Is my pricing unreasonable

[businessfromhome]

im going to start selling home made shampoo made from natural ingredients, 120ml for £15 from home. My reasoning is that people will pay that much for a gift for a friend. It costs me £2.50 a bottle to make before I go into any other costs but before you jump on my case Im not a mass producer who can afford to flog a bottle of shampoo for a fiver. Companies sell thousands of those, Ill only get to sell a few because that is what I can afford. I live in a touristy village. i put a fake postcode in to mumsnet as i wasnt comfortable answering, sorry! other people are selling things like vegetables and eggs and jam from honesty boxes. there are a few craft shops but I wouldnt make anything as theyd want to make a big profit and i wouldnt make anything. that being said I know things are only worth what people will pay so just to get opinions, how much would you honestly pay for what I am selling

How about I sell them for a fiver. Ill make nothing but its just to make some of what Ive spent back and get rid of the bottles.

Oops, didn’t realise this was posted earlier I thought that my comment had disappeared

How good is it? Do you know anyone who owns a hair salon who’d be prepared to test it with a view to potentially displaying it in their salon and profit sharing on any sales? My hairdresser sells Tropic shampoo and hair care (despite not using them on clients).

Disclaimer: I know nothing about how hairdressers or hair salons work, so this may be complete pie-in-the-sky

You could get your friends to test it as a handwash

@Scorchedterf The formula is for a shampoo and I think hand washes are different but theres no harm in trying

Ate there any local shops who might stock it?

You could hold a workshop- people LOVE workshops- people can mix their own and go home with some bottles. Might be a way of earning more.

Don’t most new businesses make a loss in the first year anyway…. You’ve spent your money on it now, may as well just do it for fun and if you make some extra cash, cool.

I'll make my own i think 🤔.Cant work out if this is serious

Just saw your post about it costing you 7 and the 2.50 being ingredients. You might find people willing to pay that but a loss of £2.5+ will be hard to swallow. Better than nothing.

You might be able to sell it for 7.50. It will depend how good your marketing is and how pretty your packaging etc.

You live in a touristy area - are your natural ingredients local natural ingredients? Is there something you could say about your product that adds value from the tourist pov?

Exactly, you might as well try it and see what happens.

I wouldn't buy a random bottle of shampoo from the end of someone's drive. It's just not something people do. We have tourists come to stay in our village. They want to buy bread and eggs and local produce. They don't want to put something on their hair that might damage it....or blind them.

You need to establish a name for yourself by selling them more affordably at first.

It's not something I'd buy as a gift. A shampoo bar maybe as a stocking filler, but I pay £5 for those and they last ages. Would never spend that kind of money on such a tiny bottle even with multiple high rated reviews. £5 would be my limit to even consider it.

For a nice smelling, moisturising conditioner I'd pay upto £8/ £10 for as I'd use it as a treat like once a month. But I wouldnt be interested in an expensive shampoo.

Ok you pay for your own UK approved scales, packaging, your time and materials and product testing etc. It costs far more than a £15 bottle of shampoo

It's not something I'd buy at a farm gate, more local shop or market stall.

Can you team up with a local salon?

If you want to make some quick cash and move on you're probably screwed, sorry. But if you want to build a business then you won't break even quickly and your best bet is to get your product out there even if you're making fuck all at first.

I only buy cheap shampoo. I spend about £3 on whatever normal sized shampoo bottle is the best value in the shop I am in. I wouldn't give someone a teeny bottle of shampoo as a gift as I would feel like it would look as though it had only cost £2 or £3.

I think when it comes to expensive haircare, people will want a conditioner, treatment etc as well to go with it. It seems strange to just do shampoo.

I would look at approaching a boutique hotel in your area if it’s a touristy area. You don’t want a big hotel as you won’t be able to make enough bottles but you do want one with a restaurant. You’ll need to offer them some free samples to try and be prepared for them to say no. Ideally you would use locally sourced ingredients and would want the hotel to proudly be local, using local ingredients in their restaurant. You can then try to strike a deal with the hotel to put the 120ml bottles in rooms. Within this, you could also explore hand wash but you would want bigger bottles of hand wash and be able to produce enough for them to have in the toilets of the restaurant as well as the rooms. Ideally your business would grow organically from customers to the hotel and restaurant and they could buy a bottle for home.

You are not going to make money from this approach in the first year or so as the hotel won’t pay £7 a bottle for them. However, if you can get the hotel to sign up to a 6 or 12 month contract you could buy in bulk and save costs. It would give you easy access to a market that are looking for boutique items. Scalability will be the biggest issue with this approach so make sure you manage the hotels expectations and meet what they need or don’t supply them.

People will not spend that much on an untested shampoo but people will use a free bottle of shampoo while away and pay over the odds if they love it.

The issue is getting your product established - unless you’re selling at high-end events I can’t imagine many people buying a £15 shampoo that they’ve not heard of before. The size you’re selling is the same size as the smallest bottle of zoflora, so it’s not as though someone would think ‘ah well, I’ll give it a go, at least it’s value for money’.

Maybe you could link in with other local companies that could promote it for you?

All the best to you OP, I wish I had the courage to do something like this!

I think if it did something you might stand a chance. Like do you have a hook? Does it fix scalp conditions? Or whatever else shampoo is supposed to do? Is it at least a shampoo bar so it has eco credentials? I suppose I'm saying it would have to be some kind of miracle shampoo for people to stump up 15quid a small bit of hair soap.

£15 for a bottle that's only 120ml. I'll pass.

When will people STOP using the terms, natural, clean or no nasties (that one is the pits!) I assume your shampoo has been made with nothing except a plant? Oh wait…

Sorry but no