How To commence a Candle Business in 2025 (navigator and Examples)

Eager to burn the midnight oil with a recent business concept? Consider selling homemade candles.

Learning to make candles is a practical skill that’s accessible even for beginners. If you’re interested in starting a candle business, here’s how you can make money online with this trending product.

Ready to commence your business? make your website today or discover more about Shopify’s tools for selling online and in person.

Why commence a candle business?

Candles are an essential décor item. The candle industry is set to reach $10 billion in global sales by 2032, according to specialist trade Research.

Commercial use of candles continues to develop, with spas using them for aromatherapy and restaurants creating ambient environments. The National Candle Association reports that consumers primarily buy candles for home décor and relaxation.

Google Trends data shows consistent global yield in homemade candles, particularly in North America, recent Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa—valuable trade information for recent candle makers.

Starting a candle business offers several benefits:

• Low enterprise costs: While some varieties require higher-standard materials, you can commence with minimal upfront capital.
• Flexible selling options:Sell your crafts both online and at craft fairs or local markets.
• straightforward to discover: The basic procedure is straightforward for both beginners and experienced crafters. 
• Customizable products: make distinctive products to differentiate your business.

Types of homemade candles to sell

One key advantage of starting a candle business is the variety of products you can make. Once you’ve learned the basic candle-making procedure, you can explore different types to discover what appeals to your target customers and matches your business goals. Here are the most popular varieties to consider for your product line:

Soy candles

Soy candles use wax derived from soybeans, offering an alternative to traditional oil- or paraffin-based candles. Made from a renewable resource, they burn cleanly and last longer, providing better worth for customers.

Scented or aromatherapy candles

These popular candles arrive in a range of scents for customers looking to spruce up their homes. They serve multiple purposes, from creating enjoyable atmospheres to offering aromatherapy benefits.

Aromatherapy candles incorporate essential oils chosen for specific wellness benefits. For example, lavender scents are often used to promote relaxation.

Vegan candles

As more customers seek products without animal ingredients, vegan candles propose an alternative to traditional beeswax varieties. These candles use plant-based ingredients like soy wax, natural wax, and fragrance oils.

Decorative candles

Decorative candles focus on visual appeal through distinctive shapes, colors, and designs. While they may not be scented, they serve as distinctive home décor pieces that add character to any space.

How to commence your own candle business

1. Do trade research
2. construct your brand identity
3. make a candle business name
4. Write a roadmap
5. Register your candle business
6. compute your trade worth
7. Make candles to sell
8. construct your online store
9. make a marketing schedule

1. Do trade research

Your target trade—the buyers who will be most interested in your products and most likely to convert to customers—will navigator your business decisions, from product advancement to marketing. The candle industry has three main trade segments:

• Prestige candles ($30–$100): A quick-growing luxury segment known for extra charge packaging, fragrances, and brand storytelling. 
• Mid-trade candles ($10): Broad-appeal products with distinctive scents like rosewater or grapefruit, often found in retail outlets like Target. 
• Mass trade candles ($5–$8): Affordable options with standard scents like vanilla or ocean breeze, dominated by brands like Yankee Candle and Bed Bath and Beyond. 

Choose your target trade based on your goals. If you desire to sell in retail stores like Home Goods or Macy’s, consider mid-trade products. For online boutiques and direct sales, prestige candles might be a better fit. 

Your selection will shape everything from sourcing materials to building your brand and packaging. 

2. construct your brand identity

Building a powerful brand helps you construct an spectators, navigator marketing efforts, and make better products for your customers. A powerful brand schedule is especially crucial in the candle industry, which has grown significantly over the history decade.

make a compelling brand narrative: A brand narrative helps you connect with buyers quickly. It’s the narrative that shapes your brand and becomes the foundation for your mission, communication, and voice. Brand stories in the candle business should be captivating, human, and truthful. They should make people feel something, which drives them to receive action—whether it’s signing up, making a purchase, or making a donation. 

receive Keap Candles’ narrative, for example. The founders, Harry Doull and Stephen Tracy, were unhappy with their jobs in tech. They wanted to do something more meaningful and inspiring with their work and turned to candle making. 

To discover your narrative, inquire yourself:

• Why am I making candles?
• Who am I making candles for?
• What impact do I desire to have on customers?
• What impact do I desire to make on the globe?

Visual identity: Your visual identity—including your logo, photography, website, social media, and packaging—directly influences how people feel about your home-based candle business. Since customers use your candles for both scent and décor, design products that match your spectators’s aesthetic.

“My outlook on the whole brand was just to have fun. All of these experiences we’re trying to highlight are fun experiences,” says Erica Werber, founder of Literie Candles. “Being in Central Park for someone’s birthday or going to a bottomless brunch with your best friends, it’s supposed to feel excellent and lighthearted, and I ponder that’s what we accomplish with the packaging.”

3. make a candle business name

Keep your candle business name short and straightforward—this makes it memorable and straightforward for buyers to pronounce. If customers can’t recall your name easily, you’ll miss opportunities for word-of-mouth marketing. 

require assist brainstorming? Try Shopify’s business name generator to stir up fresh ideas. Just enter a keyword, click Generate Names, and browse thousands of auto-generated name ideas for your business.

4. Write a roadmap

A roadmap defines your schedule, reveals potential challenges, identifies what resources you require, and helps analyze your business concept before launch. Consider key questions like: 

• What is the complete objective for your brand? 
• Who are your direct competitors? 
• Will you sell in retail outlets like Target or Nordstrom? 
• Will you commence an ecommerce store and sell directly to customers?

Keep these business goals in mind as you construct your candle making brand.

5. Register your candle business

Registering your business provides legal protection and adds credibility with customers. Here’s how to register your business:

1. Choose a business structure: While sole proprietorship is simplest, a limited obligation business (LLC) offers greater legal protection by separating business and personal assets.
2. Get an employer identification number (EIN): This protects your social safety number and gives your business its own responsibility reference.
3. Register for taxes: Check local sales responsibility requirements—Shopify can assist you manage online sales responsibility. Verify if you require a business license in your state.
4. Open a business lender account: Keep personal and business transactions divide for easier responsibility management.
5. Consider intellectual property (IP) protection: Protect distinctive ideas with trademarks, copyrights, or business name patents.

6. compute your trade worth

How much will you fee for your candles? Your pricing schedule depends on product standard, brand positioning, trade, and competition. Luxury candles, for example, can sell for over $100. discover the correct worth for your trade with these steps:

• compute expense of goods: Add up the expense of candle making supplies, production period, and equipment costs.
• Include operating costs: Factor in office supplies, legal fees, insurance, utilities, and marketing.
• Set a earnings spread: Use our free earnings spread calculator to determine your target earnings after materials and costs.

Note: Prices for selling wholesale will be lower but propose higher swap volumes than direct-to-customer sales.

7. Make candles to sell

As we’ve shown, you can make many types of candles in your own kitchen. Here’s how to make soy candles—you can adjust this basic recipe to make your own distinctive products.

Gather your materials: For homemade soy candles, you’ll require:

• Soy wax
• Cotton wicks
• Super glue
• Essential oil
• Spatula
• Double boiler
• Thermometer
• Mason jar
• Pen or pencil
• Candle molds

discover soy wax in bulk on wholesale candle sites like AliExpress or Bulk Apothecary for around $10 per pound. Source glass jars and containers from AliExpress, thrift stores, or dollar stores. (view our navigator on AliExpress!) The remainder of the ingredients can be found at almost any grocery store.

Essential oils are available at your local craft store or on Etsy or Amazon. Fragrance is the most significant buying factor, according to the National Candle Association. Stand out by developing recent and fascinating blends. Rather than offering standard floral and woodsy scents, make complicated combinations that evoke nostalgic memories or intrigue.

Prep your wax and container: receive your soy wax and melt it in a double boiler on medium heat (or use a glass bowl on top of a larger pot). Stir with your spatula to shatter up chunks.

While the wax melts, glue the wick to the bottom of your glass container and let it arid to keep the wick in place.

Customize your candle mixture: Once melted, add essential oil at a ratio of one ounce per pound of wax. For colored candles, stir in non-toxic crayon pieces. Let the mixture chilly to 130°F to 140°F, checking with your thermometer.

Prep your pour: Hold the wick upright and pour the cooled mixture into your jar, filling it three-quarters packed. Tie the wick complete to the pen and set it across the jar opening to keep it straight.

complete your candle: Let the wax firm up—you may view a tiny sinkhole around the wick, which is normal. Pour the remaining wax to fill the jar. Once completely set, trim the excess wick. Your candle is ready to burn!

8. construct your online store

Your own ecommerce store is more profitable and gives you better brand control than online marketplaces like Amazon, which receive a large cut of your profits. While creating an online store might seem daunting, Shopify makes it straightforward to commence without coding or a huge distribution. 

Shopify handles:

• Website design
• Product listings
• Inventory management
• settlement processing
• Marketing automation
• International shipping labels and tracking
• Multiple sales channels—including Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, and Walmart

… leaving you with more period to do what you do best: make candles.

9. make a marketing schedule 

Here’s how to sell your homemade candles across different channels:

Online marketing: One of the most effective ways to sell candles is online. Use multiple digital platforms to reach potential customers worldwide.

These platforms and tactics tend to work well for candle makers:

• Instagram: Many lifestyle brands discover achievement through Instagram marketing. Curate attractive product images, display behind-the-scenes content, and connect with micro-influencers.
• Pinterest: Home décor is a major category for Pinterest users looking for brands and products. Make Pinterest marketing a key part of your schedule.
• Snapchat: As another visual platform with more than 200 million users, you can use Snapchat marketing to reach a growing spectators.
• Email marketing: Deliver promotions and brand updates directly to customers’ inboxes. Use apps like Shopify Forms to collect visitor emails for upcoming marketing.
• Giveaways: Use product giveaways and contests to construct brand awareness and demonstrate your products.

Offline marketing: While selling online is valuable, don’t overlook in-person sales. Candles are compact and trip well—perfect for craft shows and pop-up shops. Selling in-person offers several benefits:

• Direct feedback: Meet customers face-to-face to comprehend their needs and enhance your products.
• Wholesale opportunities: Looking to explore selling B2B? Connect with potential wholesale buyers at markets and fairs.
• construct your online following: develop your social media spectators and construct your email list at in-person events.
• Network and discover:Connect with fellow makers and entrepreneurs for encouragement and issue-solving.

Physical sales require more attempt than sitting at your desk, but the correct tools simplify sales. A mobile point-of-sale structure like Shopify POS helps to handle transactions smoothly at markets, fairs, and pop-up shops.

Candle business tips

Whether you’re starting a side hustle or packed-period business, keep these tips in mind:

receive amazing product photos 

Great product photography helps sell your candles. display obvious images of shapes and labels. Try staging candles in home settings so shoppers can envision them in their space. You can hire a professional photographer or receive high-standard photos with a smartphone.

📌 Pro tip: Use Shopify Collabs to discover creators who can produce content for you. discover, vet, and approve influencers, then send them free candles directly from your Shopify admin.

make more selling opportunities 

Focus on getting repeat customers—it’s more profitable than constantly finding recent ones. Try:

• Cross-selling trip-sized versions of popular candles
• propose limited-edition scents
• Creating subscription boxes, like Frostbeard Studio’s Candle of the Month Club 

Expand your product line 

Experiment with different fragrance blends for varied preferences. Consider expanding into other handmade goods like soaps, shampoos, or perfumes using your signature scents, like Tofino Soap business. You can upsell customers based on scents they buy often, make scent-centric worry packages, and reach recent audiences.

Focus on holiday sales

The National Candle Association reports 35% of candle sales happen during Christmas, with 76% of buyers seeing candles as excellent gifts. Prepare holiday campaigns with special promotions and targeted ads.

remain current with trends

Use resources like Meta Foresight, ponder with Google, and Nielsen to track buyer trends and pain points. Apply these insights to recent products and marketing campaigns.

Use social media effectively

construct your spectators and connect with potential customers through short-form video content. Try:

• Showing your candle-making procedure
• Sharing your business narrative
• Recording evening routines featuring your candles
• Demonstrating candle comparisons
• Documenting challenges and solutions

“We’re not just taking static product photography—we’re really showing you how it’s gonna live in your space,” says Kristen Pumphrey, P.F. Candle Co. owner. “It’s benevolent of sending the communication: if you get this candle, this is how your space is gonna feel.”

commence your candle making business today

With the correct tools, recipes, and marketing strategies, you have everything you require to turn your candle-making thrill into a thriving business. Whether you commence with straightforward soy candles or develop distinctive fragrance blends, your trip from DIY enthusiast to successful business owner starts here.