Wholesale, Consignment or Internet? Need Wisdom!

[Catlover]

Just curious what everyone's opinions are regarding the three above selling options?

A website just for info purposes would be cool...but I really don't think I want to get into the shipping thing, since I'm using a very soft wax (which I love) and they tell me it really can't ship safely in warm weather. Plus, I have a very small area for storage and frankly, it sounds like it could be a pain in the ass. Pardon my French.

I'm thinking it may be hard to get a new and unproven product into a shop as a wholesale order...not crazy about the consignment idea, but is that the way to get in the door, then if they sell well, move to a wholesale situation?

I am blissfully ignorant, can you tell??

[barncat]

If you cant ship them in warm weather...first off I would test a new wax. If you dont have any space how will you complete a large wholesale order? Sounds like internet is your only option.

[adillenal]

Are you just starting? In my opinion it would be hard to be a newcomer and jump into wholesale without any kind of customer following.

An information only website is useful if you have local customers that need a place to see what you have and then pick up or you deliver.

I am guessing you are only doing candles by your post and I only do B&B but I do retail at shows and have a booth in a craft mall. Otherwise, I have no suggestions.

[Catlover]

I'm using GB464, which I know is pretty widely used....I'm basing the shipping thing on what Candle Science told me. Haven't actually tried to ship in warm weather yet. I am just starting, with candles only, and am planning on marketing just to my local area for now.

I'm starting very small until I feel I have the business end down-pat--I'm mainly asking if any of you have preferences or dislikes of any of these methods, and if so, what they are. It's a little daunting exploring all the various avenues (particularly with internet...shopping carts, paypal, merchant accounts, shipping costs...arggh!), so I thought I'd get opinions from the seasoned pros.

Thanks~

Terri

Edited January 14, 2010 by Catlover

[Desertrose]

We prefer wholesale over consignment any day.

To have stock tied up sitting there and not making any money upfront for it is a risk.

For you - to have it sitting there is then out of your control (temperature in the shop, people handling it etc)

From our experience so far we're finding that MOST shops want to play it safe and will only order what has been proven to them to sell.....in our case boring jars and melts (rather than our more unique items)

We started out by selling at markets and craft fairs etc first before approaching shops.

That way we ourselves already had a history of selling the products we were asking THEM to sell.

From their perspective I guess, to know that people are already buying your product somewhere makes it less of a risk for them to make an order?

Online sales for us are few and far between and personally I prefer it that way as we too use a blend of soy wax that we would worry about shipping in extremely hot weather.

The palm is fine but soy can be a beast!

I think it's a huge gamble when starting out to try and sell candles exclusively online....(Perhaps when you have proven your product it may be a different story?) but, well......if I were a customer seeing a product for the first time I'd prefer to be able to smell a scent before I bought a candle online.

So, in summary I reckon to get out there FIRST and get some sort of a customer base through selling at markets or craft shows is a good idea - for you to be able to be confident with what you are selling, and for future wholesalers to know that what you are making DOES sell.

Having storage space is just something I reckon comes with making candles.....We've even got candles stacked up in boxes in our bedroom!

Edited January 14, 2010 by Desertrose

[Catlover]

Thanks Tracy!! I've done some word-of-mouth selling thus far, but it makes sense to just get the name out there, as you said, and then hopefully someone will make a leap to buy wholesale from me. I used to buy tons of Beanpods at this one gift shop, so I plan on talking to that guy about the "local" slant of my candles. I live in a somewhat small town, so we'll see. My husband's barber wanted to sell a few on consignment, but he's always talking about some kind of pyramid scheme and trying to recruit people so....yikes!

I also wouldn't buy a candle online without smelling it first...but obviously lots of folks do. I've already found from buying fo's that the description may be much nicer than the actual smell! Like you, I wouldn't mind a few sales here and there via the internet, but all the d*^m shopping cart options are mind-boggling. At least USPS flat-rate shipping could simplify that part...how do you go about figuring that for your online customers? What "shopping cart" do you use?

As for storage, I just didn't want masses of shipping materials around, but we put up some extra shelving in our office closet to get some of the candles, etc. out of our bedroom, and now it smells great in there!

Thanks again for your help.

Terri

[Desertrose]

No worries

The guy in the gift shop that already knows you as a customer may be a good place to start.

Why not give him a free sample to try? Nothing better than shopkeepers seeing for themselves what you have to offer and everyone loves a freebie!

When we first approached shops we gave away a few jar candles and some melts for them to try. In the scheme of things, it's all advertising!

Our website is totally my husband- Richards, domain.

I really have no idea what shopping cart we use or how he did it.

All I know is he pulled out what little hair he has left while designing our site!

I'll get him to reply to you when he gets a chance.

[mparadise]

I would definitely try some local shows and maybe farmers markets to get the name/product recognition then you will build a customer base. You can find local shows at craftlister.com and farmers markets are fairly inexpensive. My biggest wholesale acct found me at a local market.

[RichardLOZ]

At least USPS flat-rate shipping could simplify that part...how do you go about figuring that for your online customers? What "shopping cart" do you use?

As for storage, I just didn't want masses of shipping materials around, but we put up some extra shelving in our office closet to get some of the candles, etc. out of our bedroom, and now it smells great in there!

Thanks again for your help.

Terri

Terri

We use OSCommerce as the shopping cart on our site. It is a somewhat heavily modified version of the cart to do what I want it to do, and seems to work quite well.

It free and thats a definite bonus, and I already host a number of other websites so to add the candle site was no issue.

If you are not confident in building / configuring your own cart on a hosting provider, there are plenty of others around, which I am sure some of the other people here on the board can advice you about as I do know lots use them.

Dont even go down the storage path.....LOL. I am currently trying to source my jars direct from the manufacturer in China, however they are wanting me to take 10,000 pieces....LOL. I dont think I would have the room to store that many

I am now trying to get a pallet, which is about 1440 jars, which in itself is quite a lot for us, not to mention soy wax, 3 types of palm wax and 60 odd scents that we carry, as well as associated molds, and of course the finished product.

Isnt this a fun way to spend time, not to mention money

[LuminousBoutique]

I do wholesale, one consignment acct (because I know her and trust her), online (but hardly ever make online sales) and my best has been shows. Farmers market every Saturday, and random holiday or summer shows.

My only problem is I am also a GB 464 fan, and I cannot have my soy candles out in the hot summer months in my booth. So I am planning on putting out some small testers, like tealights or 3oz containers, and storing the rest in coolers under the table to pull out if people want them. Thats my only option. For indoor shows and winter shows its never a problem.

for wholesale, they all found me at shows. BUT- there is a local shop I think I would do really well in, and I am simply going to approach them this summer. I'm going to bring a big basket of several of my products in a mix of scents (soap, B&B, and candles) and a rate sheet, photos of my displays at other shops, and just see what happens! Thats really the best I can do. Dont be afraid to stick your neck out a little!

[Catlover]

Thanks for the awesome ideas, everyone! I need to check into the local shows/fairs--I haven't done that yet. And it sounds like no one is really a fan of consignment...sounds to me like it's no fun for either side to keep up with.

I love the idea of having your candles in coolers with small samples out in the heat; TN summers can be brutal! I have some verbage for a brochure ready to go, and I'm only doing two sizes of candles right now so there's not a lot of pricing to go into. Just need to figure out the terms of any wholesale agreement I may be lucky enough to snag. Do you supply your entire display to the shops, or does it depend on where they'll be putting them? (There's a salon near me that sells Mia Bellas, just stuck on a bookshelf, but of course the speciality shops have slicker displays for other stuff.)

Richard, good luck with that massive shipment of jars! And "cheers" is right....time for a cocktail. Thanks again~

Terri