If Your Soap And Skincare Business Feels Slow Right Now Read This

I am in a fortunate position - I get to see behind the scenes of many handmade soap and skincare businesses. Whether that be as part of my Soap Suite membership, or in 1 to 1 mentoring work and the general vibe seems to be that business is slow across the board, and it is no different for me. I like to be transparent - this last few weeks have been dire and I am not doing anything differently.

This is a reminder of everything you’ve had to navigate over the last six years. Because when you step back and look at it properly, it does put things into perspective. If you have survived the last few years in business you are winning, even if it doesn't feel much like it. 

Prepare yourself - it is a lot. 

2020 to 2021

We had the Covid lockdowns and restrictions. Markets, fairs and in person selling stopped overnight.

We had supply chain disruption with ingredients and packaging delays. Courier delays increased because everything was so busy and ordering online was the only option.

Shipping costs went up, and there was a huge shift to online selling, whether we were ready or not.

2021 to 2022

Brexit changes really kicked in. There were new import and export rules, customs delays, extra paperwork, and increased costs and complexity when sourcing ingredients from the EU.

We also had packaging shortages. I know for me personally, I was ordering a particular gift box from the EU and that just stopped. I’ve never really been able to find anything similar here in the UK at the same sort of price.

2022

Russia invaded Ukraine. That had an indirect effect on us. It increased the cost of oils and raw materials, transport and delivery costs went up, and pricing became more unstable.

2022 to 2023 and still ongoing

The energy crisis was a big one. Electricity and gas prices increased significantly. That pushed up manufacturing costs for suppliers, which then got passed on to us.

At the same time, we had the cost of living crisis. Customers had less disposable income, so they were buying less. Ingredient prices increased across the board.

2023 onwards

We saw big increases in olive oil and cocoa butter prices due to disease and climate impact on crops. Essential oil prices also fluctuated, so there’s been less predictability in ingredient costs.

We also saw the rise of low cost platforms like Temu. You might think that doesn’t affect handmade businesses, but it does. It shifts customer expectations around price. There’s more impulse buying behaviour. And it becomes harder to compete on price without losing your margins.

2023 to 2024

Google made some big changes. There are more ads at the top, more Google generated answers, and less need for people to click through to websites. So even if you are doing everything right and ranking, you can still get fewer clicks. Website traffic dropped for a lot of people.

2023 to 2025

Social media algorithms have changed a lot and they still are. It’s harder to be seen without constantly creating content. It takes more time, and often gives you lower reach despite the effort.

2024 onwards

AI has exploded and changed everything. There’s been a learning curve for all of us. Questions around authenticity and whether we want to use it, but also that feeling that we need to keep up. It’s made things noisier online. Suddenly everyone is an expert, which makes it harder to stand out as an expert in your own niche. There’s also more suspicion about what is real and what isn’t.

2026

We now have the Iran war, which is still ongoing. Fuel costs have increased again. Shipping and delivery are more expensive. Energy costs are up again, which feeds into production costs, raw materials, packaging. It all gets affected. Postage continues to rise.

When you look at all of that together, it has been a hugely crazy few years.

What I think about it now

I don’t really have words of wisdom. I can’t change the situation and I can’t magic up a solution other than to say that things do go in cycles.

The general feeling at the moment is that business is slow across the board. It’s no different for me. It certainly is not you or your products.

What I have learnt, in both my businesses, is that spending hours on social media trying to drum up more business is unlikely to make a difference. Not unless you are really good at it. What usually happens is we end up posting something a bit rubbish in desperation, and it takes us two hours to create that one post.

What I am focusing on instead

I am leaning even more into blog creation on my website. Weekly if I can. I'm making sure every blog links to another blog and a product and I am actively reaching out to people who I think would be a good fit to work with me. I would much rather spend two or three hours doing that. It has far more potential to work in the long run.

A quick bit of proof

I had a look at my product business website analytics for the last 30 days. The top two most visited pages, by a significant margin, are two blogs I wrote in January 2026. Both of them answer simple questions people are searching for.

How to use nose and paw balm and stop your dog licking it off. (this is such a simple blog but popular) 
Can I use Vaseline on my dog’s nose?  Again super simple but popular.

A bit more proof. Last week I added a 10% discount code to 2 recent blogs that I have written in April. Both answer questions about nose and paw balm ie Why Are My Dogs Paws Dry and Cracked and a similar one about noses. I didn't put the code anywhere else and haven't talked about it anywhere either. The very same week I received an order for 3 balms and a salve, using the code, so I know that (brand new to me) customer found it on the blog. 

This is real evidence that creating content for your website does drive traffic and sales. Even now with AI and when you create content for your website first, you automatically have things you can cut and paste for social media if you want to.

We covered this in February’s Zoom call inside the Soap Suite and I know lots of members loved it and have got stuck in. If you haven’t considered this approach, do give it some thought. I also talked about Why Blogging Is Still Matters For Hand Made Skincare Businesses in this blog. It is so much more than just some information on your website.

If you want help with this

If you have no idea where to start, I would seriously recommend joining my membership, the Soap Suite. It’s £20 a month. You don’t have to stay forever. A month, two months, six months, whatever works for you.

There’s a lot in there.

We have Zooms every month, member perks and discounts, and it’s a really supportive space.

You also get the Create Content Once Use It Forever Zoom recording and all the resources I shared with my members to help you get started with this kind of work. The results have been amazing already.

There are a couple of ladies who had never written a blog before, and very quickly created really good content for their websites in their own words. They found it much easier than they expected using the system I shared. 

If this blog has been useful, please do share it to others who you feel will benefit. This helps me more than I can describe and doesn't cost you a penny.