Making handmade soap can be challenging and also very fulfilling.
Marketing handmade soap can be down right daunting. After you sell a
few bars to family and friends, where do go from there? Craft fairs
and Christmas bazaars are a natural choice, though they both have
very limited seasons. If you make a commitment to a retail space,
then you are truly taking that next big step. That step however
could be financially fatal. Many crafters are not in a position to
make such large commitment, especially at the outset of their
endeavor. This is why finding a viable alternative to renting retail
space is the single most important task you will pursue in assuring
your crafting hobby turns into a successful small business.
The great equalizer in the world of small business is the internet,
or so we were told. Yet there are thousands of small, and large
businesses alike that have failed in the arena of ecommerce. Are
there any lessons to learn from these failures? Is it possible for a
small crafter to compete with the super retailers.
The main advantage of being a crafter is that you posses a product
that is truly unique and it has ongoing demand from a very loyal
customer base. I have had soap buyers spend weeks to track me down,
just to get a bar of my soap that another crafter was selling at a
fair. These customers are committed to buying products from local
crafters because it helps local communities and supports local
economies. These are the types of customers that the crafter should
be targeting.
There are several outlets on the internet that target craft buyers.
Some of these charge very nominal fees and are a great place to get
your feet wet in craft marketing. You can list several items and let
the market tell which products are likely to get the best response.
One of the best sites is Etsy. If you haven't tried them, you
should. They have a very loyal following and their overall business
is growing every month. Because they have a great feedback system
you can also see what items other crafters are having success with.
This is great way to get ideas or new products. Please do not
blatantly copy other crafters works. Use these new ideas you see to
integrate with your own products.
The other site to get great ideas and market information from is
Ebay. Their fees have gotten a bit outrageous lately so be careful
as they can kill your marketing budget very quickly. For market
research though, they can't be beat. I have discovered many hot new
fragrances for my handmade soap on Ebay. Stores start at $15.95.
This is about as cheap as any ecommerce opportunity available today.
Jeffrey Dorrian is the soap guy. Really, that is his website lye
soap He has been making premium handmade soap for the past six
years. "Handmade soap is a true inexpensive luxury anyone can
enjoy." wholesale soap
By Jeffrey Dorrian is the webmaster at thesoapguy.com. He has been making handmade soap for six years. "Handmade soap is a little luxury anyone can afford". Premium wholesale soap Old fashioned lye
soap
