Lessons from a Candle Company Selling New York Nostalgia

0:00I know it's hard for people to feel like if they don't have the education behind it, it's impossible. It really isn't. And if you think about Shopify, there are so many tools that are so user-friendly. And I think that really is how we're so successful. Hello and welcome to Shopify Masters, your companion for starting and building a business. I'm Shuang Esershan. Smell is the strongest link to memories. Remembering the smell of a fireplace might bring back memories of winter holidays. Recalling the smell of the pool might bring you back to a luxurious resort vacation. Erica Werber designed literary candles to remind you of the most memorable moments, especially in New York City.

0:48Some of the company's first scents include Hot Roasted Nut Cart and Brunch in the West Village. These scents caught the attention of Macy's and Urban Outfitters. Literary Candles even partnered with the U.S. Open to capture the essence of the tennis tournament in a candle. Erica is here today to talk about how she was able to put memories in a jar, the importance of packaging, and using New York City as a source of inspiration. Erica, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. This is super exciting. Very excited to chat. I know that scent is very personal, and so was the reason for you to start Literary Candles.

1:29Tell us why capturing memories in the form of scents were so important for you. Absolutely. So the idea of the company really came about when my father passed away. He was a big fan of the hot roasted nut carts that you find in New York City, in Midtown or more touristy areas. Although he grew up in Brooklyn, he just happened to love that kind of snack. And I found myself going to the carts a lot after he passed just because the scent reminded me of him. The idea originally was, how do I bottle this scent? I happened to love it. And the first thought was, well, you could make it into a candle.

2:10And it's like, okay, well, who's going to create just one candle of something. If you're going to create a candle or maybe even a candle brand, you have to launch with, you know, at least four or five different scents. So it got me thinking, what else in New York smells good? And so I started thinking about the 28th Street Flower Market or an afternoon in Central Park or soft serve from the corner truck, like those Mr. Softie trucks. And then I kind of put the idea on pause. I had another job I was doing and then COVID hit and I found myself with a lot more time to think about this. And really what triggered it was this mass exodus of people leaving Manhattan.

2:56And as someone who was born there, I almost became offended by it. Like, why are you leaving? Like, I know times are tough right now, but let's remember why we all moved here in the first place or decided to raise our children here. And so then I thought, okay, I'm going to launch this brand as a love letter to New York City and remind people all of the moments or experiences that got them to come here in the first place through scent and through these candles.

3:33And so much of scent linked to memory is also linked to feeling. And I feel like you're also giving people the feelings that they used to have. You mentioned launching during the pandemic, which a lot of people would think, wow, that's such a hard time to start a business. Why was it a good time for you to explore this passion project? So I was working at a licensing agency called Brand Atelier. we worked with influencers and smaller brands who wanted to build out their brand offerings or their product offerings. And, you know, once COVID hit and they were looking at their budgets, we were kind of the first to go.

4:19And so there was more time because of that. Our clients just kind of scaled back. And so I had more time on my hands. I think a lot of it also happened to be that in 2020, I turned 40. And it was kind of like this mini midlife crisis moment of what have I done with my life? What am I doing with my life? I've always worked for other people, great ideas that I've had and developed, I never got the credit for. And I just really felt like I wanted to put something out there that was mine, that I don't know, just kind of put my mark on the world somehow. I know that sounds really grand and big, but I really thought if I could create a product and have someone that has no connection to me purchase that product, then I've made it.

5:10It's just that one person to make that click and buy it. And that's what I wanted. I always knew I had good ideas for things. And I don't know, I just wanted to make one of those come true. So a lot of the push for that came from more of my like internal struggle with myself, you know, in addition to everything that was happening on the outside. So in addition to blowing out a monumental birthday candle, you were going to also launch a candle line. You have five scents that were very special and you are starting to look for places that could help you manufacture. How did you go about finding a manufacturing partner?

5:57So a lot of this business from the very beginning was research through Google. It was really like, let's start with the basics here. So it was a Google search of candle manufacturers. I think immediately five came up. And out of those five that I reached out to, Only one was willing to do the small quantities that I wanted to start with. I didn't want to put a lot of money into this. I had no idea if it would work. I had never worked in candles before. I didn't know much about the industry. And so I thought, okay, we'll launch with five cents. We'll break that up over 2 ,000 candles. And my goal was to sell those 2 ,000 candles in a year, maybe a year and a half.

6:42and that, you know, I would just do that, get rid of those 2000 candles and move on. Say I did it and that would be it. So yeah, that's kind of how we started the process. Amazing. A lot of people get into candles by being the makers themselves, tinkering with ingredients. Why did you actually choose to find a manufacturing partner instead? First of all, I had no idea where to begin with something like that. Also, I am a complete need freak. And the idea of having like liquid wax and like stuff all over my apartment, I don't even think that crossed my mind. To be honest, it was more about the idea less about the product.

7:27And even to this day, we talk about how people purchase our boxes, not our candles. They're so pulled in by the name of them and what they represent. And then they're pleasantly surprised when it's a high quality, great smelling candle. So for me, it was more about, you know, the first thing we worked on was packaging before we even had a prototype or a scent sample. I have a graphic designer that I worked with from the very beginning. Her name is Casey. and we tried to nail down the packaging before we even started to talk to manufacturers. So it was more about what was going to be consumer facing and not necessarily the product itself.

8:12That was also very smart and it had foresight because it allowed you to scale. You had this goal of 2000 candles in a year to sell, but you actually surpassed that in a short amount of time. Yeah. In about nine months, we sold around 10 ,000 of them. Just out of the gate, the idea resonated with people. We had a great PR team who got us some initial stories. And then we had a few things on social media go viral regarding the candles. And people just started to buy them. It really took off from there. And it was a quick education on how to scale a business, you know, quickly realized, well, we should be going to trade shows and we should be doing advertising.

8:55And oh my God, I need to hire like an accounting team because I don't know how to do any of this stuff. So it went quite quickly. I mean, we just hit our two year anniversary. You know, we're in like 45 different retailers now. We have major partnerships with NBC Universal and the U.S. Open. And it's crazy to think about that, you know, this only launched in such a short amount of time. The growth has been really amazing to see. And like a lot of businesses that did start during the pandemic and lockdowns, you actually enlisted help from your family to kind of figure out fulfillment and actually work out of your house.

9:39So take us back to the early days of trying to get Literary Candle out and from your house? Absolutely. So, you know, once the product came in, I think in the beginning to save money, I'd made the decision not to have the manufacturer label the candles. So we, I had labels separately on a roll and all of the candles and jars. And the first step was to get those labels onto candles, which was an experience on its own because after labeling about a thousand candles, we realized the labels we had purchased was made out of the wrong type of paper. And they started bubbling and peeling. And we had to rip all those labels off, order new labels and relabel again, which took weeks to do that.

10:27But at that time, we had already launched our website. So orders would come in and we would quickly relabel those candles. and it was like an assembly line in our dining room. I mean, we had the packaging materials, we had boxes, we had stamps with our logo that would then have to get onto the box. So my daughter for a long time was in charge of stamping these shipping boxes, which by the way, at the time she was 12.

11:04my son was responsible for wrapping the candles in the packaging and then I was closing up the box and putting on the shipping label about a week after we started doing that we got a few complaints from people that their candles had arrived shattered and it clearly dawned on me that my son was using the tiniest amount of packaging as possible to ship these candles in. And they were just, you know, jiggling around the box as UPS was kind of flinging them onto people's doorsteps. So I realized quality control needed some work. And after a couple of months of this, we decided to move to a 3PL and have a real warehouse, handle all the product, take care of shipping, take care of returns, things like that.

11:53It was great in the beginning to have my family involved, but it was very clear that this was becoming bigger than us. And if this was going to continue to grow, we needed some professional teams helping us on the back end. What a journey. And speaking to packaging, because I think it's such a crucial part of Literary Candle, and I think it's also the component that allowed people to actually be attracted to the brand without ever smelling the scent because they are picking up on that memory. Can you share what kind of design philosophies or principles you had in mind when you were working with Casey to go about designing the boxes?

12:35Yeah, I think immediately we just wanted it to be bright and fun. That was really the initial goal. The packaging has illustrations that Casey draws and designs, and I think it was just tapping into the fact that she was so good at that. And so if we think of one of the first candles, which was Brunch in the West Village, it was like, okay, well, it's a citrusy scent. It's going to be an orange box and we want the name of the candle to be completely front and center and then the rest of the box to really pull out what are these scents, what should people expect and also what else can go in there that would remind that person of that specific event.

13:21And so that's the approach we took with all of our boxes. We wanted the colors to feel good. It really was a dark time we were all living in. I wanted something that would stand out, especially if the candles were all sitting together on a shelf in a store, that they would be super eye-catching. And really my outlook on the whole brand was just to have fun. All of these experiences we're trying to highlight are fun experiences. Being in Central Park for someone's birthday or going to a bottomless brunch with your best friends. It's supposed to feel good and lighthearted. And I think that's what we accomplished with the packaging.

14:10And I think another part of this partnership highlights an important part for founders is that sometimes you do need to enlist help and you can't wear all the hats at once. What advice do you have for people who are looking for partners or employees to really get them on board and help you in areas that you don't necessarily have the most expertise in? So I find the people that work for me now are people that maybe I had hired to do a small project. Even I'll give you an example, our web developer. When we launched, I designed our website through Shopify. I just, again, went back to Google, went back to Shopify support, and just figured out how to do these things.

14:59I met my web developer through a group called the Female Founders Collective, which is, I don't want to use the word sorority, but it's kind of like a little sorority for female founders. And they kind of, you know, reach out to you and ask, like, what do you need help with? And it was probably a year that we had had this website. We were about to come out with new product. And I thought, okay, now it's time to step it up. And so they connected me with my web developer Caroline, just to kind of pick her brain. And at the end of the call, she said to me, I love your product. I love what you're doing.

15:36I would love to help you redesign this. She gave me really good pricing. She did a phenomenal job. And at that point, I was like, well, I want you on a monthly retainer. Like there are things that have to change and get updated on a weekly basis. And so it's a year later now since that happened. She still works with us. She comes up with fantastic ideas. Like I said, my graphic designer, Casey, we worked together years before I even came up with this idea. And she was essentially the first person I pulled into my office when I said, you know, I have this idea. Like, do you want to help me design a logo?

16:16Even our advertising agency happened to just send me a message on LinkedIn asking, you know, have you thought about advertising? And at the time I was thinking about advertising and it was kind of like a right place, right time situation. And a week later I hired him. I think the point is, is to really make sure you're hiring people who believe in your brand, who believe in your messaging, hire people who would use the products in their own home. Everyone that works for me has purchased the product on their own to give as gifts because they truly believe it's worth it. It's a great item to own or to give someone.

16:57And I always felt that way in my career. I had a career in public relations and marketing. And I chose jobs based on companies that I would want to purchase products from that I would want to use and have in my home, because it's just more authentic that way. And the work someone's going to put into it is going to be more exciting for them. And you want believers on your side when you're launching something. That's really great to hear because I think a lot of founders think being an entrepreneur can be really lonely and they work a lot in solitude. And it sounds like you've tapped into the community and the collective to find people that fit into the brand and excited to chat more about partnerships.

17:44I'm chatting with Erica Werber, founder and CEO of Literary Candles. I hope you're enjoying our conversation. If you haven't already, follow or subscribe to Shopify Masters wherever you get your podcasts, and please leave us a review or feedback for the show. Thanks. So a lot of the scents are inspired by New York City, and it was important to get your candles into different stores from local boutiques, department stores, and even the airport. How did you go about building those relationships? Yeah, so that really was kind of becoming a traveling salesman. It was really old school. The first thing I did was research where my competitors were selling their candles.

18:28And, you know, it's super easy because most of them have that on their websites. And it started off as emails, like introducing myself, introducing the brand. And I got a few responses that way. But then there were stores, especially in New York City, that I just knew deep down this product would sell really well in. And I, you know, took our five samples and put them in a bag and walked up and down Madison Avenue, Lexington Avenue, went to the West Village, went all over the place asking to speak with these shop owners and having them see and feel and smell the product for themselves. one of our biggest retailers in the very beginning was macy's and what was interesting about them as i had a prior relationship with that buyer and i thought well it's not going to hurt just to reach out and email her and let her know this is my new business this is what i'm doing now and during the pandemic candles was the top selling item for macy's a lot of that had to do with the fact that people were clearly home all the time, but couldn't necessarily invest in new furniture or repaint.

19:42And a candle was an entry level way to essentially upgrade your home or to make a small change. I think a lot of the brands that they had were produced in China. And so there was supply issues. Our product is made in Massachusetts. And so the buyer wrote me back immediately and said, you know, how quickly can you get product to our warehouses? And I was like, I could get it to you in a week. And so they purchased the product right then and there, hadn't looked at a sample, smelled a sample. They just knew they had this enormous customer base that wanted to purchase candles and they were quickly running out of stock.

20:23So that was a good timing thing. But in terms of the independent stores, it really was just kind of hitting the ground running and convincing people to take in the brand. Definitely going there in person and speaking to them one-on-one really helped with getting those candles into the stores. One of the early successful campaigns that Literary Candles had was around April Fool's Day. Tell us how you were able to launch a campaign that had such huge impact? Yeah. So we launched, I believe it was March 20th, 2021. And I thought, okay, you know, we immediately started working with a PR team and there was a lot to talk about, you know, how the, how the brand was created and launched, but it was, you know, what is something that we could create that is just going to make people laugh and grab their attention?

21:22And it was, well, the focus is all about these great New York City scents. But, you know, for those of us who live here, we know that's not the case all the time. So what is the scent that, you know, truly every New Yorker can relate to, but it's not something you would want as a candle? So we came up with this idea called Summer in the Subway. We made the scent notes, hot trash, and we took a photo of it with like an old slice of pizza and a crumpled up MetroCard and popped it up on social media on April 1st, and it went viral. I think Time Out New York was the first to pick up on it, and through there we had local television pick up on it.

22:07And I think the way we promoted it was if you purchased Summer in the Subway, you would get a surprise candle instead. We didn't actually produce that candle. We just made one to take a photo of it. But we sent people a random candle instead and then added in a little part about how a portion of the proceeds would get donated to New York Cares. Just a way to connect us back to the city to remind people, you know, we're New York City made. We care about the city. We care about supporting people in the city who are less fortunate than us.

22:45And we did it again this year. The April Fool's candle this year was a dirty water dog, which had the scent of kosher beef and sauerkraut. And again, it had a really big impact and gave people a lot of laughs and was all over the place. So each year our customers can And keep an eye out for the bad one that's going to happen next time. Of course, New York City is a big inspiration. And one of the annual events based out of there is the U.S. Open. How did you go about scoring that collaboration? A lot of the great things that have come about through this business have just been good ideas that come up organically.

23:33and I go into them with very low expectations. And this one, I was playing tennis with someone who said, you should make a candle that smells like a can of tennis balls. And I said, yeah, actually, I love that scent. And then I thought, well, you know, the U.S. Open happens in Queens and that's such a big New York event. Like, what if I reached out to the U.S. Open and see if they wanted to partner with me? And again, I went to my computer. I went on LinkedIn. I think I ended up finding the head of merchandising for the USTA, sent her a message, a little bit about our company, a little bit about the idea I had.

24:13And she wrote me back in a few minutes. And I believe this was like April and the US Open starts at the end of August. And it was that quick. They had been wanting to create candles for a while, couldn't find a partner to do it with. And it was just right place at the right time. And we ended up not making it smell like a can of tennis balls, but it sold out at the open. We're doing it again this year. It's a new candle, a new name that we're really excited about. But again, a lot of these opportunities are just like, well, let me just, I don't know, reach out to this person. What's the worst that could happen if they don't respond or say no?

24:55I'm exactly where I am. But what if they say yes? and we've had a few opportunities that have just worked out. And I have to say a lot of opportunities that we've had have not been proactive. You know, other brands have reached out to us. And, you know, sometimes in this world, it's just, yes, we would love to do that, but we don't have the bandwidth to be reaching out to all these groups. I'm sure the person who was doing merchandising at the USTA felt like, I can't just reach out to random candle companies all day long. And so sometimes you're just lucky when, you know, the other half reaches out to you and makes that happen.

25:33That happened with our Bravo line as well. Their head of licensing saw a post that I put up on LinkedIn about the business and reached out and kind of said, hey, we've been trying to do candles. Like, can we have a conversation? So a lot of this was truly organic. It wasn't multiple meetings and crazy outreach and hiring people to make these connections. A lot of what we do is truly organic and easy. I think a lot of listeners who are founders, they try to pitch their business or they try to cold email someone often. And I do think there is an art and a balance to that. What do you think makes a good cold open pitch email?

26:18I think it just has to be very short. I think our pitch emails were no more than four or five sentences. I made sure the middle of the email had a picture of our candle, especially one of our lifestyle images. It had the link to our website and had a link to an article in Forbes, actually, that talked about me as the founder and the brand overall. So if they wanted to learn more, it was right there. You know, it's something that was on Forbes.com, obviously just felt very prestigious and legitimate to people. I get pitches from companies and brands, and sometimes the emails are just, I have to stop reading it after two or three sentences.

27:04Sometimes they're just too silly. They're too long. It was just about, this is who I am. This is my brand. Let me know if you want to do something together. And that's pretty much it. I don't go further than that. Sometimes we'll do a follow up. And then, you know, if you don't hear back, you kind of have to move on to the next thing. I've also discovered that opportunities happen when they're supposed to happen. It's amazing how many retailers in the beginning we reached out to that never wrote me back or never responded. And then when they started to see our growth or our press placements, suddenly they were reaching out to us like, oh, we'd love to carry your line.

27:44So there's a little bit of patience involved as well there. And once you get that opportunity, it's also a chance to showcase how easy it is to work with you so that you can get the chance to work with US Open again. I think a lot of the times partnerships do come with complexities because you do have to give room for creativity input. Also working at an event-based merchandise, there's timelines from the partner that you have to meet. So what are some things that you should keep in mind to make sure that you're nurturing the partnership while you're working with them? Fortunately, you know, for cases like the U.S.

28:24Open, I think because their bandwidth at that time was so stretch. They really handed it to us to design and figure out the scent. And they were just a group that was very quick with approvals and decisions. I think what I've realized with a lot of these brands we've worked with now, even NBC Universal, they're just as eager to get the product on the shelves as well. And sometimes there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen, but they all have the common goal of getting that product on the shelf so everyone can start making money. And so I found that approval processes tend to happen very quickly. It's rare we have to go back and redo something.

29:08All teams have been extremely collaborative and fast with their decision-making processes. So we really haven't had any issues with that. On the flip side, we worked with a very, very tiny small local brand who wanted to make two candles about a hundred units of each we were barely going to make any money on it and they were the most difficult people ever to work with and it's funny to me how sometimes the smallest of brands are so much more demanding than the largest of brands who you would think would be a little more specific and nuanced