I Have 20 Fragrances but Only Five Are Bestsellers — Should I Buy 1 Kg Fragrance Oils Only for Those Five and Keep Smaller Quantities of the Rest?

The example range

To price the question, here is an example range: 400 container candles a month across 20 scents, with the five bestsellers taking 60% of sales (48 candles each) and the other fifteen sharing 40% (about 10.7 each). Every candle is 200 g at an 8% load, so 16 g of oil, plus a 4% allowance for pour loss and test burns. That makes 798.7 g a month for each bestseller and 177.5 g for each slow scent. The bestseller oils here come from near the top of CSI's best-selling sort as stand-ins; your five are whatever your own sales say. The split is illustrative, and the method works for any shape.

A kilo is 62.5 candles at 16 g. For a bestseller at 48 candles a month, that is 1.25 months of stock. For a slow scent at about 11 a month, it is 5.6 months. Those two numbers are really the whole answer. A kilo that empties in five weeks is working stock. A kilo that empties in five or six months is a bet that the scent will keep selling, that nothing new will replace it, and that the oil will be as good in March as it was in October. A 1 Kg Fragrance Oil Is Much Cheaper per Gram than 100 g — How Quickly Should I be Using a Fragrance Before Moving to the Larger Pack? covers what the kilo costs per gram oil by oil.

Three policies, priced

Here is the example range bought three ways. "First order" is the cash to stock every scent once. "Average oil on the shelf" assumes each kilo is reordered when it runs out (average half a kilo) and 100 g bottles are bought monthly to cover each month's need (average half of that). Monthly oil cost is consumption priced at the pack you buy. Holding cost uses an example rate of 1.5% a month, a placeholder for your own cost of money.

The all-kilo policy has the lowest oil price per month (₹32,880.09) but needs ₹99,045.40 on the first day and keeps ₹49,522.70 of oil on the shelf, most of it in slow scents that take 5.6 months to use. The hybrid needs ₹40,272.12 up front and keeps ₹20,136.06 on the shelf. Its monthly oil bill is ₹674.33 higher, because slow scents are priced at 100 g rates, but once holding is counted the gap narrows to ₹233.53. All-100 g is dearest per month and gives bestsellers only a month's cover per order.

So on money alone, the hybrid and the all-kilo policy are close. What separates them is risk. The all-kilo policy puts ₹58,773.28 more into oil on day one, and every slow scent holds months of stock. If two of those fifteen scents stop selling, or you drop them from the range, those kilos become dead stock. I Want to Discontinue a Slow-Selling Candle — How Do I Use the Remaining Fragrance Oil, Wax, Jars and Packaging Without Wasting Inventory? covers what to do with oil from a discontinued scent; the better answer is not to be holding a kilo of it.

What the kilo buys your bestsellers

Here are the five example bestsellers, with what the kilo saves on price and what it costs to hold at their usage.

British Rose saves far more than it costs to hold. Roasted Coffee, Lavender and Dark Vanilla save modestly and still come out ahead at this usage. Blue Ocean's kilo is fractionally dearer per gram than its 100 g, so on price alone it loses. Yet all five should be on kilos. A bestseller that runs out costs you sales, and at 48 candles a month you would otherwise be ordering eight 100 g bottles of each scent every month. For bestsellers, the kilo's job is continuity; any price saving is a bonus that depends on the oil. My Bestselling Fragrance Keeps Running Out — Should I Hold More Fragrance Oil Inventory than I Hold for Slower-Selling Candle Scents? covers holding more than a kilo of the scent that keeps running out.

The refined split: use the slow scents' ladders

Look at the fifteen slow scents' ladders. Most are flat above 100 g: Sandalwood, Apple Cinnamon, Woody Oud and White Royal Oud cost the same per gram at 100 g, 500 g and 1 kg. But several break at 500 g, and at 177 g a month a 500 g bottle lasts 2.8 months, inside a three-month cap.

Moving the six slow scents whose 500 g is at least 5% cheaper per gram than their 100 g (Citrus Lemon, Jasmine, Fresh Strawberries, Eucalyptus Spearmint, Lemongrass and Lime, and Mango Coconut) into 500 g bottles, while the bestsellers stay on kilos and the other nine stay on 100 g, gives a fourth policy. Its first order is ₹46,553.92, its average oil on the shelf ₹23,276.96, and its oil plus holding ₹33,416.18 a month: ₹440.28 a month less than the plain hybrid, and ₹206.75 less than all-kilo, with ₹26,245.74 less oil on the shelf. That is the payoff for reading each oil's ladder instead of applying one rule.

Rules for moving scents between tiers

Frequently asked questions