If you’re not selling candles, you’re missing out on something your customers are looking for! Candles do double-duty as decorative objects that create ambiance, fragrance, and a warm glow. Candles are highly profitable, appeal to a wide range of customers, and can be tailored to any season or theme. As a retailer, you want products that sell year-round, are impulse buys, and keep customers coming back again and again. Candles check all those boxes.
People love buying candles as gifts, for themselves, or as an enhancement for their homes. After all, what is cozier than the scent of a delicious-smelling candle wafting through a home on a cold evening?
Whether you’re a boutique gift shop or a large furniture store, you need candles in your product line-up. Light up your inventory and your profits with these evergreen bestsellers. Your customers will thank you.
Candles Are a Smart Product for Any Retailer to Sell
Why are candles such a great product? They appeal to a wide range of customers. Everyone from young adults furnishing their first apartment to established homeowners looking to freshen up their space buys candles. They also make fantastic gifts that suit any season or occasion.
Candles are also highly profitable. They have a large markup, so you can make a sizable profit from each sale. The materials are inexpensive, so your costs are typically low. Customers often become loyal to their favorite scents and brands, so you’ll build a repeat customer base. After all, candles are consumable!
Offer candles in a variety of styles, sizes, and scents to appeal to every customer. Display everything from small tea lights and votives for a subtle ambiance to large pillar candles as decorative accents. Provide a mix of popular natural and synthetic fragrances, including florals and spices, citrus, and woodsy. There’s a scent for every mood and decor.
Don’t overlook unscented varieties! Unscented candles offer wide appeal to those who are looking for a warm glow without a scent.
The versatility and visual appeal of candles also make them easy to merchandise attractively in your store. Create eye-catching displays by color, scent, or season to capture customer attention and increase impulse purchases.
Choosing High-Quality, Long-Burning Candles That Will Keep Customers Coming Back
Customers want candles with long-lasting burn times
Keep customers coming back to your store by offering candles with some staying power. Candles that burn for 40 hours or more give people a product they can enjoy for weeks at a time, rather than just a few days. And once that glow has expired, they’ll come back for more!
Customers want candles with sustainable, eco-friendly ingredients.
Look for candles made of clean ingredients such as soy wax or beeswax, which burn cleaner and longer than paraffin wax. Fragrances should be natural essential oils, not artificial scents that can cause irritation. Wicks should be lead-free cotton or paper that produces an even, consistent flame.
For the eco-conscious shopper, vegan and cruelty-free are important product attributes. Vegan candles contain no animal byproducts and cruelty-free means no animal testing was used. Many natural wax candles are vegan and cruelty-free.
High-quality natural wax candles often produce little to no smoke when burning. The clean burn and lack of dripping wax are appealing to many. Smokeless candles don’t release toxic compounds into the air and leave no messy residue. For allergy sufferers or those sensitive to artificial scents, smokeless, scentless candles may be a welcome option.
Customers look for candles to enhance both everyday and seasonal decor.
Candles enhance every style and every season of decor. In fact, when paired with seasonal foliage or figurines, candles can make an impressive statement.
Stock candles in seasonal scents and colors, in a variety of styles. Pillar candles are popular year-round, and taper candles are a great way to enhance fall and winter tablescapes and displays. Novelty candles are often available in seasonal shapes, such as bunnies and birds, sea shells, and pumpkins.
Stock candles in seasonal scents and colors, in a variety of styles, and you’ll find that your customers will repeatedly come back to repurchase their holiday favorites.
Conclusion
So there you have it, compelling reasons why candles make sense for any store. They're typically inexpensive to purchase, hugely popular with customers, and available for any season or holiday.
If you’re not sure where to start, try our popular Vance Kitira candle line. Our eco-friendly candles are hand-poured and hand-distressed so they are lovingly created from start to finish. They boast a beautiful, smokeless glow when burned. Available in a variety of shapes and styles, we have both scented and unscented options to choose from.
Why not light up your store with the glow of opportunity? Add candles to your shelves and watch as your business brightens.
