catalog.Lo and behold they have delved off into the spa section of marketing!They are selling their 4oz body butters for $21.95 and their 8oz sugar scrubs for $24.95:shocked2: They even have french milled soaps that are pretty but I can't complain as they are selling 6 of em for $24.95...however, there is no listing on how big they are so if they are pretty small then that is a high price too.I never would think that those items would sell for that much Holy cow!!Maybe I am hitting the wrong market with my products rofl!Angi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybyrd Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Geez louise ! And I once thought the Body Shop was high wanting $20 for 6oz body butter. I guess if customers feel a product is worthwhile, everything is relative. Then again, I'm a cheapskate. Well, in principle, lol - I first started tinkering with B&B partly because of that, but then I got addicted and I cringe to think how much I regularly spend on supplies. Talk about karmic retribution . . .:embarasse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudsnwicks Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 I guess if customers feel a product is worthwhile, everything is relative. Not only that, they also don't know how much it's supposed to cost. As an example, before I started making B&B items, I bought the shea butter lip balm from L'Occitane at $6 for a 0.25 oz jar. Now of course we know 0.25 oz of shea shouldn't cost anywhere nearly that much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesoapbox Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 I would imagine they are going off of their name. That since they have a very good name in the candle area that the name will carry over to the b&b side and can ask that much for products because their customer base wouldn't blink an eye at paying that much for a PartyLite item.Angi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heirloomoriginals Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 I personally don't care for Partylite (my sil has a party every fall). I think they are way overpriced and not the best out there. That pricing is high on the bath and body stuff, though. Of course, there are people that pay that much for stuff!Steph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadryga Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Of course, there are people that pay that much for stuff!StephYeah... now I can't imagine paying that much for stuff, but well. I'm getting some lotions and stuff from Lindsay (Soaper's Workshop) and I recently spoke to a regular, explaining the lotions I was bringing in and what she thought about 2oz of lotion going for about 20 ringgit (about $6). She goes "That's too cheap! You're selling a premium product here!"Firstly I was flattered silly that she thought my things were "premium products". The Chinese blood in me was also crying with joy at the thought of more money. But it was then that I realized that it really does affect your reputation adversely if you price too low. I don't plan to do a L'Occitane and charge the sky for a tiny tin of shea butter (the tin costs more than the butter as far as I can tell and even then, not THAT much more), but gotta price high enough to distinguish ourselves from the drugstore brands! (Good marketing and pretty labels help.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybyrd Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Firstly I was flattered silly that she thought my things were "premium products". The Chinese blood in me was also crying with joy at the thought of more money. But it was then that I realized that it really does affect your reputation adversely if you price too low. I don't plan to do a L'Occitane and charge the sky for a tiny tin of shea butter (the tin costs more than the butter as far as I can tell and even then, not THAT much more), but gotta price high enough to distinguish ourselves from the drugstore brands! (Good marketing and pretty labels help.)Very true! I find that's possibly the most difficult part of marketing - guilt-free recognition of one's own value. It's hard to look at it from an end-user's perspective when you know to a penny how little something might have cost to make. When I first began showing my jewelry to my friend /coworker a few years back, she insisted I set prices at no less than $15-$25 a piece. I thought she was crazy (some of those cost me less than a dollar in materials), but she pointed out that the time, idea & creativity are all a part of the product & need to be factored in. Sure enough, no one in the office blinked & bought like crazy- felt pretty good! Not just pity purchases either, when several ladies bought "for their mom for Xmas" but would be wearing it themselves later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinInOR Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 It's hard to get past the ingredient cost and price for market and image, isn't it. It's branding - having something cohesive where you can say "I've got a brand" that someone can recognize, instead of saying "I've got all these cool products in popular scents". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Di Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 I would imagine they are going off of their name. That since they have a very good name in the candle area that the name will carry over to the b&b side and can ask that much for products because their customer base wouldn't blink an eye at paying that much for a PartyLite item.AngiI totally agree with this. Companies like Bath & Body and Lush can get away with charging huge prices because of who they are. And people pay it without any questions!!! If I was to put a price like that on my stuff (which I think is better quality), they'd be saying, "You want HOW much???" I don't get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudsnwicks Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 It's hard to get past the ingredient cost and price for market and image, isn't it.It certainly is, when you are able to look at the item and come up with an estimate of the upper bound of its cost. Of course those who don't make B&B wouldn't have this problem. It is just like I buy a t-shirt for $10, and have no idea if the actual cost was $2 or only $0.20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadryga Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 I totally agree with this. Companies like Bath & Body and Lush can get away with charging huge prices because of who they are. And people pay it without any questions!!! If I was to put a price like that on my stuff (which I think is better quality), they'd be saying, "You want HOW much???" I don't get it.People are usually hesitant to part with their money for some unknown brand because this is going through their heads: "I've never heard of this brand. What if I'm paying so much and it's crap?!". All them big companies with good advertisements usually work on getting people familiar with the brand name and creating an "image" to be associated with the brand. This helps overcome the initial "never heard of this brand" bit, and the image (of course it's usually something desirable) gives the person the expectation of something quality.I just usually try and offer great personal customer service (since I don't have a multi-billion dollar advertising budget). Talk to them, drill into them the reasons my stuff is good, smear them all over with my testers and SMILE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Di Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Another thing... when I go to the Lush site, I look at the products and read the customer reviews. Have you ever noticed how many bad reviews there are? Quite a few... hated the fragrance, didn't make many bubbles, too greasy, not greasy enough, won't buy this again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesoapbox Posted August 25, 2007 Author Share Posted August 25, 2007 Well, I just came back from a show tonight and of course spent tons on the candles. I do have to honestly say though that I was not fond of the scents they chose for their spa line..too perfumey. But I love my strawberry-rhubarb candles Angi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybyrd Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 But I love my strawberry-rhubarb candles AngiAnd in the end that's what matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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