of soap are set up in the store and they cut the slices of soap to order for their customers,” Lindsay says. “It’s apothecary grocery-style sales, kind of like a green retailer type setup. We’re doing a lot of business that way.” A loaf of soap typically is about four pounds. Slices retail for about $7-$8, with each slice approximately 4.5 ounces.
HAND IN HAND SOAP Made in the U.S.A.
Handcrafted is increasingly important to shoppers, believes Paula Lindsay, president and founder of The Pass Christian Soap Co. in Pass Christian, MS. “More and more people are wanting
3. products that are made
in the United States, and also are liking companies like ours that have products that are handmade,” Lindsay says. “People are trying to get back to the basics—we’re seeing a lot of the ‘old is new.’”
This means hand lotions, body
washes, candles, that are all made by regional artisans, she says. One of the company’s most popular items: lemongrass hand soap, which is among 15 different soap scents available within the company’s six product lines. “We’ve been selling it for years,” Lindsay says. “It takes all the cooking smells off your hands, and we have a lotion that matches it. There’s also a natural insect repellent in that as well.”
Hands-on There’s no better way to encourage sales of bath and body products than by allowing your customers to experience
4.
GiftShopMag.com Winter 2013 n
LEON AND LULU,DETROIT, MI GIFT SHOP
137
them right in your store. Setting up stations for sampling gives shoppers a chance to test out their favorite—or soon-to-be favorite—scents. Creating interesting
displays
and point-of-sale demos also can attract buyers, says Lindsay of The Pass Christian Soap Co. Consider in-store soap slicing, which some of her retailers use to help boost sales. At owner Paige Riley’s Hillyer
House, an art gallery and gift shop in Ocean Springs, MS, Pass Christian Soap Co. soap is sliced on-site. “Whole loaves
speaking
Curtin, who in addition to public and
author ing in
says in
she creates The
Shopkeeper’s Manual owns specialty store Leon and Lulu Detroit, section”
suburban a
her “spa 15,000-square-foot shop. “I have washes and soaps and
F A RMHOU S E F R E S H
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