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naomi_jayTaking some steps towards getting Common Brimstone back up and running in a way that's manageable and still gives me plenty of time to write, sleep, associate with human beings I like, and generally have a life that doesn't revolve around filling perfume orders. I got so fucking burnt out on it last year that even thinking about making new perfumes gave me anxiety. I still want to do it, but I need a way to run the shop and create new scents without it dominating everything else.
First step is culling a load of scents. I kind of have to anyway, because one of my main UK suppliers is moving overseas because of Brexit (#thanksbrexit) and the other has been closed "for the foreseeable future" for over a year now. It's not cost-effective to order certain oils/fragrances from overseas, so unless I can find them here in the UK, those perfumes need to go. I have a list of thirty perfumes on the chopping block. Once I've evaluated what sells best and what's never sold well, I can add more.
Second step, get rid of 5ml bottles. It's way quicker and easier to just make up 10ml bottles. In my heart of hearts, I'd like to get rid of samples too, but the bulk of my business comes from people buying sample sets. Making up sample sets is so time-consuming, but I'd be shooting myself in the foot financially to get rid of them. Plus, half the fun of indie perfume-buying is samples! I'd be gutted if my favourite shops didn't offer them.
Third, raise prices. Largely just because I haven't done that for like, three years near enough. I haven't figured out the price of samples/sample sets yet, but I'm not planning to re-open this side of Tokyo anyway, so that's fine.
Fourth, no more solids. Too time-consuming to make and they don't sell as well as oils.
Fifth, reformulate older scents. My most frequent complaint from customers is that the scents don't last. I'm kinda..."well, that's indie perfume for you" to an extent, because I KNOW I'm using skin-safe levels of oils and fragrances in my perfumes, and I don't want to go over the limits. On the other hand, I can probably play around with the older scents somewhat to give them more longevity. But meh, I mean, I buy perfumes from so many different places and there's no rhyme or reason as to what lasts on me and what doesn't except the mysterious ~skin chemisty~ so I'm not sure how much I can really do. But I want to at least try.
I think those are the main things. Ditching 5ml bottles means I need to re-do allllllllllllll the photos for the shop, but again, that's a job for 2018.
First step is culling a load of scents. I kind of have to anyway, because one of my main UK suppliers is moving overseas because of Brexit (#thanksbrexit) and the other has been closed "for the foreseeable future" for over a year now. It's not cost-effective to order certain oils/fragrances from overseas, so unless I can find them here in the UK, those perfumes need to go. I have a list of thirty perfumes on the chopping block. Once I've evaluated what sells best and what's never sold well, I can add more.
Second step, get rid of 5ml bottles. It's way quicker and easier to just make up 10ml bottles. In my heart of hearts, I'd like to get rid of samples too, but the bulk of my business comes from people buying sample sets. Making up sample sets is so time-consuming, but I'd be shooting myself in the foot financially to get rid of them. Plus, half the fun of indie perfume-buying is samples! I'd be gutted if my favourite shops didn't offer them.
Third, raise prices. Largely just because I haven't done that for like, three years near enough. I haven't figured out the price of samples/sample sets yet, but I'm not planning to re-open this side of Tokyo anyway, so that's fine.
Fourth, no more solids. Too time-consuming to make and they don't sell as well as oils.
Fifth, reformulate older scents. My most frequent complaint from customers is that the scents don't last. I'm kinda..."well, that's indie perfume for you" to an extent, because I KNOW I'm using skin-safe levels of oils and fragrances in my perfumes, and I don't want to go over the limits. On the other hand, I can probably play around with the older scents somewhat to give them more longevity. But meh, I mean, I buy perfumes from so many different places and there's no rhyme or reason as to what lasts on me and what doesn't except the mysterious ~skin chemisty~ so I'm not sure how much I can really do. But I want to at least try.
I think those are the main things. Ditching 5ml bottles means I need to re-do allllllllllllll the photos for the shop, but again, that's a job for 2018.
no subject
on 2017-10-30 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2017-10-31 10:52 am (UTC)