Can you tell us a bit about The Original Welsh Candle Co, what type of luxury products do you design, create and sell?

We design and make a range of luxury candles, diffusers, melts and room sprays – we use the very best fragrances in our ranges.

Who is your target audience and how do you target them?

Our target audience are people who are visiting Wales so through tourist points of interest and gift shops, , people who are missing Wales – generally those are internet based, and , or gifts for those who are Welsh – again maybe an online buy or a shop pick up.

All our stockists have a great range of welsh products in store and our range adds to it.

Our Aur range and our spa range is targeting hotels and guest houses. It’s a high end looking candle and isn’t just for the Welsh

How long have you been trading and what is the history of the company?

We always loved candles and sold them in our shop in Cowbridge, we had company making them for us, but we wanted to be more in control of the quality - so we decided to produce make them ourselves. Luckily Sarah’s husband was due to retire from the fire service, so she wanted to keep him busy. We started at the begging of lockdown, we knew we’d have time to test and develop and get things right! We did just that and our brand has gone from strength to strength! We now make everything in house in South Wales, and needless to say Sarah’s husband is in fact very busy.

 

 

What are your key goals in the UK market? And beyond…

We are looking to hit the main tourism points, we’d love to export. Our Aur range is on point for the hotel and luxury market. We’d love to get into a few high end boutiqes.

What three words best describe your business and its products?

Welsh, Luxury and desirable

Where do you find your inspiration for your products?

Its important to us that the scents represent the memory on the back of the tin, we choose the names for the tins from words and places Welsh people love.

Our Aur range was inspired by the scents of expensive hotels and spas.

Do you use social media to promote your business? How has this landscape changed over the years within the home and gift industry?

We do, we don’t get very many sales from it though!

Do you do any advertising/PR?

Only google, and instagram, we’d love help on this

What do you wish you’d known at the very beginning of starting your business that you know now?

That the quality of the packaing and labels doesn’t matter, people want to buy the sentiment on the candle, I love the fact that our brand stands out – however I’m not sure the customers appreciate the quality.

Do you feel the economic climate is improving or is it getting tougher to trade? Have your pivoted at all throughout the pandemic?

It is a rollercoaster

What do you see as being the biggest problem for giftware suppliers and retailers in the gift industry?

Cash flow. Everyone wants 30 days… we don’t offer this, as a shop ourselves we understand how important small orders and big margins are, we do our best to offer this

If we could help you with one aspect of your business, what would that be?

PR – we’d love to be the ‘oh I know that one’ brand.

What news do you have to share with us so we can celebrate your achievements in 2022?

Um……we are still going, our stockists are growing day by day

What are you looking to achieve in 2022? 

To be stocked in the hotels in wales and the majority of tourism outlets.

To find out more about The Original Welsh Candle Brand visit their site here - https://www.theoriginalwelshcandleco.com/