How to Start a Profitable Candle Business That Really Shines

Do you love candles, from their cozy flames to their beautiful scents and decorative labels, and wish you could work with them every day? A candle business is a simple but rewarding one - it involves creating, producing, and selling candles! If you enjoy working with crafts, fragrances, home decor, and graphic design, candle making might be the perfect ecommerce business for you.

Designing and creating your own candles is the first step - and then it's time to delve into the business side of your candle making. With lower startup costs and the potential for a large, diverse customer base - everyone from college students to wellness spas, home decor enthusiasts to gift seekers looking for unique presents - showcasing and marketing your homemade candles will be the keys to your candle business success.

Let's look at the benefits of running your own candle business, the different types of candles you can make, the candle supplies you'll need, and the steps you'll take to get started in this crafty venture - plus some great pro tips to help you stand out in the commercial candle market!

Why Start a Candle Business?

Check out this excellent trio of benefits to starting your own candle business! 

It's a Creative Outlet

Homemade candle making can be a very fulfilling creative outlet, allowing you to work with different types of candle waxes, scents, colors, and candle sizes. You can also use your artistic eye to create your candle packaging - as you've probably seen in high-end boutique stores, the label often makes the candle! So using witty, creative mixes of candle scents and candle names is a fun creative challenge that can help make your candles a popular, best-selling product.

It Offers Great Profit Potential

With creative candle making and a dedicated business plan, your homemade candle business can generate substantial profits. Compared to many other business ventures, starting your own candle business typically requires a fairly low initial investment, so as you're learning your new candle trade there's both room for some experimentation, and healthy profit margins. Selling your candles on a site like Fourthwall also helps keep your startup costs very low, as Fourthwall takes 0% of your earnings on physical products - so you're only dealing with candle making supplies, advertising (if you choose to do so), and shipping costs.

You Retain Flexibility and Control

As the owner of your candle making business, you have the freedom to set your own hours, make your own decisions, and build your brand according to your vision. You can create your candle stock with as many varieties as you'd like; advertise the way you want to, from simple socials posts to livestreaming to professional ads; and come up with as many creative concepts for your candles' colors, scents, and marketing as you can think of! It's all under your control, which means you can work as much or as little as you choose.

3 Types of Homemade Candles

Choosing the type of candle wax you're going to use for your candle business depends on your target market, brand image, and personal preferences. Let's check out three of the most popular options for homemade candle making.

Paraffin Candles

Paraffin wax is the most common type of candle wax, in large part because it's also the least expensive. It offers a consistent burn, holds a high ratio of fragrance and color, and is easy to work with, making it a popular choice for beginners. Paraffin wax can be purchased at several different "melt points," making it good for crafting many different styles and types of candles. However, paraffin is derived from petroleum, which raises environmental concerns; it also is the candle that can create the most soot if the wick isn't properly maintained during use.

Beeswax Candles

Beeswax candles are an ancient type of candle that's been used for thousands of years, with the earliest beeswax candles dating all the way back to ancient Egypt. They're an eco-friendly option since the wax is literally from bees, which also gives the wax itself a light, sweet, faintly honey-like aroma before you even add any scenting ingredients. Beeswax is great for making scented candles, shaped candles, or pillar candles, as it's a harder, more solid wax that retains its shape and scent well. With all of these benefits, though, beeswax can be more expensive, so budget carefully if you select this option.

Soy Candles

Soy candles, made from soybean oil, are also considered fairly eco-friendly in general, although they are a byproduct of the soybean industry, so that's something to keep in mind. They produce less soot compared to regular paraffin candles, and soy wax has a slow burn, which means these candles are a great value for your customers. Soy wax does have a couple of tricky points, though - it can somewhat difficult to work with in regards to its softer texture and molding temperature, and it sometimes doesn't retain as much fragrance as other types of candles; but your results will vary depending on how important these factors are to you.

Your Candle Business: 8 Steps to Getting Started!

1. Do Your Research

Before jumping into candle making, thoroughly research your target market, identify competitors, and browse through current candle industry trends, from candle shapes to candle scents. If you understand your audience's preferences and learn what your candle competitors are showcasing, this will help you brand and promote your new candle business more effectively.

2. Create Your Brand Identity

Speaking of branding, that's another important thing that can help your candle business stand out in the market. A memorable candle company name, an eye-catching logo, and a solid brand story that reflects your values and interests, are all a good start. But what can really put your candle business over the top are the candles themselves, that you can make unique with your choice of luxury candle scents, candle names, and label designs - so get creative!

3. Make a Plan

Outline your candle business goals, target market, financial projections, marketing strategies, and operational budget so you have a solid candle business plan. This can serve as a helpful roadmap for you as you embark upon your candle making - then when your candle sales really start catching fire, having a structured plan can help you get a business loan if you want to invest even more into your new candle company.

4. Source Your Supplies

Candle wax, wax melters, thermometers, candle wax dyes and fragrances, wicks, containers, packaging materials and labels - these are the candle making supplies you'll need for your candle business, so it makes sense to carefully source these to get the best deals on quality and price. Supplier reliability is also important, to make sure you can fulfill those orders as they start coming in. You'll definitely need some investment funds to get started, but fortunately the initial investment on a candle making business is relatively low, making this a much more accessible and profitable startup venture.

5. Perfect the Process

Experiment with different waxes and candle scents to develop your signature candle formula, paying attention to important factors like fragrance throw, burn time, and overall candle wax performance. Keeping a cohesive theme throughout your candle scents and labeling/promotional materials can also help elevate your candle business to the next level! And when it's time to ship your candles, make sure you're using sturdy boxes and plenty of cushioning materials so all of your hard work arrives intact, marking your packages as "fragile" to alert shipping carriers.

6. Price Your Product

Researching your candle business competitors' pricing is a great place to start when it comes to determining a good, profitable price point for your candles. Consider your design and creation time, your different candle types, waxes, and scents (and their production costs), and your desired profit margins - and then balance those against how much your customers will likely be willing to pay before making your final pricing decisions (your earlier research from step one will be very useful for this part of your business plan, too!)

7. Take It Online!

Ready for your candles to meet your customers? This is where a professional website or online store comes into the picture, so you can showcase your candles and attract candle fans! Sites like Fourthwall are excellent headquarters for your new candle business, as you can bring in all of your own products and customize your website and store exactly to your liking. 

8. Create a Candle Buzz

Once your store is ready to launch, make sure to utilize social media platforms to engage with your audience, share behind the scenes content of your candle making (you can even stream it on sites like Twitch or YouTube!), and run targeted advertising campaigns. Special promotional offers and press outreach are additional tools you can use to create excitement around your brand and generate hype for your candles! And once you start getting customers, keep that positive buzz going by responding promptly to inquiries, addressing customer concerns, and gathering feedback to make your candles even better.

Quick Pro Tips for Your Candle Business

Developing some unique selling points for your candles will help them stand out in the candle sales market. Here are some pro tips for ways you can generate extra interest in your candle line by going above and beyond, and adding some of your extra creativity into the mix:

Be Unique

Develop fresh and unique selling points for your candles, offering something different than other candles on the market. You can create candles that really generate interest by offering exclusive fragrance blends; making different candle types and shapes; focusing on a particular theme (Islands, Exotic Cities, Colors); giving your candles quirky, fun names; or using unusual materials as part of your packaging.

Look Amazing

Take some time with your packaging, creating visually appealing branding that reflects and supports your candle company's vibe. Using high-quality labels and giving your designs a twist that's all your own can really catch your shoppers' eyes and inspire them to choose your candles over others!

Celebrate!

Holidays and special events are great reasons to create limited-edition candles to attract customers and increase candle sales! Everyone knows about pumpkin-scented trends for Fall and peppermint scents for the winter holidays; what other unique holiday tie-ins can you dream up while creating candles to give them another way to stand out?

Collaborate

Introduce your candles to an even wider audience by looking for opportunities to collaborate with other businesses, such as local boutiques, gift shops, or home decor stores. Creating a "Your Candle Company x Someone Else's Shop" collab can benefit both parties, and working with someone else can also help you think up even more creative types of candles to make!

Use Those Socials

Make sure you're using your Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok accounts to engage with your audience. Share behind the scene looks at your candle-making process, showcase where your candles can be found (both in your own online shop and anywhere else that carries your candles); offer previews of new candle colors, scents, and themes; and run contests or giveaways to keep the brand hype going. Checking out other candle makers and brands on their social can also help you get inspired!

Bonus Tip!

Consider offering monthly candle subscription boxes for recurring revenue and to make your customers get an exclusive early peek at products! This can be a great way to introduce new scents, encourage repeat purchases, and continue building your fan base.

Build a Profitable Candle Business with Fourthwall

Starting your new candle business is exciting, but also requires creativity, dedication, and your own online store! Once you're done creating candles, Fourthwall is a great place to host your candle headquarters, as it provides a platform for your store, dedicated website, social integrations, memberships (perhaps your own exclusive Candle Fans Club!) and so much more!

Fourthwall also makes it easy to brand your store and products, manage your inventory, process and ship orders, and engage with your customers, leaving you free to focus on concepting and creating exceptional candles while streamlining your business operations. Light things up over at Fourthwall today!