You may have noticed that perfume samples cost a bit more today. We don’t like having to increase prices any more than you like having to pay higher prices. It’s not a platitude. We’re consumers, too. We shop at the same stores you do, we pick up the same products, and we often notice that suddenly the price has risen (sometimes by a lot) and there’s never any explanation. Sometimes we rant and rave, but we never know why, do we? Mostly we assume that the company is trying to squeeze out a little extra profit – and many times that’s true – but sometimes there are other things in play. We gave this particular increase a great deal of thought, but in the end we didn’t have a choice. Our own cost has gone up twice in the past year, but we chose to hold the line and accept less profit. A business can’t do that indefinitely. Those that do don’t stay in business very long. Quite a few things factor into the final retail price of a product at The Soap Box Company. Here’s a brief peek behind the curtain: Wholesale price: Our vendors (who pass their costs on to us) get squeezed pretty hard, and we feel for them. The cost of some of their raw materials is staggering. One vendor recently shared that one of the oils s/he uses has shot up to nearly $650 per pound. No, that’s not a typo – upper end of three figures. It’s a significant investment for any independent company, even if that component is used sparingly. (If you’ve wondered why a favorite indie fragrance has been out of stock for awhile, that could be why. Indies aren’t like OPI, that spreads the cost across a line of 200 polishes so the many that cost $2 to produce can absorb the cost of the very few that cost $20– not that even OPI produces many that cost $20). The bottom line: Our price goes up, the retail price eventually goes up. We absorb the difference as long as we can, but eventually our price must rise. Exclusives: Many vendors charge an R&D fee to create them (we love those that don’t, but we certainly don’t begrudge those that do). Those costs aren’t usually reflected in prices because we believe you shouldn’t have to pay for it. Sometimes, however, R&D fees are especially high, or we have to pay exclusive label design fees. We raise the price a bit on these and hope our customers understand. Present/Future: We elected to increase the price enough that we shouldn’t have to nickel and dime you with increases again soon. Notice how the post office does that? They raise the price a couple of cents knowing that it won’t cover their current shortfall, but they’re so worried about pissing off customers that they don’t increase the price as much as they need to in order to cover costs, and then they’re back begging Congress in 6 months for another increase because (surprise!) they’re broke. Then again, the USPS doesn’t exactly run like a business. Personally, I’d rather they raised their stamp price by a nickel or even a dime, left us alone for awhile, and stopped whining about how broke they are. The Soap Box Company doesn’t play ‘hide the ball.’ If we raise prices, we’re always willing to tell you why. Feel free to share this post!
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 19:33:53 +0000
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