honey price update

[bobba]

I would suggest having a range of prices to support one another, even for modest differences in the honey.

Imagine you're at a restaurant and the wine is £10, £12, £15, £18, £25. Most people will pick the £12 or £15 bottle. Guess what happens if you drop the £10 and add a £50 bottle?

Bring a few jars of Lidl honey to explain the 'blend of EU and non EU' and how it's cut with syrup. Maybe even a jar or two of Manuka as being an example of how you're paying a premium for an artisan product. Pitch the unique flavor of local honey and how coarse filtration leaves in a little local honey which is great for flavor and hay fever sufferers.

I've only started and don't sell honey yet. Hope this helps.

Consumers seem to be becoming ever more knowledgeable, I had customers asking how my honey was filtered and if it had been heated. So you wont have to do much pitching to customers. Many people already know the difference between good and bad honey and will be delighted to buy direct from a bee keeper. Good honey will sell its self in my neck of the woods.

I would keep it simple with prices, one price for standard honey, a premium for any special honey. Then another price for chunk and cut comb. But dont grade every batch of honey at a different price.

I completely agree regarding supermarket honey. I think ASDAs cheapest is cut, but I have no proof other than my own sense of taste and smell. There are some great documentaries on honey cutting and the constant arms race between cutters and regulators. Honey cutting is happening on an industrial scale and its not stopping any time soon.

The story of Manuka honey is fascinating, a genius bit of marketing play. But just think how much of the stuff gets sold in the UK at outrageous prices, our honey should be valued just as highly.

Good luck with your harvest and sales.

 

[W0otz]

Sold my first few jars, very exciting! Advertised on FB marketplace at £5/250g jar (Equivalent to £9.08/lb in old money).

 

[Moody]

Sold my first few jars, very exciting! Advertised on FB marketplace at £5/250g jar (Equivalent to £9.08/lb in old money).

Well done! Do you mind sharing where you did your label design, printing and where you got your jars from?
Hoping to do my first harvest next month and was planning of selling at £6/227g

 

[W0otz]

Well done! Do you mind sharing where you did your label design, printing and where you got your jars from?
Hoping to do my first harvest next month and was planning of selling at £6/227g

Avery label designer on their website: https://app.avery.co.uk/dpo8/appeu/target;name=GB_en;ep=EUP/
Got the wife to do the design as I have no artistic capabilities, I just made sure it met the regulations (Talking With Bees)

L7173 labels, as they fit 3 sides of an 8oz hex jar perfectly, though you may not want to cover the jar so much to better show off the honey. https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07N61KJKD/ cheaper than genuine Avery ones.

Colour laser printer.

Jars I used this time are Nutley's 8oz hex jars because I managed to find a very good deal on them, but I've just placed an order with Freeman Harding for my next lot. If you contact Freeman Harding with your BBKA membership number they apply 10% off to your account.

I assume the Freeman Harding jars will be the same, but the Nutleys ones comfortably take 250g (though they're nominally 8oz/227g). I wasn't paying attention filling one and put 265g in it (too much effort to fix, one lucky punter... ) and it still wasn't overflowing. Both Nutleys and Freeman Harding list them as 190ml.

 

[robmort]

Look at this for example to see what some are up against: Facebook

 

[lindsay s]

It’s that time of year again. If I’m asked “is the your honey ready yet” 95% chance of a sale . But if it’s “how’s the honey going” 90% chance that they are on the Scrounge!

 

[JamezF]

Saw some in Tesco this morning at £4.50-ish for 750g! I couldn't help wondering how much of it was actually removed from a beehive.

James

 

[pargyle]

Look at this for example to see what some are up against: Facebook

We've got someone around me selling 1lb jars at retail for £5.00 a jar ... bonkers ... no need for prices that low.

 

[Sam G]

I noticed 340g jars of honey for 79p in Aldi so bought one out of curiosity to taste test.
On the label it states it's mixed European honey and it was compleeeetely tasteless

 

[bobba]

Well done! Do you mind sharing where you did your label design, printing and where you got your jars from?
Hoping to do my first harvest next month and was planning of selling at £6/227g

This is where I got my jars as pictured in my profile:

https://www.jazjar.co.uk/collections/round-jars/products/310ml-10-12oz-round-jars
They will hold 400g of honey. They do other sizes.

I print my own labels on standard A4 paper, cut them up and stick them on with wide tape. I cut them crooked and stick them on wonky.

The end result is a jar of honey that is clearly not from a factory. It looks home made before you even read the text on the label. My customers seemed to like the "home made" style.

So don't go mad and get a graphic designer or order expensive labels. Just keep it simple.

The less "professional" they look, the more home made they look.

And remember people will come back if they like the honey, not because they liked the label.

 

[bobba]

Look at this for example to see what some are up against: Facebook

Never mind that, its the underhand nature of selling on FB that did my head in. Every day someone would report my advert for containing animal related products. Then I would have to make a new advert with new picture.

I (my wife) had far more success selling on private FB groups rather than on the marketplace.

If you list your honey for double the price it should still sell, it will make people suspect the cheap one is possibly fake or inported honey re-jared.

 

[Fazer]

Out of interest, do you have any historical price info for the same show, even if just for the previous year (may of been 2019 I guess?) - I wonder if inflation/costs are being factored in - either way, will be good to check-in for next years pricings

EDIT - Answering my own post, never good After a bit of googling, but I can't find 2020 or 2021 info...

2018 & 2019 pricings:
1lb jar Flower honey £4.80
1lb jar Heather honey £5.90
12oz. jar £3.80
8oz. jar £2.45
4oz. jar £2.10
Sections £7.40
Cut comb £5.00

2017 pricings:
1lb jar Flower honey £4.40
1lb jar Heather honey £5.50
12oz. jar £3.50
8oz. jar £2.25
4oz. jar £2.00
Sections £7.20
Cut comb £4.8

Probably can’t find them because they were COVID years

 

[Dodge]

Never mind that, its the underhand nature of selling on FB that did my head in. Every day someone would report my advert for containing animal related products. Then I would have to make a new advert with new picture.

I (my wife) had far more success selling on private FB groups rather than on the marketplace.

If you list your honey for double the price it should still sell, it will make people suspect the cheap one is possibly fake or inported honey re-jared.

So what happens when it is reported on FB? Surely this happens all the time with any product containing animals derivatives?

What gets me is that the people who complain probably eat sweetners either natural or artificial that have had more bees and insects killed by the staff at prcesessors trsveking to work and transportation of the products on windscreens and various other vehicle parts including ants on the road than honey from our back yards.

 

[bobba]

So what happens when it is reported on FB? Surely this happens all the time with any product containing animals derivatives?

What gets me is that the people who complain probably eat sweetners either natural or artificial that have had more bees and insects killed by the staff at prcesessors trsveking to work and transportation of the products on windscreens and various other vehicle parts including ants on the road than honey from our back yards.

Your advert gets pulled and you get the chance to appeal, which is a complete waste of time. So its best just to make a new advert, but the FB algorithm will detect if you have used the same picture. So you must always use a slightly different picture.

The people that complain I suspect are mostly rival sellers.

I had another guy threaten to report me to trading standards because my label did not have the weight in lb, so I gave him the number. He coincidentally had the same second name as another honey seller. And the same honey in the same jars, with the same labels was (maybe still is) sold by 3 other people in my area . None of their adverts ever got pulled, but all the other sellers in my area did.

 

[Martimart]

I noticed 340g jars of honey for 79p in Aldi so bought one out of curiosity to taste test.
On the label it states it's mixed European honey and it was compleeeetely tasteless

How can Honey be tasteless, does its origin make any difference. would it be tasteless because it's not honey?

 

[Sam G]

How can Honey be tasteless, does its origin make any difference. would it be tasteless because it's not honey?

Yes, sorry, I wasn't insinuating it was the origin making it tasteless, rather that it was potentially more sugar syrup than honey. That's the only reason I can imagine its so tasteless!

 

[Martimart]

Yes, sorry, I wasn't insinuating it was the origin making it tasteless, rather that it was potentially more sugar syrup than honey. That's the only reason I can imagine its so tasteless!

Absolutely and I wasn't taming offence had you done so. Somethings got to be done on the sugar syrup sold as honey.

 

[Sunflower123]

Cost of living crisis. Is anyone finding that their honey is selling very slowly?

 

[drex]

Yes, and my regulars are buying fewer jars at a time

 

[whizzwheels]

My sales are slowing down now, but not actively advertising as I've only got the late summer honey left which is thick and gloopy and I suspect has heather pollen in which nobody seems interested as it granulates very quickly.