The holidays are upon us! And this means many candle makers are now getting busy preparing for the festivities. For the candle making industry, the Christmas season will also be a very busy time. In fact, approximately 35% of the yearly sales occur during the holidays alone. So if you’re running a candle making business, this means you should also be preparing for the influx of buyers.
More than just providing your customers with candles, you should also make sure that every candle you sell is of great quality. So if you want to make the most of the holiday sales and be a brand that your customers will trust year after year, check out the following tips.
1. Avoid common winter candle making mistakes.
With lots of homemakers buying candles for their home decor, you should see to it that your products are up to par with those of your competitors. With many candle businesses out there, the best that you can do is to provide your customers with candles that don’t have the following issues:
Wet Spots
A common issue and complaint about candles in containers, such as glasses and jars. These are air bubbles that appear in between the candle and the container’s surface. This issue occurs when the candle cools down too quickly, causing the wax to pull away from the glassware, creating the air bubbles which affect how the candle appears against the glass.
To avoid wet spots, here are some tips:
- Before transferring the wax into the glassware, make sure that each glass is clean and dry.
- It will also help if you try to control the temperature of the glassware.
- Preheating the jars before transferring the wax can help even out the cooling temperature throughout the batch of candles.
- Once jars are preheated, pour the wax slowly to avoid air from mixing with the wax.
- Give each glass a gentle tap to help release any air bubbles.
You can read our full blog here on how to avoid them.
Frosting
A common issue with soy candles, which is a natural effect of using vegetable waxes, such as soy. It does not affect the performance of the candle but it gives an unpleasant appearance, which might cause your customers to think that you are selling poor quality candles.
You can avoid frosting by using additives can help stabilize your wax. But if you want to make sure that your soy candles are all-natural, here are some things that you can do:
- First, you should use wax flakes that are no older than one year from the manufacture date, as candles with older wax are more prone to frosting.
- You should also adjust the melting temperature in small increments to see which will work better.
- An elevated wire cooling rack will also come in handy as this will help prevent your candles from retaining excess heat.
You can read our full blog here on how to avoid frosting.
Lumpy Tops
Lumpy Tops occur when a soy candle does not form a smooth top. This issue is brought about if not enough care and consideration are given to the pouring temperature.
To avoid lumpy tops you can:
- Use a good quality thermometer. This will come in handy so that you can measure the pouring temperature.
- You might have to try testing different pour temperatures starting from the recommended level.
- If lumpy tops still occur, you should then raise your pour temperature in 1-degree increments.
- It’s also a good idea that you ensure an ambient air temperature in your production and storage areas.
- You can also try to gently heat your glass containers in the oven at a low temperature.
Read our full blog here on how to avoid lumpy tops.
2. Stock up on Essentials
The holiday season is one of the busiest times when it comes to shopping. As a candle business owner, it’s important you take time to check your inventory in advance and find out if you have everything you need to produce enough products for your customers and keep your business running.
To help make life easier, we’ve added a new feature to our listings and you can now see the expected restock date for items that have sold out. The information shown should be interpreted as follows:
Date information with tbc - example late January (tbc): this means the goods have been ordered but have not yet left our supplier.
Date information only - example second half of December: this means the goods are on their way to us but have not yet passed through all of their connection points so a firm date is not yet known.
Date to be advised - this means the item is on back order with the supplier and we do not have an estimated restock date at this point in time
Week commencing - example week commencing 9th of December: this means the goods are on their final leg to us and all going well, should be available again in the week shown.
We’re committed to transparency when it comes to what stock is coming in when and will update these dates as and when they change, be it because of a delay or because they have reached the next stage in their journey to our warehouse. We are also busy putting new processes in place to help with stock outages and will release more information on this our next newsletter!
3. Don’t miss out on earning points for your purchases
If you want to make the most of your candle supply purchases, it’s a good idea to partner up with a supplier that rewards their customers like NI Candle Supplies! If you become a member of NI Rewards, you can earn 5 points, which we call Scents, for every £1 that you spend. You can also take advantage of NI Candle Supplies’ double points day on December 17th.
4. Review your Products
Checking your inventory is an essential part of running a business. It’s important that you update your inventory regularly and check which products have sold well and which ones haven’t. By re-evaluating your products, you get a better understanding of your target market’s needs, especially during the holiday season and for the New Year.
5. Extend the life of your Christmas Products
Naming and labelling your products is an effective way of increasing sales. This way, you can help your customers remember the name of a particular product that they liked. During the holidays, you might want to offer Christmas-themed candles, but if you don’t sell out of a particular Christmas-themed product, you might want to rename it so that you can continue selling it after the holidays.
Here’s an example. If your candle is called Christmas Cheer didn’t sell, you can just change the name to Winter Wonderland to make it marketable during the winter season, which can go on until the end of February. Thinking outside the box like this is a great way to extend the life of the candles you create.
6. Be safe with Candles
Decorative candles are very popular during this festive season, but as a candle maker, it’s important that you put safety first. When you decorate the candles you sell, you should stick to designs that will not endanger your customers. Tying a ribbon around bare candle wax can be pretty, but it’s unsafe. As the candle melts, it’s possible the ribbon may come into contact with the flame and this could cause a fire.
At the same time, you need to make sure your candles have a CLP label on them and that you have submitted the candle’s formulation information to the Poison Centre Portal Notification (PCN) through a dossier. The advice sheet linked here may be of help to you.
What are your plans for the new year?
Preparing your stocks for the holidays will definitely keep you on your toes for weeks. And apart from your preparations for Christmas, New Year celebrations will also be coming up. So what are your plans this coming new year? Are you planning to launch new products, fragrances, or start your own business? Let us know in the comments.
Over the holiday period NI Candle Supplies will be closing for a short break from 12pm on the Friday the 20th of December 2019 to 9am on Monday the 6th of January 2020.
You will still be able to order during this time however we will begin dispatching orders from the 6th of January in the order they have been received.
The cut-off for shipping prior to our Christmas break is 11am on Thursday the 19th of December.
Thank you for your support this year and we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.