Essential oils

Hi all

Just wanted to see how many of our forum members buy essential oils. Doesn't matter which oil it is.

My wife wants to start essential oils business because she is able to source them really cheap compared to competitors. Just wanted to see what the demand for it might be?

Cheers

 

I do use them - mainly for room fragrance and create insects repellent for the dog (i.e. need it to be the highest quality one).

 

Nope. Wife doesn't like them either. To me essential oils are:

Crude - for energy
Olive - for salads and cooking
Coconut - for cooking and other health reasons


There is obviously a market for them though, otherwise they wouldn't exist. If your wife is sure she can source them cheaper than other sellers, there's probably some money to be made. Is the price point low enough that she could be a wholesaler/distributor? Something else to think about.

 

I use essential oils all the time. As a teenageer, my Dad taught me that it's essential to keep the oil in the car topped up and I heed his advice to this day.

 

I buy eucalyptus and tea tree for washing and cleaning

One thing that made me wary of your title is that it's going to be one the "stay at home mum franchise pyramid scheme's"

Had pc had a pyramid scheme thread yet? ? I find them intriguing, wouldn't touch them or the products with a10 foot pyramid touching pole but the ins and outs would be interesting

I used to enjoy watching mums at playgroup..... selling their stuff to each other. All with a dream of retiring on that sale of a wash cloth or lipstick

 

For a brief second i thought this was going somewhere else...

 

I don't use them but am not against it. My thought would be if she can get them super cheap compared to everyone else, are they diluted/mixed/not pure?

 

I use essential oils. I like Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Lavender and Rosemary. I only buy the best quality I can find and they are expensive. However, they last me a long time. It's more than 10 years since I have bought any.

 

I use them:
1. Aroma diffuser for the room: a few drops (diluted with water) will be enough to last three hours.
2. Massage oil: a few drops (diluted with base oil) will be enough for the entire body.
Basically Priceline sells them for less than 30 buck a bottle and it lasts forever and ever and ever, since it is so cheap already, I really don't think a cheaper one say 10 bucks will make any difference for me.
No consumer is going to mass purchase essential oils, if your wife is interested in the business she should think about distribution/wholesale to salons/spa etc which use them in large quantity on daily basis.

 

A colleague's husband works for Reckitt Benckiser. They get loads of stuff for free, too much for their own use. No need for me to buy any room fragrances!

 

Thanks for feedback! Defenitivley not pyramid scheme, I have been researching it ans saw few big players in that market. I was thinking wholesale is the easiest to do.

Just a little background - my cousin who is a farmer currently grows Helichrysum italicum (that's the Latin name for it) its specific to the region where he is and now it has become large source of his income. A lot of bigger companies are approaching him and buying the plant and oil at really cheap price. He can produce around 30 Liters of oil per year. Its a nice little earner for him. He gets around AUD5 per 5ml (around $1000/ L and they resell it for AUD185.95 / 5mL! I couldn't believe that it sells for that much!

They do package it in a nice bottle and put label on it. They (company that buys from him) have done chemical compound testing of his oil and it shows to be of higher quality than their competitors.

He asked my wife, since he is not computer or internet literate if she can have a look and see if he can make more money out of it since he always sells his stock. By just doing few phone calls and some negotiating she managed to get him $5200 per L. I told her to be happy with that and let it go, but she wants to take it further and start packaging it herself and selling it. She wants to become "specialist" in just selling that one oil and possibly expand later into others, by working directly with farmers in a sharing agreement.

This is why I'm here to see what the wise forumites (is that the plural?) think of essential oils? When I was teenager (grew up on a farm) my grandma used to make that that oil and would apply it to scars and wounds. It always seemed to work. I never thought it could sell for that much.

I dont use essential oils myself except tee tree and sometimes peppermint (sinus problems). Stopped using medication for it as it doesn't help but steamed peppermint always works.

 

I'll get back to later i just have to shut the hydro gear down and start digging!

 

The big companies charges so much because there are substantial marketing costs to market the oil to end consumers. If your wife wants to drive volume then marketing is unavoidable, it may end up costing her more than any potential profit. This is similar cases to pharmaceutical companies, most of the costs are in R&D, and legal cost is probably second, the actual cost to produce the pills are negligible.
This is an interesting idea though, can you keep us posted about how it goes?

 

Oh no

 

We use them in massage oils

 

I'll definitively keep you guys posted. I told her she already achieved what she wanted and that is to help our cousin so he is not taken advantage off. The sad thing is there are a lot of farmers that are taken advantage off.

I have been doing some research into the oil and im amazed at healing benefits it has. Spoke to my father about it and he says back in his day that is all they used for cuts / bruises, acne. Doing my research I found out that is around 4th most expensive essential oil. Rose oil is the most expensive it costs $400 for 5mL!!!!

There is one producer who makes large quantity (400L) per year. Although he only sells to other businesses. Most of his buyers are in Asia (Japan and HK) and you need to make orders one year in advance. Not a bad business to be in, although the sales are limited, because he can only produce certain amount each year.

I have asked a friend in china to see if there is a demand for the product from consumers.

 

Fish Oil.