Candle makers, with gumption.
A candle shop website that prices every scent, size and label
The butcher and the baker get top billing in the nursery rhyme, but the candlestick maker has the longest stock list of the three. We build candle makers an online shop where every scent, vessel and personalised label has the right price, with wholesale ordering and stock records behind it, plus the marketing that gets it found.
Sound familiar?
Every scent in every size is another listing.
Fourteen scents, three vessel sizes, a choice of cotton or wooden wick and an optional gift box. Set up as separate products, that's a shop too long to scroll, with a price to change on each one when jar costs go up. So you hide half the choices to keep things tidy, and customers message to ask for the ones you've hidden.
Personalised orders arrive in pieces.
Sixty favour candles for a wedding need the couple's names and the date. A housewarming gift needs "Welcome home, Sam and Priya", spelt exactly right. The details arrive through Instagram, the order notes box and a follow-up email with a correction. You print labels at midnight and hope the date on the last jar matches the first.
The same stock is in three places.
Some candles are listed on the website, some are boxed for a gift shop's wholesale order and some are packed in crates for Saturday's market. The fragrance oil for your best seller is nearly gone, but you find out halfway through a pour. Then a stockist emails to reorder the scent that sold out at the market.
No more burning the candle at both ends over the books.
The candle business software behind your shop.
Every system is built around how your candle business already works. Here are some of the things we'd build for candle makers. Online shops. Product configurators. How our bespoke systems work.
A shop that prices every combination.
Customers choose a scent, then the vessel, size and wick, plus extras such as a gift box or a refill. The price updates from your own list with each choice, and the photo swaps to the jar they picked. Retire a scent once and it disappears everywhere. It's the product configurator from our online shops, set up for candles.
Personalised labels with a live preview.
For names, dates and gift messages, customers type straight onto the product page and watch the label change on the jar as they go. They check the spelling before they pay, and the text reaches you exactly as typed. Each order prints its label ready for the jar, alongside the safety labelling you already use.
Wholesale ordering for stockists.
Gift shops and boutiques apply for a trade account and, when you say yes, see trade prices, case sizes and your minimum order. They can repeat last season's order in a couple of taps or download your price list. Their orders join the same list as online sales, and each one is invoiced automatically on your payment terms.
Candle of the month subscriptions.
Subscribers sign up for a candle every month or every other month and pay by card. You choose the month's scent, the system tells you how many to pour and prints the address labels, and subscribers get an email saying what's on its way. They can skip or pause on their own, and gift subscriptions end when they should.
Stock, batches and market day.
Wax, fragrance oils, vessels and wicks are counted down as orders come in, with a warning before your best seller's oil runs low. Each pour gets a batch record and a ready date once it has cured. Before a market, print a stock list by scent and size, then tick off what sold on the way home.
A candle business website people can find.
Candles are mostly bought as gifts, so the searches are about the occasion more than the maker: "personalised candles", "candle subscription box" or "handmade candles UK", often on a phone a few days before a birthday. A candle business website needs a clear page for each reason to buy, with photos that show the jar at its real size and the label up close. We write those pages and take the photos ourselves, in good light.
Shops find makers differently. A buyer for a gift shop searches "wholesale candles UK" or browses marketplaces such as Faire, then checks your website to see whether you're a real business. A trade page with your minimums, lead times and a way to apply for an account does a lot of quiet work. Closer to home, a Google listing showing your next markets helps someone who met you at a Christmas fair in Ilkley find you again in January.
An illustration, not a real client
Example: a candle studio with a market stall and stockists.
This studio is imaginary, and any likeness to a real candle maker is pure coincidence. Picture two people pouring soy candles in a rented unit, selling online, at a monthly market and to a dozen gift shops. We'd build a shop where every scent comes in three vessel sizes from one price list, with personalised labels previewed on the jar. Stockists get trade logins and a minimum order, oils and jars count down as orders land, and each market starts with a printed stock list.
Questions candle makers ask.
How much does a candle shop website cost?
It depends on the shop. A dozen scents in one size is a far lighter build than personalised labels, trade accounts and subscriptions working together. We'll go through what you sell, where you sell it and how you price it, then give you a fixed quote before we start. Many candle makers begin with the shop and the label preview, and add wholesale once stockists start asking.
Can I manage orders and stock from my phone?
Yes. Check new orders, approve a trade account, mark a batch as cured or look up how much of an oil is left, all from your phone. It works at a market stall too, so you can see what's still in the van and take a personalised order to post later. Printing labels is still best done at the desk, next to the printer.
Can customers personalise a label and see it before they buy?
Yes. You decide what can be personalised, such as a name, a date or a short message, with a character limit so it fits the label. Customers see a preview on the jar as they type, and they confirm the wording before paying. The text goes straight into the print file, so nobody retypes it and nobody's name gets a creative spelling.
Can the website show the safety and CLP labels for each candle?
It can store and show them. Candles carry safety and CLP labelling, and what goes on each one depends on your fragrance oils and recipe, so that information comes from you and your suppliers rather than from us. Each scent and size keeps its own label text and warnings, and the system prints them with every batch and shows them on the product page.
Can gift shops order wholesale on the same website?
Yes. Stockists apply through a trade page, and after you've approved them they log in to see trade prices, case sizes and your minimum order value. They can repeat their last order, add new scents and choose a delivery date. Their orders sit on the same list as retail ones, so one stock count covers the lot and nothing gets promised twice.
Why not just sell on Etsy or Shopify?
Plenty of candle makers do, and Etsy, Shopify and Faire suit lots of small businesses. If yours is working, keep it. We can build just the awkward piece, such as the label preview or a price calculator, and add it to the shop you already have. A full build makes sense when the shop, stockists, subscriptions and stock records need to work as one.
Also with gumption.
Trades with a lot in common with candle makers. Or see everyone we help.
Let's sort your candle business out.
Tell us how things run now, paper, spreadsheets and all. We'll tell you honestly what we'd build for a candle maker like you, and what we wouldn't bother with.