By Terry Johnson, SEOS Committee Chair and Business and Marketing Teacher
for IPF Teacher's Academy 

In 30+ years of supply chain marketing I have never seen greater opportunities ahead for those who are Natural Perfumers, Natural Aromatherapists, Herbalists, Natural Candle Makers, Natural Skin Care Artisans, or those who want to be. 
Every community in the world benefits from products made from sustainable and natural sources, yet consumers within these communities currently have substantial market loyalty to giant perfume brands and billion-dollar essential oil retailers, leaving the Natural Essence Community with less than 5% market share.
Changing the trajectory of current market dynamics and re-capturing market shares for High-Value Natural Essences necessitates Natural Artisan Retailers to improve market strategies to reflect current business, social, and economic realities, and then engage with the communities they operate within.

Engaging local communities and households within those communities is not just a good idea; it is a requirement in a post-pandemic market.
For Natural Essences Retailers, the best way to engage a community is by becoming an Expert in and a Teacher of the many benefits of Natural Essences to consumers, their families and even their pets.
Of course, the knowledge of what Value Elements you can successfully teach is up to you and what your Value Proposition contains.

Here are a few suggestions to help you add the value you need to properly teach and engage your community:

1. High-Value Components. Make sure that your completed products are a result of High-Value-related components.
2. Natural. Work to ensure that your sources of raw materials are verifiably natural or organic.
3. Sustainable. It just isn’t enough to sell High-Value products that aren’t produced sustainably.
4. High Quality/High Performance. Consumers will not have superior results from products that aren’t superior to begin with.
5. Add Value through Education. Learning up-to-date information from Natural Essences Experts such as the Teacher’s Academy is an excellent pathway to community expertise.
6. Differentiate Your Products at Two Critical Points. Natural Essence Retailers need to teach consumers how to identify the greater value of Natural Essences (and products made from them) at critical points: Points-of-Purchase and Points of Consumption. Improvements at Points-of-Purchase gets them to buy. Improvements at Points-of-Consumption brings them back for more.

Good selling!

Do you want to know more, enrol for a 8 week Business and Marketing online course with Terry Johnson

During these very difficult times, knowing where to obtain sustainable sources of essential oils is vital in gaining and keeping consumers’ trust in the wonderful products we market. Yet, what do we really know about which growers or processors are actually providing us with products that don’t contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) or synthetic pesticides?

Here is what consumers continually ask for from many of the products they currently purchase:

• Authenticity—Consumers want their essential oils to really be natural, without synthetics or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in seeds or cuttings.
• Integrity—Consumers want to know their essential oils are grown and processed sustainably, just like many of the other products they purchase and pay more for.
• Transparency—Consumers want to know more about who grew and processed their essential oils and if they are doing business sustainably.

Two years ago, an independent international Committee of several essential oil experts was formed to strengthen the essential oil distribution chain. After more than one year of effort, the Committee developed Sustainable Essential Oil Standards (SEOS) for Growers and Processors of essential oil.     

SEOS is the most comprehensive sustainable standard in essential oil or, for that matter, any other related industry.
These standards are specifically for essential oils, rather than a general standard that is broadly applied to many industries.
For instance, growing organically is highly commendable, but unfortunately, USDA Organic Certification (which is also being used to certify organic within the European Union) allows the usage of synthetic pesticides, which retailers and consumers of essential oils and the products made from essential oils simply cannot accept. This is why SEOS Standards prohibit any usage of synthetics.
Sustainable Essential Oil Standards (SEOS), along with high value products and the Committee’s supply chain education programs, will lead to many profitable opportunities for all of the Value-Added Essential Oil Distribution Chain Community.
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Look for the SEOS logo on high-value essential oils in the near future!