Teach Soap

I'm having some serious problems. Please can any of you loveley ladies or gents tell me how you package your soaps that are sold to shops? I currently shrink wrap, but selling to a shop, I want to make sure that they don't get bashed about. So, how do you pack them up?? Do you box them? Just shrink wrap?

I got a couple of quotes for the boxes that I want, but I can only buy 2000 at a time, at a cost of just over £800!!! Now if I kew that I'd use up 2000 boxes real quick, and already had orders for that much, it wouldn't be such an issue.

Any ideas please?? Thanks.

I use saran wrap. They do get bashed up over time, it's hard to package glycerin soaps and have them not get messed up in my experience. Sometimes I swap them out and re-wrap them and they are fine. Other times I make a loaf with whatever is not ok.
HTH!
Gail

Shrink wrap works best for me. M & P soaps are fragile though so if they get dropped they will get a nick in them.

I use shrink wrap and boxes as applicable.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I have a line of boxed soaps that I sell to shops, craft shows & markets, and online. I put the soap in cello bags then box them in soap boxes with my labels.

I also use shrink wrap for some then label and put into pretty organza bags. I sell these the same way online, shops, and at craft shows and markets.

I also make my own cigar bands for my soap to wrap them in with my label info. I can them shrink wrap or bag in cello bags to sell at shops.

Thank you so much to everone for your replies.

At the moment, I do shrink wrap - can't get away from that one really. BUT, my soaps are so visual, that if I put them into a box, most of the effect will be lost. BUt I want them to be protected somehow on the store shelves. So, I've been looking at getting some acetate boxes made. Nothing fancy - just a bar shaped box. But the costs are huge!! I'm looking at around £800 for 2000 boxes. Now, while that might not be a lot per box, it's a large outlay of money in one go. I'd have to ensure I have the orders to justify that sort of expense.

So, it's something that will just have to wait until I can do it. I will warn the shops that the soaps are 'delicate', but we'll see how it goes.

Thanks again everyone. xxxx

I can totally empathize! I've had several soaps look very "shopworn" after being handled too much. I use a plastic bag plus a ribbon to package my Soapy Pops, but for a more upscale look, you might prefer this:



I saran wrapped the bar, closed the ends on the back with a clear sticker, then used a couple sticky dots to center it in an acetate box. Finally, I used print-at-home vellum label sheets to make adhesive cigar bands. Since I am also concerned about showing off the soap as much as possible, this did that while being professional and informative. The boxes are stock from Paper Mart in the US. They're actually considered "bracelet boxes" if that helps.

Developing packaging is one of my least favorite projects. Right now I'm working on a project and the boxes alone would cost $2000. Ugh!

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Debbie Chialtas

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Thanks soapylove, searching paper mart for plastic bracelet boxes didn't pull up the one in the photograph. Nice box though.

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

Thanks Debbie! Sadly that sort of box isn't available to me here in the UK - and if it is, I've not found it yet. There doesn't seem to be a lot available 'off the shelf' in acetate. Perhaps I'm wrong, and been looking in the wrong places, but I will definatly continue to search for something suitable!

I just don't see the point of selling soaps unprotected. My product looks rubbish, and the customer isn't going to buy it, then the shop has to put it on sale with all the other very sad looking shop damaged items - so they're not going to be very happy either. It's a difficult one.

The search goes on.

Here is a Flickr set dedicated to soap packaging. I hope this will be helpful! http://www.flickr.com/groups/soappackaging/

Here is a link to the box shown in my picture. It's the 3 1/4" square box. http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Page ... 8988#16500

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Debbie Chialtas

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Thank you so much for the links. The flicker packaging site is wonderful, people are so imaginative, it was just so much fun!! Oh and thank you for pointing out the clear boxes those look nice also.

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂