Poesie: Pricing Changes Update (2019)

Recently, there has been a marked increase in Poesie's pricing and there was no official statement detailing why this was the case, and I wanted to ask Joelle - the owner of Poesie, directly.

In full; here's the statement she gave me.

"I didn't officially release any reasons but it comes down to looking at the cost of producing and shipping everything vs what I was charging and realizing if the business was going to be sustainable, I had to increase prices. It was something that I had known I needed to do for almost two years and I just kept putting it off because I didn't want to make my customers unhappy, but ultimately it had to be done. 

There are several contributing factors to the increased cost of production. Shipping has gone up a lot and that is a huge part of my costs and probably the number one reason for the increase in price. I've also increased the percentage of perfume to carrier oil based on feedback that people would prefer stronger scents. Of course the costs of materials have gone up since we started the company, so that's a factor as well.

I know the international shipping increase was a big disappointment to a lot of customers, and it was really hard to do. I feel like it was taken to mean that we don't value our international customers, and nothing could be further from the truth. It is super exciting to send my perfumes to other countries and imagine them going on their journeys to places I would love to visit myself; I love to think about the fact that there might be only one person in the entire country who smells like a particular fragrance, and how special that makes it. Unfortunately, shipping internationally is super expensive and there have been times when I actually lost money shipping to people overseas. As much as I want everyone to have access to Poesie products, that's just not sustainable. I really struggled with how to price international shipping, and ended up going with something like an average of the typical cost of shipping. I wish I could make the cost exact so that people who want to order a sample pack aren't paying more than they have to, while at the same time I don't pay more than my profit to ship bath and body products overseas. If I had the technical skills to create a website automatically or the time to track and issue refunds, I would! But neither of those is an option at the moment. 

It feels kind of shameful and money grubbing to say this but the reality is that I have to make money in order to stay in business and keep making perfume. In my life before Poesie, I spent years working at a nonprofit that supports artisans in developing countries and it was so easy to advocate on their behalf, but to do the same thing for myself is really hard! I've seen other indie companies struggle and even go out of business because their pricing wasn't sustainable and I don't want that to happen to Poesie. I love making perfume, and I can't express how grateful I am to the people who make that possible through their support of what I do. To disappoint them by raising prices is one of the hardest things I've done since starting the company. 

Well there are several reasons for offering free domestic shipping. As a customer I appreciate it because it means I know what I'm paying before I get to the checkout. I don't know about you, but I can't stand it when I have to go through the whole process of filling out my email and shipping addresses before I can see how much shipping will cost, since that's a factor in whether or not I even want to buy the product! That's also one of the reasons our international shipping is a flat rate -- no surprises. 

When we were getting started, offering free shipping was a perk we could offer that encouraged new customers to give us a try. I think so many big companies (I'm looking at you, Amazon Prime!) offer free shipping that we've kind of come to expect it as customers. Although I feel pretty certain that Amazon pays less for shipping than I do, haha.

I wish we could offer free shipping internationally but it's just too expensive. Off the top of my head I would say that domestic shipping costs about 25% what international shipping does for us. And there's no tracking with the least expensive rate, which is why a lot of companies only offer international shipping that's way higher than our rate. We have to consider not just the cost to ship one package, but the risk involved. If someone's package goes missing, I will definitely replace it, so the financial risk factor with international shipping is higher. Does that make sense? I hope I'm explaining it fully. 

I'm open to suggestions on how to handle international shipping differently, this is just the best solution I could come up with considering the cost. Ajevie does offer our products, so that's one way for customers to save (by potentially combining orders from other indie companies). We recently offered reduced international shipping as part of our anniversary event, and that's something I'll try to do on occasion. Since we can't offer free shipping to international customers, I do include extra samples that equal the value of what domestic customers are getting with their free shipping. I haven't advertised that -- maybe it should be included in the FAQs where we list the shipping cost.

I guess I didn't write a long statement about it because I didn't know what to say, and it had gotten to the point where it had been put off too long and had to be done, so I approached it like pulling of a particularly stuck on Band-aid. But it's very important to me to offer as much transparency as possible, and I am always happy to answer questions when anyone asks. You can feel free to share as little or as much of this email as you'd like -- it's not a secret, and if it helps anyone understand the decision then I think that's a good thing. I hope it is. "

As I've mentioned before in my post about shipping dilemmas, it is definitely a difficult choice to continue keeping prices affordable, or to increase profit.


If you're interested in the changes to pricing, I've decided to compile a quick guide to the current prices and breakdown of where Poesie stands price wise in contrast to other brands.

Shipping information: 

 Domestic/ USA — $3 --> Free

Canada — $8 --> $12

International — $14 --> $17

Additionally: there is a surcharge for combining orders - when you combine orders you pay the full price of shipping and you get the leftover cost of the shipping refunded back to you! 

The shop prices: 

Custom Sample Pack — $18 for 6 Samples --> $21 for 5 samples

2 ml — $6.5 -->   $8.50

5 ml —$16 -->    $21

New! 10 ml —        $38

Fragrance Mist — $12 -->   $14

Fizzy Bath Salts — $10 -->   $12

Body Whip — $14 -->    $16

Loose Leaf Tea — $8 -->     $8.50

~more math in USD~

SAMPLE SETS:

BEFORE:  $3USD for each 1.15ml vial -> $2.6 per mL
NOW: $4.2USD per 1.15ml -> $3.7 per mL

5mL COMPARISON: 

BEFORE: $16 for 5ml -> $3.2 per mL
NOW: $21 -> $4.2 per mL

How does it stack up against other indie brands?

Hexennacht: ~$8

CocoaPink: $8.25

Fantome: $10

Sucreabeille: $12

MoonaLisa: $13.95

Astrid Perfumes: ~$16

Solstice Scents: $17

Nui Cobalt: $19

Poesie: $21

BPAL: $19.50-$26

NAVA: $22-$26

Arcana: $26-28

As this chart shows, it would have previously been more mid-tier, but now has skipped past Nui Cobalt and Solstice scents, and joined the ranks of BPAL, which sits at above the $20 price bracket.

My opinion:

I am aware that the new price hike has been a bit of a deterrent for some old, and new buyers, and I can confess that I personally also struggled on whether or not I was going to pick up some of the reissue scents as well. While I eventually did, it certainly wasn't as many as I would have wanted.

To give light to those who have commented: it is only natural that customers feel unhappy that domestic shipping is free, yet international shippers have been given an extra shipping cost on top of some places which tax quite heavily. It is clear that not all of us can afford to splurge on luxury items, or to support brands when they become more expensive. I also feel that when some customers outside of America choose to support smaller indie brands, it becomes harder to do so when the prices are on the rise, both from shops and shipping services.

In any case, it is wholly understandable from both the customer and owner's perspective, it is much harder to maintain a sustainable business practice, while wanting everyone to be able to access your products.