Arguing About Amazon | Should You Sell Your Candles on Amazon?
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- čas přidán 31. 07. 2024
- Hi, we’re Katie and Eric Roering; the founders of Fontana Candle Co. In 4 years we took our hobby of making candles in our basement, and selling them at craft shows and makers markets and we turned Fontana into a nationally recognized eCommerce brand. This year we are doing 7 figures of revenue and have 12 employees. So how did we do it?
Welcome to The Candle Couple Podcast, where we will share the nitty gritty of scaling our e-commerce brand quickly. We are spilling the tea, so hopefully we can help you scale your brand quickly too.
We avoided selling on Amazon for 5 years and we're talking about why it took us so long to get over our fears and join the platform. We discuss why we finally made the decision to sell on Amazon, working with an Amazon agency, and we talk about how it's going so far. Katie and Eric have different takes on how it's going. If you've been thinking about selling your candles on Amazon, this episode is for you.
Welcome to Episode 25: Arguing Over Amazon: Should You Sell Your Candles on Amazon?
Timestamps:
00:58 Avoided Amazon for 5 years
1:18 Fear of high return rates
2:00 The convenience factor
2:27 Satisfy the customer
3:30 Our decision to sell on Amazon
4:50 Using an Amazon Agency
6:03 FBA vs FBM: following the chocolate schedule
7:20 Speed of shipping
9:18 Trialing Amazon? The argument
10:24 Eric's take: Amazon is painful
11:02 Our Margin & running ads
13:27 This is an omnichannel world
14:38 We need volume
15:24 Our return rate
17:00 Let's reevaluate
19:40 Reviews are everything
Disclaimer: Everything shared in our videos is from our own personal experience, and is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Always seek legal guidance from a business attorney and certified public accountant. Everyone is responsible for their own business structure and business practices, and we will not be held accountable.
Since we love the companies we talk about so much, we may have an affiliate relationship with them. If you make a purchase through the above links, we may earn a small affiliate commission. There is no additional cost to you.
I love your bucket banter😂😂 it reminds me of my husband and I. We are new into candles and our current business is SO your story. Our biggest year we hit 1.8M and had a goal of 2M, and struggled with all of the same things. It’s just shows that all business are exactly the same! Thanks for all of the help and advice with candles!!
Hi, love your content! Thank you for all this helpful information as I begin my candle journey. I wanted to ask if you use a true business credit now that you scaled to separate your personal name from your business or did you start off with just a business credit card to get going from your bank? Not sure which way to go when first starting out.
Hi there! Thanks so much for reaching out! We started out with a business credit card when we first started - and we do have a rule that we pay off our credit cards completely each month. Now that we have consistent cash flow, we do not have issues getting credit strictly for the business. It took us about 3 years to truly establish the ability to get loans and lines of credit from our banks and Shopify Capital and PayPal Working Capital. Hopefully this helps!
Totally get where you're coming from, and I'm with Katie on this. Amazon's been a game-changer for me. Started my handmade gig as a little side hustle in my basement, just like many of us, and boom, it really took off on Amazon Handmade FBA. But, man, as things got bigger, so did the headaches with Amazon, especially with their shipping and handling. It's kinda rough not having control over that part, you know? So, I'm shifting gears a bit, trying to pump up my own website and Amazon FBM listings. Like you said, having control over how customers get their stuff is key. Been on Amazon FBA since 2020, with retail arbitrage, wholesaling, and Amazon Handmade. Mostly FBA, but started ramping up our FBM listings last fall. Returns rarely happen, but when they do, it's usually 'cause something got banged up in Amazon's court. Props to Amazon, though, for covering those damages and removing any negative reviews due to damaged packaging by handling the customers directly. Still, it's a bit of a bummer every time it happens. I'm doubling down on making my packaging tougher for FBA now, hoping to dodge those issues. Despite the ups and downs and the constant rule changes that drive me nuts, sticking with Amazon has been worth it.
Thanks for sharing your story, and congrats on your Amazon success! It certainly can be a difficult journey!
What do you guys think ok Etsy. I also just started a candle business with my husband and boy it has been stressful. We have our own website as well but as you said I think we should use other sales channels. And did you guys do markets or trade shows?
We're so sorry to hear your candle business journey has been stressful! There is so much to think about, that is for sure! We tried Etsy very early on in our business - in 2019 and we had no luck. We tried using paid ads on Etsy as well, but with the fees and the low views, we got off of the platform pretty quickly. We did quite a few markets in 2018 and 2019 and they were a great way to start out and get exposure. We talked about this further in previous episodes. You may want to check out "The Marketing Strategies We Used to Grow Our Candle Business to 7 Figures" and also "Quitting our Jobs and Going All In On Our Candle Business." Best wishes as you continue in your candle business journey!
@@thecandlecouplepodcast thank you
I really like the podcast! I just went to see your amazon listings out of curiosity. You misspelled 'pleasant' on one of the slides/pictures for your Lavender candle (just fyi) :)
Thanks for catching that! We will let our agency know asap! :)
Amazon allows retailers to make all orders final and not accept returns. ❤