Pricing and thoughts on that
I've been asked a few times recently (directly and indirectly) about my pricing structure, and decided to devote a page to answering this.
Why is your pricing lower than that of some of your competitors'?
My pricing tends to be lower because I am concentrating on selling you perfume itself rather than perfume bottles and expensive packaging. This is an issue I've gone roundies on for longer than I care to admit, but it comes down to concentrating on what is in the bottle rather than the bottle itself. This lies in several points, ranging from economy of scale to the direction my business has led me.
If I was producing perfumes on a huge scale, I'd look further into classical perfume bottles, because my spending power would be greater and it would be easier to procure bottles in the increments the manufacturers require. I wouldn't feel the constriction of having money potentially tied up in inventory, either. But I prefer to keep things small and manageable for the time being.
In the end? I really want everyone to be able to sample and experience what I am creating. Personal wealth should not be a condition of purchasing, IMHO, because I myself am a working person.
Natural perfumes are far more expensive to produce than the more familiar synthetic-based perfumes, but it is possible to make them accessible to a wide swathe of people. That is my aim.
I've been told rather backhandedly that my pricing is too low, and that I'll be sorry later on, but the sad fact is that everyone working with natural essences is going to come to that conclusion sooner or later, as the aromatics we work with become more finite due to global conditions, gradual over-harvesting, and the political conditions in which these products are distilled and extracted. It is all too easy to argue that what we are creating is priceless, really. I just don't like for my pricing structure to embrace that.
Let's say I am using a particular Rosa damascena from Bulgaria in three perfumes, and it suddenly becomes unavailable because Bulgaria's rose harvest is poor one season. Needing a Rosa damascena, I look to other sources and find a possible substitute in one from Turkey, which is about twice the price per ounce of the Bulgarian vintage. I need rose, so I go ahead and use the Turkish one, bearing in mind that it will be subtly different in tonality and hue from the one I was working with (which may require a bit of reformulation), and realizing that I will have to change some pricing on finished product, accordingly. Nature throws a curve-ball and you hit it out of the park anyway.
I look to Japanese art and literature, and the concept of mono no aware, when I think of the transitory and fleeting nature of some art forms, perfumery among them. Everything of nature will pass, but oh, we can sigh and appreciate what we observe and experience while we have it, eh.
Thank you for your patronage!
Sara Phillips
El Cerrito CA
Questions? Email me at: sara@mandrakeapothecary.com |
