This article focuses on bringing products to market and on why we can't just easily make changes to our scents and recipes.
Very often I get customers messaging me or emailing me to ask if we can make a new scent of soap or a new scent in our other products so I thought I'd write a blog post to explain why this isn't as simple as it seems and to explain the process behind bringing a product to market.
Currently we have on sale (this is a lot of stock for our small workshop!):
- 20 Soap / Shampoo Bars including 2 children's soaps, a baby soap and a dog soap
- 4 Exfoliating Scrubs
- 4 Pumice Soaps
- 4 Salt Soaps
- 2 Shave Soaps
- 4 Cleansers
- 5 Deodorants all in a choice of bicarb and bicarb free
- 6 Tinned Skin Balms
- 5 Lip Balms
- 10 Moisturiser Bars
Every single one of our products are designed and handmade by us here on site. Ingredients that we use in products are not only chosen for their scent but are also chosen for their effect on skin or hair, and so everything is carefully thought through during the development process. We are trying to offer products to a huge range of customers, we want scents that will be popular as well as effective so that as many customers as possible can benefit from the properties and enjoy them.
When we develop a new product range and settle on a recipe we have to submit the recipes to obtain a safety certificate. This is an expensive and lengthy process and we are legally required to have these certificates in place before we sell. This process of getting the 'legals' done from start to finish can take up to 3 months, sometimes more. Once recipes are safety approved we have to stick to the exact measurements that we submitted and cannot deviate.
We work with our designer to produce packaging and labels and this can be a time consuming process and deviation to this would involve a redesign and reprint of labels.
We are very very busy and getting busier all of the time, this is something we are grateful for during what has been a very difficult time for many many business's. As our business expands rapidly, covid restrictions on the way we work has left us with a smallish workshop in which products need to be made, stored and packaged for customers. Our space is small Michelle who makes our products, and Gemma who wraps our parcels, have to work opposite shifts. Our space and time is currently full to the brim!
And so when customers ask us if we can change the scent of a certain product, or if we can add a new scent or product type to the range there is a reason that we cannot simply do that and I hope this post explains the reasons why - thank you for reading, Dawn and team
by Dawn Rhodes
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
