in these tough economic times….redux….
Posted on | May 21, 2009 | No Comments
how’s that for a subject line?
i’m hearing it so much that it’s become a sort of a parody of itself.
i do get asked from time to time, from no doubt well-meaning folks, how the heck do i manage to stay in business, selling a frivolous luxury item, in these tough economic times, , that can be easily/readily replaced with a similar item from the supermarket at a fraction of the cost to the consumer.
it’s a very good question.
soap is an interesting thing.
it’s simultaneously a commodity and a luxury item.
it’s a simple chemical reaction between oils/water/alkali AND it’s a complex art form.
it can be as basic, mundane, and banal as thirty cents a bar can get you.
or it can be as hand-crafted, as complex, as eco-friendly, as luxurious and as pampering as ten bucks a bar can get you.
so, in these tough economic times (dammit, there’s that phrase again…i simply cannot stop saying it!), how does one compete?
how does one sell the comparatively expensive item? over and over….it’s a consumable after all.
staying in the soap business isn’t simply a matter of selling one bar of soap to the next million people you meet.
no, you need a repeat market.
so what keeps them coming back?
it’s very simple.
it’s called value for money.
i have an informal agreement with the big guys.
i don’t compete with them on price.
and they don’t compete with me on quality.
see? everyone wins! especially the consumer, who now gets a range of choice!
other well-intentioned people tour our workshop and immediately point out how much more soap we could produce if only we had some equipment! and some staff! or if we out-sourced to china! or trained our cats!
i always have to explain that that is not our goal, it isn’t why we are in business and it isn’t what drives us every day.
it isn’t always about size, you know what i mean?
our aim every day isn’t to make the most soap we possibly can.
it is to make the best soap we possibly can.
and even in the toughest economic times, there are always people who will be satisfied with only the best.
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