We get to work with some of the world’s most amazing natural products. Think things like Shea Butter, Argan Oil, Lavender Essential Oil and even Cranberry Seed Oil. I find it just amazing. However, as all of these are natural products, there are some years when the supply is leaner than others. So I want to know, what do you do when an item that is part of your line is having a global shortage?
Consider this, if you have a product line that is reliant on Lavender Essential Oil, what would you do if there is a global shortage? How do you cope? How does it effect what you do and what you sell/market?
Every year we see a few things on the market that are having global shortages due to bad weather, disease, poor crop yields and even politics. This year we have seen a decrease in the availability of citrus oils due to a disease attacking the citrus trees. We have seen a global shortage of Seabuckthorn Oil due to frost and we have also seen a shortage of Organic Rosehip Oil. It is always a disappointment to see these items struggle because they are such wonderful products and we always want to have it available. Alas, that is not the nature of natural products.
We want to hear from you. Tell us how you deal with global shortages! We want to hear. Just comment on the blog and get a chance to win some goodies from my private stash.
I want to use what is economical so when something becomes overpriced because of shortages due to global shortages I look for other oils I haven’t tried before. I have discovered some new favourites.
Haven’t run into this (yet). So far, the items I use have been available even if pricey. I won’t compromise on my products I make, so probably pay more than I should to get what I need. Why make things otherwise? I guess if something I use a lot becomes hard to find, I would have to adapt and make changes in what I do. Not happily, but changes can be good!
Being new to all things soapy, I am not certain exactly what I would do if I couldn’t find something I relied upon in a product. I think that I would consider reformulating my products with something similar – for instance I just received a lovely sample of Snake Oil and I really like it!!! I have plans to incorporate some of this precious oil into my husbands beard oil. Once gone, I think I will attempt to replace the Snake Oil with Emu Oil or just remove it from the recipe again. I will call these special batches a “limited” run and perhaps if I were selling them call them that…Limited Edition…or something until I could get more.
It depends! Sometimes due to cost I have to discontinue a product, or other times, if it’s a must have I search high and low for it and adjust my prices accordingly. Other times if demand is high, but only at a certain price point, I alert my customers to the problem and if it’s a go, I reformulate a bit to compensate. Since my business is all about natural products, I just have accepted this is the way to go.
I switch to more available products.
Replacing a base ingredient is a little easier as there are often comparable ingredients which will have similar or also beneficial results. An essential oil being used both for scent AND beneficial purpose, like lavender (my FAV oil) is harder. I mean nothing can really replace lavender, or citrus oils either. I think I would put the product “on hold” and try to develop something else that would be similar in “tone” or purpose. There are other calming scents for instance, or other bright notes someone may like as well as a citrus – like Lemongrass!
Sometimes you just bite the bullet and buy the product anyway. I remember when Patchouli essential oil prices went sky high… what could you possibly sub for that? For oils like Sea Buckhorn or Jojoba I usually just sub another or raise the price of the finished product to compensate.
When lavender essential oil became prohibitively expensive a year or two ago because of a shortage, I had to switch to lavandin essential oil to scent my soap. It still provided a very nice natural lavender scent. I do not make any therapeutic claims on any products I make, so I can be flexible when it comes to switching ingredients. Also, there are so many options. If a certain oil has certain benefits, there may be another oil that’s easier to get that has similar benefits as well. So I believe that keeping a certain flexibility with recipes will make it easier to deal with not being able to get your hands on an ingredient whether it’s temporary or permanent.
If you’re using lavender for the calming effects, you could substitute with another scent that has calming properties. Stretch out your supply by simply cutting back on the percentage of lavender oil and adding complimentary scents to it. This will still give you the lavender scent but with a different twist. For instance Lavender and Lemon is a very refreshing blend.