Blog - Natural Soap Wholesale

Posted by Administrator on 7/1/2010 to Product Announcements

June 21 2010
We have received a bit of criticism in the past year about our lavender soaps being too "light" in aroma. Many of these comments seem to assume that we are being "stingy" with the essential oil. This is not true. Though lavender is strong out of the bottle, it tends to fade over time in soap. Some essential oils are like this, and lavender is one of them, not to mention that the aroma of lavender does not have "big top notes" like other sweet/perfumy florals.We are working on a new blend of different lavender essential oils to assist in more "staying power", but in the end, "straight lavender" really is not much by itself, it is much better blended with other essential oils. For example, if you want to see what lavender can really do as "backup role" instead of "solo", smell our Kiwi, Nature Walk, or Mountain Air. Much better. Again, we hope to make a new blend of different lavender varieties to help "improve" the scent, but in the end lavender is what it is.
June 16 2010
Improved Liquid Soap. Our liquid soap has had a bit of "mixed reviews" over the past year. Though we have received many positive comments after our many improvements, we still have had consistency issues ranging from "viscosity" to "harshness". This is primarily due to the fluctuating alkaline levels of the finished soap which range from "too much residue" left on the skin, to "too harsh/drying". There is too much to say about the subject for this type of venue, so to keep it short: a new "revised" liquid soap will be available next week. Shortly after we will have "sticky labels" available and other retail packaging. Thereafter we will have several new formulas by the autumn as well as some other "goodies" in time for the holidays.

June 12 2010
New Pricing.
If you haven't noticed, we reduced our prices and changed the discount structure a bit. All "popular fragrance" soap loaves have been reduced up to 20% in price! Also, our all natural soaps have been reduced by 6-20% as well. This will be our "new pricing" that we've been working on to adjust for the formula change, competitive pricing, and general market fluctuations. Plus, we understand that some of the smaller businesses we serve are not getting quite as good of a deal as some of the larger orders.
As noted before, we will continue to add more fragrances and all natural soaps throughout the summer.
Additionally, we will be making fragrances and essential oils available for purchase for those who wish to make their own bath salts, lotions, etc. We hope to offer these by the autumn as well as some other "goodies" in time for the holidays.

June 3 2010
Thanks for the kind words and honest feedback from many concerning our new products. We are so glad to have much support from our customers. Just so you know, we are not finished with the changes. We will be introducing more product in the coming weeks.
Improved products:
Lilac and Raspberry Rush will both get a "boost". Lilac will smell more "true", less "perfumy". Raspberry will be more well rounded and bold and retain the scent better.
A Better Deal:
It has come to our attention that one of our competitors has introduced a smaller loaf at a very low price. When you do the math on these kinds of "deals", some things just don't add up, but due to customer request, we will respond. Though we considered offering a smaller size loaf, this seemed a bit silly considering we already offer three different shapes/sizes for many of our soaps and one more would simply be even more confusing at this time. Instead, we will be introducing some new "deals" on our regular size product, not a "mini size", in about a week. Our soaps will still have a unique appearance, an ever improving formula, and lowest regular price on handmade soap loaves.
Other changes... we will be discontinuing "red clover tea" soap. This fragrance seems to fade badly. This fragrance was from a source that we normally do not use and it has proven to be a lower quality product. Our apologies if you really liked this soap. Though we were planning to improve the soap, it seems that it quite similar to the fragrance: Sweet Pea, so instead of "improving it" we will "replace it". So, if you like Red Clover Tea, try Sweet Pea. Also, instead of discontinuing Cranberry Vanilla Peach, we have had enough responses to continue it, but be reducing it to "slab style" only. So, block style will not be available for this selection when stock runs dry.

May 25 2010
Formula Modification
Over the past year, and especially the last few months, we have been working on an improved formula. Well, we are almost there. Our base formula, for the majority of our soaps, will include sunflower oil among other small changes. The sunflower high oleic variety is quite similar to olive oil, but we feel it is quite a bit better (as a complement to other oils) in skin softening etc. We will continue to use olive in our formulas, but we happened to be quite a bit more inclined to use sunflower as a "booster" instead of simply adding more olive "for show". We completely understand that "bragging" about olive oil content is very popular, but pretense has limited value. If your customer uses the soap and is amazed by the feeling they get from it, they will be back for more, since they are well served. If you brag about olive oil content and they are only moderately satisfied, you only gained one sale and future sales are in question (makes sense, right?). This is why we are always working to improve our products, to completely impress every customer so they are continually served well, not just once, but continually for years! We will continue to test this new formula on the staff (who thoroughly enjoy testing soap!) and then put it into full production in the coming months among the other improved soaps.
New Organic Soap Labels
We have had a few complaints here and there regarding our organic soap labels being different than the others. We "second that" and will be modifying the labels so that they are similar to the others. We may (or may not) continue offering the "organic girl" labels as an option (let us know what you think).

May 17 2010
Expansion
So, we're expanding again soon. We really are "packed in" at our new (humble) facility and yet we had so many more scents to release, so we will be expanding again (which was the plan for next year anyway, but I guess it will have to happen in the next few months instead).
This will give us the ability to offer a dozen or more new scents and all natural soaps, and some other "secrets" to come hopefully by autumn. We're not telling, so don't ask.
New Photos
We had the professional photographer come in last week and we hope to have the photos ready in the next few weeks. We hope to have some available for download soon also.
New look
We have successfully created a new looking soap for those who are bored with our two toned and one toned soap. We may call it "chunky soap", "kaleidoscope" or similar, because there are chunks of soap inside each soap bar for a unique look. We have not decided the fate of this style, but it looks unique and has much potential to serve many people looking for something different.
May 2 2010
It's almost Mom's day are you ready? We trust you are.
New Selections: Sorry, the last entry became a bit jumbled as far as the order of arrival. We now have Tea Tree, Biscotti, May Chang, and we didn't really like the "sage and lemongrass" combination, so instead we went with one that was much more interesting. We'll probably call it: "Blooming Sage and Geranium" just to keep the character count high (ha ha). We are working on a couple more, but some of them seem a bit more "Autumn" so we may have to wait on them until...Autumn.
New Discounts: We will be extending the 7% off through the summer, extending the bonus discount (with a slight increase in the requirement) and adding a "big summer order" discount for those who like to order more at once. These will be good until August.
Soap Loaf Specials: We had some "oops soap" in the process of making new ones and general "oops" situations. Most of the soaps are great, except they may be a bit off. In some situations we may have just made too many and thus we have extra inventory we wish to "move along". We will be selling these off at discounted rates, of course, and all discounts will apply.

April 24 2010
Improvements: Evergreen Lavender will get a bit of a lift with some softer essential oil notes and will be further improved with a bit stronger lavender aroma as we implement the new lavender eo. We've been getting comments about our lavender not being "strong enough" and "fading" over time. It so happens that we've been running into some consistency issues with our supplier, and we just recently changed to a new supplier for this eo. The lavender is stronger, but some notes are bit different (we've noticed it doesn't fade as much over time and is a touch more floral). Hope everyone likes it.
There has been a delay on a couple new soaps (working out the "kinks"). We will be adding "May Chang" and "Lemongrass Sage" this week and yes we will have some pictures for you (not professional ones, but they should give you an idea of what the soap is like). Biscotti and Tea Tree should be next... really. Then Ginger Coconut Almond (Title TBD), Vanilla Mocha, and Orange Vanilla Bliss (Title TBD).
One more thing, our soaps will now have more olive oil in them. You may even notice a light olive aroma in some of the unscented soaps. The formula is a bit "harder" also, just in time for the summer heat. Improved lather and skin feel too!

April 20, 2010
Due to another waive of orders, we will most likely not complete the next two all natural soaps until the first week of May. Additionally, we plan to discontinue one of our soaps which will be replaced by a better fragrance. Cranberry Vanilla Peach, will be replaced by Cranberry Fig in the coming months unless we have a serious outcry of angry customers. In that case we would simply just add cranberry fig to the collection. Many customers have asked for a list of "new soaps" that we will be adding in the next couple months. Honestly I can only say what we will be adding in the next month. But I can say what is being considered also.
Definite: Biscotti, Tea Tree, Ginger Almond, Cranberry Fig (fragrance)
Possible (actual names obviously TBD): Vanilla Patchouli Hemp, May Chang, Lavender-Chamomile-Vanilla (relaxation blend), Orange Vanilla, Vanilla Mocha, Lemon-Cherry-Vanilla, Spearmint
So, those are the considerations. If you have some you would like for us to consider... by all means, let us know. We also plan to do some "improvements" on some of the blends and fragrances. Due to general comments and observation, this is always necessary to have the best product available for our customers.
April 11 2010
We have the first two new all natural soaps almost ready for release: We did not like how the straight up grapefruit was turning out so we went with the citrus blend (with grapefruit) instead. The new natural scent will be a Grapefruit Lime blend (final title TBD). The other new natural scent will be a light rose and citrus type blend that reminds me of a summer wind. It may be called "summer mountain rose" (final title TBD). These are both aloe soaps and should be ready this coming week. Two more we will be putting forth is first, Biscotti and the second is Tea Tree (by popular demand), may be ready this week but the projection is April 19.
Other news: We will be hiring a professional photographer to take pictures of our products. We will be paying for their services to take extra photos of the soaps so that we can make them available to our customers. We believe having a variety of professional photos available will serve our customers well. Our basic photos will be "free" to use (with permission) as always. If additional photos are desired, there will be a fee associated with the use of these materials in an effort to recoup the costs associated with the photographer taking the extra pictures. The pictures will be downloaded from the website.
In addition to the photos, we will be making a number of labels available for download as well. This way, you can print them at your leisure if you wish.

March 26 2010 (updated March 28)
New Products: Due to a much busier than anticipated March and the low stock levels due to our recent move, we had numerous delays. We apologize for the delays, and should be back on track for adding new products in April. We will be adding (at least) three new all natural selections (as promised before). We are also continuing to work on the liquid soap formula(s) and hope to release those soon. In addition to this, with the world wide economy continuing to suffer a bit, this can be good news for wholesale costs as production continues and demand goes down, there can be an abundance of low cost product. We are currently negotiating with several suppliers for better rates on some raw product that would allow us to add a few more options to the line up earlier than expected. Additionally, we are excited to modify our formula to include more olive oil in it. We have been pressed by some of our customers to use more olive oil so they can have that "edge" with their customers. Because of this, we will be increasing the olive oil content and be noting the percentage of olive oil on the website. Additionally, sunflower oil (high oleic) will be showing up in some of the new products. We will try not to modify the ingredients too much in our products since this is such a pain for everyone so we try to avoid this.
March 7 2010
Liquid Soap now in stock and now more concentrated. We were getting the regular comment that our concentrate wasn't concentrated enough. Fair enough, it is now 40% more concentrated with no price increase... how do you like them apples.
New Soaps.... aren't here yet obviously, but now that we are almost up to par, they will be available late March with some more "goodies".
Head Above Water
To make a short story long... Just last year our business relocated across town to a "potential" location that turned out to not have so much "potential". So, several months ago we decided we needed to move again to a situation with more potential before we grow any bigger (which will then cost a fortune to move). Fortunately, and unfortunately, our inventory had already nearly doubled since our last move so the move was even more difficult than anticipated (It's funny since this was even after we reduced our inventory to make the move easier). It just so happens that after the move and as we were then increasing our inventory to normal levels, a "Christmas-like" flood of orders poured in and has kept us frantic ever since. Well, we have our head above water now... thanks for your patience. We will continue to keep the delayed shipment warning since we are still a touch slower than our usual turn around.

March 2 2010
Due to our recent relocation and an overwhelming demand, we are experiencing delays of approx 4 business days for all orders. We hope to be "up to par" in the coming week. Thanks for your patience.
February 13 2010
We are currently shipping at a slower speed. Please expect delays of 2-3 business days (average) through the end of the month. Thank you for your patience.
February 1 2010
Please expect shipping delays through Wednesday February 3 due to a recent snow storm. If your package is not yet shipped, this will delay shipment 2-3 business days. Sorry for the inconvenience, we are trying our best to get product to all of our customers as quickly as possible.

January 22 2010 (UPDATED Jan 23 2010)
Correction: Last blog/news entry, it was noted that we would not have any foaming pump bottles until March, this is incorrect. We will be receiving pump bottles near the end of January but we will still be slower to release pre-filled pump bottles due to a current shortage of bottles.
Price Update: After "crunching last year's numbers" we have updated our prices for soap bars and loaves. Some increases and some decreases occurred. We will increase promotions throughout the year as noted before and will continue our free shipping (requirement now only $100 instead of $125), large order bonus discounts (starting at $200 instead of $500) and add a variety of quantity discounts.
Product Additions: We will begin our new roll out of two to three new all natural eo blends. The first will be a citrus blend: Orange-Key Lime-Grapefruit as the "major players". The other sure blend will be one titled: "Biscotti" which will be a baked goods like aroma with notes of almond, licorice, and cinnamon (yes we will try to be sure it smells different than the other almond blends). We have several others in the works, but one of this year's resolutions is not to prematurely announce things (in case they don't end up happening).

January 19 2010
So, the new year is rolling, so what happened to our inventory? Sorry for the problems, which all seemed to jump out at once. Foaming pump bottles are in production, but we won't get any in until around February (we're disappointed too). So, our liquid soap roll out will have to be pushed back until then. Castile Soap will be back in stock this week. Guest bars labels are just about ready and the "sticky labels" for full size bars should be ready soon too! As fore mentioned, in March/April, we will begin the process of pre-filling foam bottles and labeling them as well as introducing the other liquid soap(s).
A smaller note: we are in the process of creating some round "mosaic soaps" that will be sold in bar lots. These will only be created as limited edition artistic lots and will based primarily on the soaps we already offer with some unique blends of current soaps (for example: "coconut cream" may be blended with "mango", to make a coconut mango mosaic soap)... but in the end, many may just look unique and have our standard line of "flavors".

December 27 2009
Fedex and other carriers will be closed on Friday January 1st so we will not be shipping any orders on that day. Most orders will be held until the following Monday if they have not already left our facility. You also may not receive your package as quickly due to this holiday delay, but it is helpful to realize that your carrier's employees are able to spend time with their family, friends, and/or loved ones because they are able to take the day off. It is always tempting to be cold at heart in this season with budgets to meet and money to make and the fact that we're all working our tails off to serve others the best we can. The intensity can really weigh down on business owners, but be of cheer, it's almost the end of the year. We can all count up our profits, see where we need to improve and tighten up, where we can be more generous and/or serve our customers and employees better. When it's all said and done, you want very few regrets, and many positive memories of how you did a good job or how you had a good attitude in the worst moments... not saying we are the best example of this, but we do try. In the end it is your reputation that is on the line, and thus it is to your benefit and long term profitability to be the best you can be, be generous and as loyal as you can to your customers and (if possible) have good relationships with everyone! This "sermon" has to end somewhere, so... from all of us at Adams', have a happy new year!
BTW: See our last post for next year's updates/announcements.

December 20 2009
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays...
New changes for 2010...
New Liquid Soap formula. In addition to the "organic" liquid soap formula, we will be creating a new conventional liquid soap formula (mostly conventional vegetable oils rather than "organic"). With these, we will be making available most of our popular fragrances as well as our eo's (and eo blends).
New Soap selections. We will be continuing to add new all natural selections. This past year we added quite a few new "synthetic" popular fragrances, but not as many natural, so to balance this we will be creating more natural blends. Our goal by 2011 is to add at least 10 new selections.
Lower price on soap bars. This coming year we will be introducing a lower bar price. In the past we have kept bar prices a bit higher (compared to loaves) since more processing occurs in the creation of the bars. In short, we will be reducing the prices of bars.
New Packaging options. Oh yeah... this is one of those "hot topics" that has been debated here for months. We are considering, in addition to "parchment labels", making available sticky labels. The sticky labels can be placed onto a soap box or directly onto the rustic wrap. We will most likely offer parchment labels for purchase (for those who want to stay with the old labels). But if the sticky labels are a huge success, we will naturally phase out the parchment bands/labels.
End of the current loyalty discount. We have decided to allow the loyalty discount (which was fully intended to be temporary) to expire at the end of the year. However, we will be creating a new discount program in January. Don't worry, we have some good stuff lined up!

HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR!!!

October 17 2009
NEW FASTER PROCESSING...
We are now stocked and shipping in approx 2-6 business days to US addresses for most orders. Soap loaves will generally be available to ship the same business day, however, since we cut/wrap soap bars to order, this will take an extra day or two. We are very excited to offer this to our customers to serve everyone better. This past month was a real "wake up call" that we needed more staff to accommodate all of our new (and past/loyal) customers. Thanks again for making it a pleasure to serve you.

October 13 2009
Due to popular request we now provide shipping to Canada, UK, Australia and Singapore. We will utilize international flat rate boxes for these Countries and Fedex Ground will also be available to Canada.
October 10 2009
Wow! What a busy month! Sorry if you have received an untimely package... We are honestly trying our best to keep up. After this burst of activity, hopefully mid October, the "economy shipping" will return to 5-8 days average ship time.
Next Issue:
We are currently in the process of training a new phone operator and packaging assistant so this should help with customer service issues during this very busy season. The phone/orders assistant will be available for sales support during limited times of the day (tbd) which we will note on the website. If you have questions regarding any basic information or need help with an order, you can talk to a live person rather than email during these times (thanks for bearing with us on this issue, if you are one of those that hates email). And we hope to also have a "live chat" option as well for those who would prefer this option. (As always we don't outsource any of this to other countries to save money. We will train a real live person, that will usually be on location, to answer your questions or assist you with your orders.)
September 26 2009
New Scent in October... Red Clover & Tea (Originally this was targeted for September, but due to record demand for our other product in September we were unable to squeeze this one in)

Other News: We have been implementing new Geami packaging as a substitute for bubble wrap. So far, Geami has held up well, it saves us space, and is natural (the name Geami actually means "earth friend"). We will continue to re use filler that we receive from other suppliers, but Geami will probably be the only packaging we buy other than this. This is a picture of Geami Wrap which is basically honeycomb Kraft paper and tissue paper and was invented by some smart folks in Morrisville, North Carolina.

"Step Up": We hope to "step up" production for the rest of the season to assist those who need their packages faster. We have set up a simple 3 choice shipping structure at checkout so customers can choose the speed of shipping during the hectic season. In all fairness, we have set this up so "Joe" will have to pay more for his "need for speed" processing, while "Sally" doesn't mind waiting and can save on shipping/processing. Also, as noted, Economy shipping will be free for orders over $125+ with "upgrades" available to standard or rush shipping.

September 24 2009
Free Shipping is back... That's right, free economy shipping on order $125+ and a bonus 3% discount on orders $500+. **Free shipping has replaced the "12% total order discount"

September 16 2009

Change in Shipping options: there has been a bit of confusion for many of our customers with the shipping options when ordering. We have remedied this issue by creating easier to understand options...
We have created the Economy Shipping for the thrifty, "I want the absolute cheapest shipping and I'll wait for it", customer. "Rush" shipping for the "I needed this yesterday" customer. Additionally we have created the middle ground, for those who need a reasonable priority level and don't mind paying a bit more than economy. This type of organization of orders will allow us to fit orders into the fulfillment process, in terms of priority level and, as stated before, make the fulfillment times easier to understand.

September 12 2009

Did you know... with our current shopping cart you can search for terms like... "block style soap". This creates an easy to find product for a point "A to B" experience.

August 29 2009 Updated
Improved Scents for Mango and Raspberry Rush
As noted in the past months we are updating/improving our scents. Our latest improvements will be for Mango and Raspberry Rush. These are currently the new and improved Raspberry Rush and Mango. If you would like samples of the new product, we can include a free sample of either of these with your next order. Qualification: past customers who have purchased either of these soaps. To get a free sample, on your next order type in "free sample of ..." in the comments box at checkout. Note: We will only be giving samples of these two soaps to past customers upon request. Requests for samples other soaps will need to be purchased from the samples page.

August 23 2009 updated August 27
Soap Boxes... Now In Stock
We have had a rising interest level in soap boxes. For a time we offered them, but due to space restraints and an inconsistent supply we decided to let them go. We recently decided to offer them again, but instead of the white gloss boxes we will offer "kraft" boxes which have a much more "earthy" appearance. There will be "square shaped" boxes and "rectangle shaped" boxes. Note: Due to the varying nature of the slab style soaps, they may not fit into the rectangle boxes (depending on the height), so in a sense these may work best only for the block style soaps, but we will do some testing of our own to determine our recommendations. Printed labels may be available for these as well, to be determined...
We will have more information on this early September.
August 22 2009
New liquid soap options to be created: As noted in the past we wish to provide a "conventional" liquid soap for customers who would like a "less raw" product. This will consist of conventional (non organic) oils and will be less cloudy, thus more appealing to some. We will not use SLS (or similar) in the formula, it will be a handmade natural soap similar to our current formula.
Super concentrated soap paste (the current 85% organic ingredient liquid soap formula) for making liquid soap will also be available for the "do it yourself" reseller. Though our current formula is more concentrated than many handmade liquid soaps on the market, the soap paste will be the "raw completely undiluted" product which we make our concentrated liquid soap from... imagine the possibilities! We will include instructions for dilution... this will be a real saver on shipping!

August 19 2009
Did you know that we offer qty discounts on soap bars. That's right, there is a discount when you purchase 10 or more bars of one soap type. More discounts are sure to come soon.
We are considering re-starting a new "rewards program" in the new year when the "loyalty discount" will be reconsidered. With our improved website now in place it is again possible to manage a reward program. Tell us what you think, do you like the "loyalty discount" on every order or do you like the idea of accumulating a reward?