# Samples for potential wholesale clients.



## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I have only started putting my soaps in stores, and they are all stores who have approached me. I've been making a list of businesses I'd like to approach to sell my soaps while I'm getting re-stocked with soaps and lotions. They are mostly local bed and breakfasts, hotels, health food stores, spas, etc. 

I make both round and rectangle soaps. In sending out or hand-delivering my brochure and samples as well as info on pricing etc. what kinds/sizes of samples would you recommend? For instance, for places such as stores that might resell my big bars, I was thinking of giving them one full-sized bar of soap with a couple of other small, labeled samples.

For the hotels, BB and such, I was thinking of including the round soaps, either the 2 inch or 3 inch. For those of you who sell to BB's what sizes of soaps do they most often buy? I talked to a lady who owns a BB and she was considering my soaps, but says she currently buys very small ones like you'd find in a hotel. Would a 5 star hotel use a little small soap, or would they go with a full size bar? 


I'm trying to figure out which sizes of soaps to make the most of 

Also, for BB and hotels, is it best to offer them just a few varieties verses my whole kit and kaboodle?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I give full sized soaps, wrapped like I normally do, so they know going in exactly what I am offering. So many soaps are so small, that I would not want them to think a sample size bar is what I deal in. I do three bars, one goatmilk, one vegan/essential oil and one super pretty to show off....this gives them a very good idea of my range, and also they can cut bars in half to share with employees for feed back, which is usually what is done. V


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

Take this with a grain of salt as I'm just moving into wholesale and I only have 2 B&B's (I've been supplying my 2 B&B's for 3 years though). 
My B&B soap customers want soaps that are around an once. Any bigger and they end up throwing out a lot of soap. I take my regular bars and cut them into 4. I end up with 4 perfectly square 1 oz soaps (a tad bit under 1 oz actually). I have not offered round soaps yet but I think I will this year as I have found that a soap made out of a 2" PVC pipe and then cut to 1/2" is about the same size, weight wise, as my square soaps. I just let my b&b customers choose whatever scent they want out of my entire stash. My molds are a certain size and I make them buy an entire molds worth of soap per scent. Because of this I don't keep b&b soaps in stock. My customers are fine with ordering and waiting for me to make them.

For wholesale I have been giving whole bars. I want them to sample exactly what they will be buying.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Because I mail a lot of samples to potential accounts I try to keep the weight down so I'm not spending a ton on shipping. If I send to 10 stores in a month that could easily add up to $50 in postage. So I send 1 full size bar so they can see the size and packaging. Then I send small samples of my most popular scents with half of them being just under 1 oz sizes and the others about .5 oz. It's worked well for me. Oh, and for now, I only offer 12 of my best selling scents to my wholesale accounts. If they ask for others I will sell them but they aren't listed on my order form. I'm just not ready to keep that high of an inventory on EVERYTHING.

I have a few B&Bs too and for them I cut my regular bars into quarters. They end up being at least 1 oz and if I don't have enough cut from when I first make them then I can take a full bar from my cured stock and easily cut it up.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Thank you all for your input. I wanted to get some ideas so I can line up a few more wholesale clients before the spring and summer busy season hits. I've been throwing different ideas around....unfortunately all the ideas involve me investing more money  So, I need to make sure it's smart money...or at least smartER money. THANKS!


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

My hotel soaps are round, about 2 oz, 2.5 dia. X 5/8 thick. This is what Amangiri wanted & now the B&Bs want the same. I offer their choice of scent & even labels with their info & graphics if they want. Most want 3 or 4 different scents & some want the same scents in the large bars for retail sales in their shops. This is a growing market for me & I'm still trying to work out the details.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Then there is the issue of price....having a hard time deciding on that one. The small soaps are more work, but with wholesale, I know they expect a price break. Is there an average amount BB folk expect to pay for their soaps? I have a wholesale price set for the larger soaps, but so far have not been able to come up with a wholesale price I'm happy with on a 1 oz soap.


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## oh2bejoy (May 20, 2010)

This thread is so helpful! I am mainly a lurker, but have learned so much from this forum! Thank you all!!!

I have the same dilemma: how much do I charge for a wrapped guest bar? My friend would like 200 bars for his BB. I can get 4 small bars out of one regular bar. I charge $6 for a regular wrapped bar, but cutting the bar and wrapping 4 smaller bars is more work! Should I give him the wholesale price (which I haven't really figured out yet)? He is willing to let me put my label on the guest soaps. Thanks in advance....

Joy


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

For my B&B soaps I don't drop the price anywhere near as much as I do for my wholesale full sized soaps. If you add up the 4 B&B soaps I cut out of one regular bar, they're cost is almost as much as 1 retail bar. There's more packaging and wrapping involved so you need to charge more. Just think, for most, there's 4 times as much wrapping. You need to get paid for that!


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

I charge $1 a bar for the hotel soaps with a minimum 20 bar order. The orders are always for more than that (usually 30 to 50 bars) so I'll be upping my min. I get about 80 bars from a batch of soap so make some money but the wrapping is extra work for sure. I don't have to wrap for the big hotel I do. I put my info on the labels even if they want to use their own label. All the B&Bs buy the larger bars & even creams & candles for their small retail spaces. I get a good bit of repeat business from the guests - I've mailed orders to folks all over the US & even have some repeat customers abroad. This is a high tourist area. My thinking is that even though I don't make a lot of money on the small bars I get a lot of advertising from them & that's meaning more orders for my higher profit items.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I charge 90 cents for my B&B soaps but they are only 1 oz and since they are rectangular they are easy to wrap.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I was finding it hard to justify selling the bars at less than $1. The round ones I do are just a fraction more than one oz, but I feel like $1 is fair. I sell the same tiny bar at the markets for $1.25...so at $1 there will be a little price break, but I still come out good on the amount I'm selling at per pound. My time is valuable but...I have a lot of extra and wrapping those little bars is kind of like knitting....


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