Looking to Start a Small Business (Fragrance Diffusers and Candles) and Seek Advice

SwTester on 23/04/2018 - 21:59
Last edited 25/04/2018 - 14:00 by 1 other user

Hi Friends,

Good day!

I came across this opportunity through one of my close friend and was interested to know what our fellow OZBargainers think about starting a small business.

Background : The business idea is buying the fragrance diffusers and candles made by an Australian local company and sell them.

Questions:
1. What do I need to consider in having my first conversation with the owner of the company? Some that I have thought through are : their brand value, their turnover and their ability to quickly supply what my customers are after.
2. How do I go about in finding my customers - any tip will help please.
3. What are my challenges that I will have to go through any experiences around this will assist.

Education & Work Candle Fragrance

Comments

  • neo on 23/04/2018 - 22:33

    This may answer some of your questions - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/372967

  • Laurenlauren on 23/04/2018 - 22:34
    +5

    So another company makes the candles and you sell them? Can customers buy the candles directly off the manufacturing company? If so, consider why cuatomers would buy from you instead of them.

    Candles are everywhere so you need to think about what makes yours different. Really different. For example, there is a company which has done well by placing a piece of jewellery inside the candle as a unique idea.

    Think about the places you'd sell them. Will you have a store? Or an online shop? Or try to sell them at markets? Many of the good markets no longer accept candle stalls because there are so many of them. So you may be limited to the smaller markets. If selling online, you need to consider how you're going to drive traffic to your store and how you're going to develop customer trust. They're buying a product based on smell with no way to smell it, so it takes a lot of trust.

    Promoting your product will depend on whether the manufacturer also sells and promotes. If they do, then you need to be better at getting customers than they are, so they buy from you. Do you think you could build up a customer base better than they can?

    Building a customer base is hard, especially in an over saturated market. Social media sites used to be a great way to promote your brand but now it has become incredibly difficult and time consuming. Print advertising costs money and while brand enthusiast can be effective in the short term, they can also be very expensive.

    Think about your costs too. Will you factor in your time when pricing the product? How many candles would you need to sell just to cover an hr of your time? There are many other overheads too which can easily eat into your profits, so make sure you have a good mark up. Not just 2x what you paid for them, more like 5-10x.

    Any business will happily tell you the right answers if you're enquiring about buying in bulk from them. It works well for them because they can shift a high volume of product for very little work. Just make sure it works well for you.

    • SwTester on 24/04/2018 - 13:03

      Your response is equivalent to a gold. Thank you so much. Will take your inputs into consideration. The only way that I am looking at making money is via the cost difference that I could get from the company with what I could sell it outside.

  • airal3rt on 23/04/2018 - 22:34
    +9

    I 'advise' you to seek 'advice' in relation to all spelling on business promotional material.

    • SwTester on 24/04/2018 - 13:03

      Thanks mate. You got me with this comment.

  • [Deactivated] on 24/04/2018 - 00:35
    +1

    lol dont waste your time.

  • Godric on 24/04/2018 - 06:24
    +1

    Not a saturated Etsy market at all

  • altomic on 24/04/2018 - 07:05

    yeah, nah

  • whooah1979 on 24/04/2018 - 07:14
    +1

    Free shipping is always a good idea.

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