Home soap: how to make money on soap making

* The calculations use the average data for the World 10 000 ₽

Starting investments

60 000 ₽

Revenue

30 000 - 40 000 ₽

Net profit

100 kg / month

Productivity 1 person

Homemade soap. Own business in the manufacture of handmade soaps. To start soap making you need a minimum of skills and investment in the amount of 10 thousand rubles. This is ideal for those who want to earn money on creativity.

Making homemade handmade soaps is a good option for a home based business. If you want to start your own business, but you are still new to entrepreneurship, then this idea will come in handy. The production of handmade soap does not require specific knowledge and large investments; everyone can master the technology of soap making. You do not need to purchase sophisticated equipment, but a creative vein and developed imagination will definitely come in handy. The popularity of handmade soaps is due to the exclusivity and naturalness of the components. So everything is built on your ability to make not an ordinary piece of soap, but an original product that the buyer will like.

The experience of other entrepreneurs shows that it is possible to realize the business idea of ​​soap making with a budget of 10 thousand rubles. This money is enough to make the first batch of goods and start advertising. It will be possible to recoup their investments in a few months. Markup on goods in soap making is 150-300%, depending on the type. This ensures high profitability, which is 50%. But such an indicator can be achieved with the right organization, well-established sales and creative personality.

Relevance of the business idea of ​​soap making

In Russia, the market for natural homemade handmade soap is not saturated. People are used to using ordinary soap from store shelves. Why are domestic soap makers experiencing sales difficulties?

1. Home-made soap is more expensive than factory-made soap: the natural ingredients in the composition and the fact of handmade work add value.
2. Even if it is possible to spend 200 rubles on a piece of handmade soap, a person will not bother with online orders and searches. Most likely, he will try to simplify the purchase process as much as possible: he will go to the store. On the shelves it is very rare to find homemade soap from private domestic masters. More often it is imported products.

Two main problems that you will have to solve in soap making : to produce high-quality goods for which you will be ready to pay, and to find the most convenient sale scheme for the buyer.

Despite the difficulties, the handmade soap market is growing by about 20% annually. There are several reasons for this. The promotion of green products has increased the demand for natural homemade soap. Curly soap in its original packaging began to be sold as souvenirs and gifts. The development of the cosmetic market has increased the popularity of care soap: there are hypoallergenic products that cleanse and even cure. And of course, the fashion for things made by hand also plays a role.

Therefore, homemade handmade soap is an actual direction that is in demand. Your task as an entrepreneur is to create an attractive offer in the market.

How to start a soap business

Any business starts with a clear idea. Before you develop a business plan and purchase equipment, you must generate a business idea and analyze it. “Making homemade handmade soap” is only half the idea. You, for successful entrepreneurial activity, you must first think about the concept.

Compare two business ideas:

“To make homemade handmade soap”

“Open an online store of hypoallergenic goat milk handmade soap.”

In the first case, there is simply the idea of ​​starting a business and the niche chosen for this. In the second case, there is a concept, a unique offer focused on the target audience, and an understanding of how the product will be sold. In this case, the model is logical: such a home soap is most often bought by mothers whose children are allergic. To purchase such a product, mothers are ready to order it through the online store and pay more than for a piece of regular soap.

One of the most common soap making mistakes is the lack of a concept. The assortment develops by chance: we saw the design of the soap, bought the ingredients, did ... This scheme is suitable for a hobby, but not for business. It is important to decide: you sell what you produced, or produce what is sold. The secret to a successful soap business is just the second option. That is why it is important to choose a concept at the start. The article will help you decide, where we have collected 17 original ideas in soap making. Try to analyze each idea and see if you can sell it.

After you have clearly formulated the concept of your business, you can proceed to active steps for the manufacture of home soap.

Equipment and materials for soap making

Finding ingredients and equipment for making handmade soaps is not a problem. Soap making is a fairly popular type of needlework, and there are many specialized stores on the Internet where you can buy everything you need.

For the production of soap will require the following components:

• Soap base - without which it is impossible to cook home soap. Consists of fatty acids and glycerin. Usually sold by weight.
• Base oils are added to the soap so that it does not dry the skin and does not cause irritation. Base oils: olive, coconut, jojoba. There are other types - their use depends on the type of home soap that you plan to make.
• Esters are used for flavor. They can be bought at a pharmacy or craft stores.
• Dyes help create a bright and unusual soap. It is better to choose natural dyes: you can use decoctions of herbs and flowers, dry plant extracts, various spices, cosmetic clays, etc. Most often, cosmetic clay is used.
• Fillers - these can be soft homage components that scrub additives (ground coffee, raspberry seeds, apricot kernels, etc.), as well as dried flowers, such as lavender, and other additives.
• Fragrances are helpers for essential oils. Fragrances allow you to make the aroma of soap more saturated. The assortment on the needlework market allows you to purchase flavors with different odors.
• Shapes - in soap making both classical, rectangular, shapes, and curly are used.
• Scales are needed to mark the weight of the finished bar of home soap. After all, the price of products depends on this parameter. In no case do not purchase mechanical scales, because they have too much error.
• Capacities are useful in the process of soap making. Pans without enamel (preferably made of stainless steel), forms for a water bath, as well as small tools such as knives and graters for a soap base, pipettes, shovels, measuring glasses, etc.

Home soap technology

We will not consider the entire process in detail. To learn how to make soap, you can use specialized literature, sign up for a master class, or master everything yourself on video clips on Youtube. We will only focus on the key stages that are important from the point of view of doing business.

In the production process, the soap maker does the following:

• melts the base using a microwave or water bath;

• adds fillers and oils to the liquid heated base;

• the liquid base is poured into a mold where the soap freezes;

• packs finished products.

Before you buy the ingredients, think about what recipes you will make soap. So you will avoid unnecessary and spontaneous purchases.

When you are preparing a liquid base for home soap, record the consumption of each ingredient. This will allow you to calculate the cost of handmade soap, which is useful when setting prices and purchasing ingredients.

Pay special attention to packaging. Handmade soap is often purchased as a gift, and therefore product design is very important. It performs not only a decorative function, but also emphasizes the uniqueness of the product itself. For example, natural soap is packaged in Kraft to support the theme of environmental friendliness. A figured soap in the form of flowers will require a completely different packaging. By the way, packaging costs should also be included in the cost.

Calculation of the cost of handmade soap

In order to calculate the cost of home soap, you need to know:

• How many ingredients are used to produce 1 kg of home soap, i.e. include in the cost of materials costs;

• Packaging cost;

• Costs of marketing products. If you sell through an online store, then you bear the postage; if you hand over the goods for sale to the store - transportation costs;

• The coefficient by which manual work is evaluated. For example, standard rectangular soap is easier to perform than curly soap. Accordingly, the work of the master will cost differently;

• Other expenses, which include advertising, utilities, unforeseen. You will not be able to calculate them accurate to cents, but you should keep them in mind.

To simplify the process of calculating the cost: in the production of home soap, the amount of overhead costs is approximately 20 percent of the cost of raw materials. On average, the cost of 1 kg of handmade soap is 300-500 rubles. And the selling price will be 1000-1200 rubles.

When setting the price, be sure to rely on the average market indicators. Examine the price tags for similar products in ten different places - you will find the average value.

The room is needed for soap making

Soap making is one of those businesses that can be organized at home. You just have to have an equipped workplace. But there is only enough space in our own kitchen to make small batches. With an increase in production, you better think about a separate room.

Attachments

To start you will need a minimum of investment. You can start with 10 thousand rubles - this will be enough to purchase supplies and advertise goods. But if you are interested in development, then the amount will increase to 30-50 thousand rubles. These funds will be used to create unique packaging, marketing, active advertising, creating a wide range.

Income from the production of home soap

The answer to this question depends on several factors:

1. Where to produce. Renting a room significantly increases the cost, so most start with home production.

2. What volume do you produce? It depends on how much you purchase raw materials. Wholesale purchases (which can be carried out together with other soap makers) are much cheaper.

3. How much is the sale. Earlier, we found out that the sales process itself costs money. Trade in your store - rental costs and salaries of the seller; trade through the site is the cost of its creation and hosting.

4. How many people are involved in the manufacture of handmade soaps .

5. The size of the additional costs that we mentioned when calculating the cost.

6. Maximum performance. You will not sell more soap than you can produce. When you work alone, and even at home, the volume of production is limited. In such conditions, you will be able to produce goods for 50-70 thousand rubles a month.

7. How much volume you sell. It is clear that we need to strive for 100% sales of products. But in reality, it is not always possible to sell everything that he made. Residual products can be sold as part of promotions or used as a bonus when buying for a certain amount.

8. What are you selling yet. Related products can work wonders and double revenue. They are used to maintain impulse or passive demand. For example, a person came to your site to buy homemade soap, but saw essential oils, bath products and cosmetic trifles on sale - and bought one of these. In addition, there are so-called "profit generators" - goods with a high margin. One of these products in your area is balls (bombs) for bathtubs. Their wholesale cost is a maximum of 15 rubles, and they sell them at 200-300 rubles.

Now let's move on to specific numbers. Experience shows that you can earn soap making on average 30 thousand rubles a month, so few people call soap making the word “business”. This is the level of net profit, which is achieved with a turnover (revenue) of 50-55 thousand rubles.

The implementation of handmade soap

Correctly organize the sale of goods, a matter no less responsible than learning to produce it. And the biggest problem needlewomen often becomes the sale of products.

You can go in two ways: create your own store or sell the goods to others (to various gift shops, perfume and cosmetics stores). You can also rent a shelf in the store for your products - this will cost less than opening a new point yourself (about 3, 000 rubles).

If you want to sell handmade soap over the Internet, create pages on social networks (“Instagram”, “Vkontakte”), create accounts on specialized sites, for example, “Fair of Masters” or foreign Etsy.

To promote your business, send out a commercial offer to the implementers with whom you would like to cooperate, actively promote products through social networks, arranging draws and promotions, and participate in various city fairs. Experiment with design, shapes, colors. Update the assortment to constantly maintain demand for your products.

If you follow these recommendations, you will surely find your buyer.

Here are some tips to help you advertise your products:

• Run a loyalty program for regular customers, for example, discount cards with an increase in discounts depending on the amount of purchases;

• Enter the sale of gift sets - they can be sold more expensive;

• Please your customers with mini-presentations, for example, attach a gift card or a note with wishes to the purchase;

• Distribute flyers and business cards in gift shops, cosmetics, etc .;

• Invent your own chip that will distinguish you from other soap makers. These are offers from the category "Only with us ...".

Do I need to register a business

An important question that all home business owners ask. The answer depends on what format of work you choose. Provided that soap making is an additional income, and sales volumes are not very large, it is not necessary to register your business. Lack of legal clearance for sales will not hurt, since many small souvenir shops are willing to buy handmade goods, and for independent sales on the Internet no documents are required. In this case, the legal issue is to file a tax return once a year.

If your plans include business development, it is recommended that you register an IP. For this, the OKVED-2 activity code “32.99 Production of other finished products not elsewhere classified” is suitable. In addition, to open a point of sale, you will need permission to trade and other documents that require time, money and your nerves. After registering an IP, you must open a bank account and set up a payment system. This is especially true for those about to sell online. You should have accounts of Sberbank, Yandex.Money and Webmoney - the most common payment systems.

Challenges in the soap business

For soap making, the same difficulties are characteristic as for most types of needlework.

• Sales channels . The most important thing in the home business is to find buyers and achieve regular sales. This can be helped by a unique offer that will interest consumers and wholesale buyers. Maintain regular sales will have active advertising

• Soap making skills. Here, technology, imagination, and quality of performance are important. All this affects whether your products will be in demand.

• Competition Among other needlewomen, there is competition from large manufacturers. There are no more than 20 of them on the market, but they set the direction for the entire market. Often competing with them in price is pointless. One can only hope for the originality of his idea and the handmade tag, which can attract connoisseurs. Always think about why the buyer should choose your product over a more affordable and popular product. If you cannot answer this question for yourself, then the buyer is even more so.

• Risk of cancellation or problems with payment . Therefore, you can work on a prepaid basis. But with the dispatch of goods, the problems do not end there. The package may be damaged during transportation or even be lost. To prevent this risk, you need to pack home soap well, send parcels with declared value, or conclude an agreement with a transport company that will deliver the parcels intact and safe in the shortest possible time.

• The performance of all functions . With small volumes, you will cope alone: ​​you did it yourself, you sold it yourself. This is the mistake of many soap makers - do everything yourself. But it’s better to delegate the manufacturer’s function to someone and do only organizational work: purchase raw materials, negotiate cooperation with wholesale buyers, and conduct retail sales. It is advisable to do this when the business stabilizes and starts to generate good income.

• SES certificate . You may have problems with SES without a special certificate. The difficulty is that in order to obtain a certificate of quality you need to hand over products to the laboratory and pay money for it.

Checklist for starting a home soap business

Tips for beginner soapmakers

• Starting investments - about 10 thousand rubles;

• The maximum productivity of one person is 100 kg of soap per month;

• Revenues (when selling 300 pieces of soap at an average price of 200 rubles / pcs) - 60 thousand rubles;

• Net profit (at the cost of manufacturing 300 pieces of soap 17 thousand rubles) - 43 thousand rubles;

• Main buyers: private individuals, gift shops, cosmetics stores;

• The main promotion channel: Instagram, “Vkontakte”, “Fair of Masters”, Etsy, city fairs;

• sales launch time: on the eve of the holidays (New Year, March 8, etc.);

• high season of sales: autumn-winter period.

Conclusion

Soap making is a fairly simple type of small business in the form of self-employment, which can be organized at home and at minimal cost. But as in any business, you need to think about the implementation of the idea: analyze the market, formulate a concept, calculate cost, look for sales channels, etc. If you plan all the business processes correctly, you will succeed!

Evgenia Yurkina

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