You found the perfect candle brand to buy wholesale candles from and now you're getting ready to merchandise candles in your store. You look around for empty space and find a shelf or table to place them on. You set them and forget them, but weeks later they haven't sold and you're bummed that you wasted money on these wholesale candles.
Here are 5 mistakes people make when merchandising candles in their boutiques:
1. You put them too far away from people's faces. The closer a candle is to someone's face, the more likely they are to sniff it. When we started doing pop-ups, our candles were on a long table that was a little bit low to the ground. People came by, but few sniffed. When we purchased a Vertical Ledge arch pegboard (not a sponsored link, I just really love their products), our average order value at pop-ups more than doubled. What changed? HEIGHT. Our products are now in your face. Literally.
2. There aren't any testers open and available. Our standard 7oz jars have lids on them, which helps keep them clean and free of dust and debris, but sometimes a lid is a barrier to entry. People might be shopping with kids, holding bags or a coffee cup, or they're just plain lazy. They see the candle, but don't pick it up, unscrew the lid, and sniff it. Remove the barrier to entry by putting out testers. In our own shop, we keep a candle on top of its lid to give it some height and make it easy to grab and sniff.
3. There's no method to the fragrance madness. In our shop, we merch all of our candles on shelves. It's a lot to look at at once. To simplify the shopping experience, we had some small acrylic signs made that identify the fragrance family and/or vibe that each candle is in. We affixed them with velcro strips so we can easily move the signs around when we change things up or add/remove candle fragrances from our scent library. Easy identifiers that people understand even if they're not Candle People: fresh, clean, citrusy, gourmand, spicy, cozy, woody.
4. Prices are all over the place. If you merchandise your wholesale candles without being strategic about placing similar price points together, you're doing all of your products a disservice because people will get overwhelmed and grab the least expensive ones. Have you ever been out to dinner and gotten overwhelmed by the wine list and ended up ordering the second cheapest bottle so the server doesn't think you're cheap but you also didn't spend $157 on a bottle of wine? People do this while they're shopping, too.
5. No candle education or call-outs. Do your employees have a favorite candle? Great! Add a cute card to the display that says something like "Jessica's favorite! Long lasting, clean-burn, super fragrant. Makes a great gift for Mother's Day." BOOM, you just made a fab recommendation. If you have signage, a quick call out goes a long way in making a sale. If you don't have signage, reach out to the brand you bought your wholesale candles from - if they're anything like us, they want you to sell candles as quickly as possible so you place another order.