May 26, 2021
A Soapy Competitive Analysis
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A Soapy Competitive Analysis
Progress Update - Week 8
What is working?
So far I’m noticing that once someone uses my soap, they’re interested. I have so far sold consistently to my half-brother. His mother has now used the soap and had a unique experience following where her friend had to literally sniff her out because they were intrigued by the smell! So what is working is samples. Were I able to set up a shop with a tub of water where people could wash their hands to try the soap I would be selling out within the day, by the looks of it! However, I have a feeling that sort of budget would fall on breaking some covid guidelines or need a certain level of precaution that isn’t viable in my timeframe. Thus, will not be able to do that at the moment, though it does open up a ‘word-of-mouth’ advertising that I could try to capitalize one by offering samples on my next few sales as an experiment with the pretense that the samples should be given to a friend of the buyer, so as to increase my level of exposure.
What is not working?
The price and the limited platform I’ve been sticking to. I’ve created new ads on Kijiji and will be paying for their boosted listing advertisement after they get a few more views. Time will tell if it is actually worth it or not with this type of product. My vote is no, but I won’t really know unless I try.
How do you feel the project is coming?
I’ve created new ads, each with a new penetrative price, as lately the prices I have been giving are too close to my competitors. As a small business and also untrained in the craft, I knew in the back of my mind the prices I was asking for were too greedy. It costs less than $2 to produce each bar of soap, and I was asking for over double that price. I’m going to drop my price and offer a more general deal to bulk buys, hopefully with increased exposure on Kijiji and a lower price all-around, I will find myself with a better outcome than I’ve been mentally projecting lately. So far, I’ve sold two of the combo deals and offered a sample on top of it to my half-brother's mother. Monetarily, she is my largest contributor now.
What are you learning about running a business?
It’s a lot of work, I never doubted that. However I expected the level of business to ask for a respective amount of attention. My energy has been waning with so many different things on the go, personally, I would have expected with my ads on facebook and kijiji and just renewing the ads that they would have been fine and I would have gotten a couple sales outside of my circle by now. I’m going to need to get back my motivation from the beginning and double my efforts before it’s too late.
What are you learning about yourself?
I’ve got a lot of things on the go and am falling prey to something I’ve tried medication for in the past without any positive outcome. Once I have one too many things on the go, I start to let go of them all. At this moment I’m back to work once every few days, which forces me to have much more competitive selling ideals than I would ever want to officially adopt, personally. Then I have a few family matters that are taking my attention both with my partner and my my direct family members.
Coffee Lovers rejoice! This, is Coffee Soap. Made by a coffee lover, for other coffee lovers!This soap is made by melting a soap base, bought by a supplier, ...
My Business’ Commercial! (Should be Live at 7PM!)
What is working?
So far I’ve been selling to my own circles which has yielded me a decent amount of business. My brother in particular is continuing to buy my soap and has high praises and says he prefers it to other brands.
What is not working?
I’ve made a number of posts, one for each of my types of soaps, on Facebook Marketplace. Thus far, I have not had any business that is noteworthy. I have branched out the number of groups I’m listing on but will be adding to the number of platforms I’m selling on. Kijiji in particular is my next best idea.
How do you feel the project is coming?
As a business, not the most profitable so far. However, as a hobby or activity one could do, I love it. I have no doubt I’ll continue to try my hand at the craft even after this class and hopefully make a few sales even after this class. One important thing I noticed is that a Tea Tree Oil that was bought from Giant Tiger will get more than enough use through this business's lifespan as opposed to a fragrance oil that was bought from Michaels four double the price, that has an increasingly limited number of uses. This may say something about how I often get too excited and act before making a proper plan. Already knew this was something I had to work on, but just realized it was in effect with this class too with going over my budget assignment!
What are you learning about running a business?
I never really adopted the arrogant attitude of “My product is amazing, everyone will buy it, no doubt!” However, I did expect that soap, in a time of practicing intense hygiene, would be selling far better than it has. I definitely need to look into some budget friendly marketing solutions and expand how I’m offering it. I wish I had a car so I could have a sign printed and hang it in my back window. I’m not the largest “people person”, unless the person in question is a complete stranger oddly enough, so pestering the people I know for their business is a bit humiliating for me. However it may be an action I need to explore soon.
What are you learning about yourself?
I have a relatively clear idea on who I am (at least at this moment) so I’m not really learning much at this time. I know my energy levels have been lower than I want them to be lately, so that’s definitely impacting my attempts here. I definitely think I need to find a spark of extra enthusiasm in the coming weeks. On a more light note, I have confirmed that coffee, as well as sandalwood, are among my favourite scents!
Final Showcase for ENTR1281 It’s been a blast.
Week 12, I think?
How do you feel the project is coming?
Since the last few weeks, things have slowed down considerably. I’ve been working a little on the final assignments and aside from the 15 or so customers I had, not much else to speak of. Kat Murphy, a peer within this class reached out to me and had me ship her an order as well!
What are you learning about running a business?
As I’ve backed down from the management of the business in a way to let it naturally close, I’ve found a few of my competitors have adopted my pricing model, exactly. Funny to see, as I was just a small-time soap maker using a casual process, and they felt threatened by it.
What are you learning about yourself?
Not a whole lot to report on this section today. The heats been murder and I’m drowning in the humidity, but that’s about it! Rainy weather was welcome when it was here, but now it’s going back to the heat I think. The heat always drains my energy and makes it hard to focus if I can’t get into the right mood, so hopefully my ending work isn’t too affected by this.
What is working and not working?
Since orders have stopped and I have been forced to make a page for my product, orders haven’t been made at all really. Facebook really pulled the rug from under my feet, but it allows me to close the business easily. So, kind of a double edged sword but I won’t complain about the adverse effects of it right now. So much more on my plate with school and my day-job and my personal life. Ironically, I’m getting a car on the very last day of this semester as my partners and my savings have been growing steadily as of late and we found a car for a good deal that meets all our needs…...a car is the very device that would have made distribution a joke for me as well as advertising. Sometimes, the universe has “ROFL” moments with me. This being one of them...
facebook.com/coffeesoapnorthbay
Business Funding
I personally am hoping to generate reliable savings to put towards a down payment for a loan or a line of credit (assuming I don’t strike gold with the odd lotto ticket or an amazing job offer that will rocket forward my savings).
I’ve researched my future business well enough and know that the start up is roughly $50,000. Currently I’m 8% there! If I can secure a government grant, which with some of mine and my partners research, seems very doable. As I can predict without a doubt that my business will be very strong in its presence right off the get-go. I actually am weary of the idea of waiting (as responsible as it is) because of my judgement to my future competitors in the area ignoring a very strong location within the area. At any rate, assuming a personal investment is like to not be enough, I hope I gain secure a government grant/subsidy which runs a relatively comfortable chance it will be enough to move forward even if only a small location to start. Following that, Love Money is a very realistic option that can be explored and will no doubt be offered to me naturally. My mother-in-law is an enjoyer of what I aim to start up and will very likely treat the funds as a donation as she makes a good amount of money with the business she runs in the current day. However, a bank loan is well enough an option for me. My credit to date is constantly flickering between the ”good” and “great” statuses and will no doubt yield a strong line-of-credit.
To all the relevant points brought up (at this time);
The business would theoretically have no specific target, as the target is a list of different hobbies and interests that are a little too hard to pin down. It’d be like trying to find a target for a clothing store. By no means impossible, but if you offer something for everyone, then the targets get muddied a bit. Until I know how to handle that, an investor have little patience with me. Likely, the target would have to be directed to people in college or their 20s.
The innovation of the business won’t be anything new but rather an introduction of improvement of some businesses within my area by “one-upping” the five competitors within my city, while also not directly challenging them as my store would be an amalgamation of them. Though, I do realize that at least two of them may in fact be strongly challenged by my presence as they’re serving only those that even know they exist. At that same point, maybe getting a grant or loan wouldn’t be as easy because the market is ‘technically’ tough enough with the five competitors (not including online vendors) and my business's significance would be lost in the mix as the sixth.
My only reliably notable weak-point at the time, and similarly the only reason I tell people “Even if I had the money now, I don’t think I’d do it yet” is that I don’t have the expertise perfected yet. I’d like to be a manager somewhere before moving on to my own business, at least once and for more than a year. Then I have no doubt I’d know better if I was ready to do my own store or not.
Business Operations + Update
Within my business operation I have been buying soap bases from a craft store as well as an added fragrance and some soap molds. I had originally only bought two buy was given a third by accident (happy accident). Buying the bases doesn’t bother me but so far seems no one is interested in Melt and Pour soap. Sadly the cost for cold-process is a much larger investment.
I have already sold my products, though not to the target market I had in mind. I have actually found myself selling to myself and have sold to a few others I personally know so far. As far as I know, I do not require any permits or licenses to sell so far.
Going forward I will be investing in a better silicone soap mold for greater quality and control in the process and after the next wave of sales, I will be buying essential oils and rebranding my soap's purpose.
+ As an addition to this post as a mini-progress-update, I have received some complaints about the concept of my soap and haven’t seen many sales since. So I will be removing “organic” materials from the future batches even though I have been properly treating them beforehand. I’ll instead appeal to cat-owners and essential oil lovers to get their essential oil fixes in soap instead. Not many people care to realize essential oils are toxic for cats. So by selling to cat-owners who love essential oils, I should see a resurge in sales and stronger.
Current batch is here to any who are curious! https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/863338664540951/