Ultimate guide to starting your own candle business

Now is the perfect time for you to start the candle business you’ve been dreaming of. With candles becoming more and more of an everyday essential, whether it be for ambience or self-care this rapidly growing market is set to increase. 

Here’s how to set up your very own candle business for success: 

1. Research your market and where you want to sit 

It’s crucial to understand what’s already on offer in the candle market and how you can differentiate yourself.

Research the types of candles you may want to make and how you can stand out from the crowd. 

By conducting thorough market research you can understand who your target customer is, what matters to them and what ingredients you should include in your candle to appeal to them. 

From this, define your niche.

2. Discover the art of candle making

If you’re going to be making the candles yourself, you need to understand how to make them successfully. 

There’s a lot to candle making, deciding on the right wax to use, the right wick and test burning your fragrances with all of these ingredients to ensure you create a safe and successful candle. 

3. Source your materials

If you’re making the candles yourself you will need to source and test your materials to judge what works and what doesn’t. 

This research and development process is key to understanding what really works with candles and what doesn’t. 

Do your research into suppliers and order samples. Start testing straight away, you can use our candle test burn sheet to keep your testing results neatly in one place. 

4. Create a fire brand 

With so many candles out there already, you really need to use your branding to set you apart from your competitors. 

Create some brand guidelines including your name, branding colours, ideal customer, your mission statement and packaging designs. 

5. Understand the legalities and labelling

There is strict regulation around candles and their fragrances and how they should be used. 

Be sure to do your research as to what needs to be clearly labelled on your candles and provide your customers with clear instructions on how they can safely use their candles. 

6. Get ready for launch!

Create a beautiful website that will draw your customers in, research into UX design and understand how customers will really use your website and what’s important to them. 

When you have perfected your product, get some stunning photographs for your social media and online presence. 

Strategise your marketing and sales funnels and put steps in place to achieve these with SMART objectives. 

7. Light that fire!

You’re ready to launch! Go for it but remember to adapt and evolve your brand along the way after receiving your customer feedback!