Finding Your Market
Business Advice
Finding Your Market
Before you go ahead and order a range of products and start making candles and home fragrances on a whim, it’s important that you sit down and think about who you want to target and how you plan to do it. Understanding your audience and customer base and what thinking about their buying behaviours will allow you to make more informed decisions about what to sell and how you’ll sell it.
Define your market
The next step is deciding where your business fits in the candle marketplace. Is your aim to stay small and local? Sell to friends and family? Perhaps the local boutique shop in your town? Or are you planning on conquering the whole of the country (why not?) Either way you should consider developing your product line around one of these three areas:
Mass-market: Your standard affordable candles found at many retail stores. These candles often use economical containers and packaging and feature traditional scents like vanilla with prices ranging from £1-£5. (As a start-up business it would be very difficult to compete in the mass market.)
Mid-market: Candles with broad appeal like Yankee candles. They are usually a little higher in price ranging from £10- £23 however you can expect slightly higher quality packaging, and a lot more scent combinations like lemon and lavender, clean cotton etc.
High-end or “prestige”: A great example here would be “Jo Malone “ candles where luxury stores command a premium price. Candles in the high-end market are typically prestige-level products that place a premium on packaging, fragrance, and the story behind the brand. Price range: starting from £23 all the way up to £120!
To help identify which market suits you best, think about the people you will be selling to, how they will buy your candles (what’s your platform), and how much they’re willing to pay. You will then have a better idea of what materials you want to use, and it might help craft your brand and niche in the process!
Find your niche
So, you’ve come up with an amazing brand identity, the next step is finding your brand’s individual “niche” that will help you sell online. You need to decide what makes your candles unique and separates them from the competition. Having a niche and unique selling point will help you stand out from the crowd. Shout about why you’re different and tell your customers why they should buy from you.
You can read more about finding your niche in my other blog – Making The Most Out Of Social Media.
Get out there
Once you know who your audience is and who you pan to target and with what products, its time to get your products out there. Traditionally setting up an e-commerce website is the standard way of running an online store. However, if you want to keep it simple and don’t want to deal with the hassle of building your own website then there are other options available such as Facebook, Instagram and a whole host of other social media platforms.
You can read more about Facebook and Instagram in my other blogs!
“When it comes to setting up your own business, there are a lot of factors to consider. Most importantly is managing your money.”
Contact