We're already in the second half of the year, and Christmas is ever drawing closer and closer. We can almost begin to hear the Christmas carols. The best way to enjoy the festive season, and to help your small business thrive, is to not be a part of the last minute rush. Be organised, be ready and make this Christmas your best one yet (for sales).
What you should be doing now.
Now that September is upon us, you should write down a list of what your Christmas range will look like. What candle jars will you be using, what Christmas fragrance oils will you be using, what will your packaging look like. Will you do candles, wax melts, diffusers, soaps, if so how many will you need of each? There's a lot to think about but if you do it now, you'll have it all ready to go.
This month is also the month you'll test all your products. Make sure you will get the desired results with your wax, you're reaching the full melt pool with your wicks and your fragrances feel as festive as you want them to. September is for perfecting your range.
October
It's time to grind. Now that you spent September perfecting your range, October is the month you'll be buying all your supplies for the Christmas season. You'll want to calculate how much you'll need of wax, jars, fragrance oils to make sure you have all your candle supplies to make up your candles. Don't forget your smaller items too, like wick stickums, warning labels and clamshell melt moulds and candle dyes (if you are needing them).
While October will be the month you should be buying the bulk of your Christmas supply items, it'll also be the month you're making the bulk of your candles. You need to remember that candles have a one week curing time and will need to be ready for when people are thinking about Christmas and buying presents, which starts happening in November.
It's best to aim for completing all your supplies shopping by October to avoid any potential postal delays. November and December should primarily be reserved for topping up your supplies rather than making significant purchases. Being well-organised and proactive with your Christmas range can lead to selling out of products, resulting in smaller, more manageable top-up orders for the remainder of the season.
So, now that you know when you should have your Christmas range done, it's time to pull out your notebook and pen and put together your testing list. Don't forget, we are about to introduce a very exciting Christmas range for you to fall in love with this year. Stay posted because they are about to arrive any day now.
