How we scaled our small handmade soap business & sell to wholesale customers. Wholesale selling tips

A shameless plug first! In this video we mention that we have just this week signed up to Faire as another route for selling our products wholesale. If you are considering signing up to Faire as a brand or retailer, we would really appreciate you using our links to sign up. We will earn a commission from this and you will also be given a welcome offer.
To view Faire as a retailer (and earn a bonus of £300 that you can spend on our products) you can follow our link here: sussexsoap.faire.com/user/sig...
To view Faire as a brand you can follow our link here: www.faire.com/apply/sussexsoap
Today I am going to be discussing with you how we grew our small soap making and bath and body business and started selling our products to wholesale customers and offering you hints and tips on how you can do the same. Our advice will be relevant to most handmade craft businesses, so just because you may produce a different craft to us doesn't mean the information we give in this video won't be relevant, because it is highly likely that it will be!
I will begin by discussing what wholesale is and the different types of wholesale that you may encounter on your soap making business journey.
I will tell you how we wholesale our products and also offer some suggestions on what to do and what not to do!
I will also tell you about our experience of the advantages and disadvantages of selling your products to trade customers.
The content within this video is all based on our own opinions and findings. Remeber, what works for us may not work fo ryou and vice versa, so please, take this as a guide but read up on everything and research for yourself as well!
We have tried to break the information down into easy to understand sections, but if there is anything else you would like to know, do pop a comment down below!
If you enjoy our videos and soap making tutorials please do give us a like and subscribe :-)
We will be uploading new soap making videos every alternate Friday and new behind the scenes/business tips videos whenever we get the chance to!
You can also follow us and find our soaps here:
www.sussexsoap.co.uk
sussexhandmadesoap
sussex_handmade_soap
If you do head over to our website, we offer our KZbin friends 20% off purchases if you enter code "youtube20" at checkout :-)

[@DeDeHodo]

Great video. Thanks so much for sharing.

[@phatwombat4241]

you are an amazing person, so intelligent, charming, sincere, honest, generous, diligent. Thank you for these informative videos.

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

Thank you very much and you are most welcome :-)

[@aordinarygirl7403]

I love the long videos! Very helpful, thank you for everything you do! ♥️

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

I am glad to hear that - I was concerned if it was too long and would bore people! It is nice to know people do enjoy them!

[@lisaalty5776]

Watching this to cure post holiday blues and I am so glad to hear it is not just me who makes a loss at craft fairs😊

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

It is certainly not just you Lisa! Thankfully it only happens rarely for us, but it is so demoralising when it does! We do like to think that at least if we make a loss on the day itself that we may make sales further down the line from people who have spotted us or picked up our business card (as we often see a peak in online sales from areas where we have done craft fairs a few weeks after the event) but you never can tell!

[@jessicaalcaraz7038]

Thanks so much for the business advice

[@jennyhuizar1]

This is incredibly helpful. I sell seasonal wreaths and have been learning about the wholesale world. Your insights have been one of the most thorough in my research so far. Thank you!

[@sadielefroy]

You are always so generous with your knowledge. Thank you. ❤️

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

You are welcome and we are very happy to share what we can and help others too :-)

[@maryeberle8994]

Thank you for this very helpful and thorough video on the business side of things. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

[@pammathews7211]

Thank you for taking the time to make this video. Very informative!

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

Thank you Pam, I hope you find it useful :-)

[@omba8221]

Thank you very much for the tips x

[@BeechHillSoap]

Very informative video! Looking forward to part 2 😊

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

Thank you Lisa, we do need to do a follow up to this really! Faire didn't turn out to be very good for us, but I am sure there are other parts to the video that need a little update!

[@annaszymanska6125]

lovely o see you again, thank you for that video ❤

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

You are welcome Anna

[@theterifox]

Thank you for sharing. I enjoy all of your videos ♥️

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

Thank you Teri, we love making the videos and it is so lovely to hear that other people enjoy watching them as much as we enjoy making them!

[@samanthamcarthur1566]

A really helpful video! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with these videos and really hope the rest of 2022 goes well for you, despite the current economic climate! X

[@nilzagarcia6341]

Very informative! Thank you for sharing.❤️

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

You are welcome Nilza :-)

[@AlexSilva-op4mi]

You are an amazing human being! Truly inspiring person. Thank you 😊 💓

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

Thank you so mcuh Alex :-)

[@melaniebrown6610]

Super helpful. Thank you

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

You are welcome :-) Glad it was helpful!

[@boop7313]

That was really helpful thanks! I'm looking forward to next weeks video about finding stockists too xx

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

You are very welcome! The next installment is up now, so I hope you enjoy it!

[@glenisgibson9736]

I absolutely love you videos and have missed you, although I do subscribe to your channel. I have just started watching you again and what a fantastic start. What I love is the fact you are so happy to share your knowledge with us, especially things that have not quite work out for you so we can avoid those pitfalls. such a warm and generous person. I really like the wooded display stand behind you on the video could I be cheeky and ask you to share where you brought this from? Many thanks Glenis

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

Thank you so much Glenis, we have missed being on here too! The wooden stands are fantastic and work so well for us at fairs. They come in a few different size options too. We purchase them from thestuffilove.com They are not cheap but they are so well made and it is a small business who sell them, so it is great to be able to support another small company.

[@wisdomofthematriarch461]

Love your haircut💖

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

Thank you :-) I am testing our own shampoo bars on it at the moment, so fingers crossed they work!

[@topafkar]

Good 👍

[@johnmenoche658]

How do you project & forcast how much to make before selling on Faire? Also what to you give as lead time with soap sales for Faire? Thank You

[@katarzynaderkacz39]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your time, effort and experience you've shared in this video (others too 😁🌷).

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

You are very welcome as always Katarzyna :-) It is our pleasure!

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

While you were taking a break from KZbin, my desire to make and sell soaps one day basically vanished. But I love that you're back to being a terrible influence one me! Super super helpful video as per usual. I've heard of Faire but didn't know much about the ins and outs of it, that returns situation is so bizarre. Still, hope it works out well for you and you end up with some big repeat customers!

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

I am very glad that I can be back to be a terrible influence once again! I think at some point or another everyone loses the desire to make soap - for me it is when we have been super busy and I feel I haven't had a moment to stop. When that happens, I try and take a break for a week or two and by the end of it, I am raring to go again! Yes, we are hoping Faire will go well, we have had one order so far (but it is from a customer we already had before, so doesn't really count!) I will update when I have given it a chance to see how well it works for us.

[@Hilary_ClarbySoaps]

Great video thank you 💕…off to check my insurance!

[@irenegourley6647]

Thank you for this very helpful video. You mention insurance for wholesale, can you give any advice on companies in the UK who provide this? Thanks

[@lisakepplewestcountryaroma740]

Amazing video, very informative and helpful! Would you be able to talk about white label wholesale customers as this confuses me so much? Thanks so much! Xx

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

We will certainly look into doing a video on this Lisa. We personally don't white label so I will need to double check what I think I know about the subject (Just to be sure I am correct) but we will certainly add it to our to do list!

[@natalieschannel4508]

What do you think about using a fulfillment company

[@empathicone21]

How do you charge for exclusive geographic area so your company doesn't loose money. Especially in a large city? How do you sell white label or private label? (Pricing)

[@93Oussi]

Hello, thanks for this! Don't faire charge 25% off your first order then it drops to 15%?

[@natalieschannel4508]

Yes, she mentions it around the 9-10 min mark

[@bitty_bytes001]

Did you do eBay?

[@TheSussexHandmadeSoapCompany]

No, we have never done ebay with this business. I personally feel that the standards they hold sellers too are a little harsh - I understand about rating the product and helpfulness of the seller etc, but potentially marking them down for things they can't control such as how long the item takes to be delivered (I know ebay ask you to rate "dispatch" time, but in reality many people will rate how long it takes to reach them) and also postage costs seems a little unfair to me. The fact that these ratings can then be used to either promote or lower sellers products means it is a platform that we aren't really too keen to get on to at the moment as I can see it becoming quite stressful!

[@-PORK-CHOP-]

WOW, 50% off for Wholesale, hardly seems worth the effort to make the product, you must make bugger all per item, there is so much effort / cost that goes into making the products, I would have thought, 15 - 20% would be about right for wholesale.