The city of New York has a special place in the hearts of those who live there and those who have visited. For founder Erica Werber, the idea for Literie Candles was a way to pay tribute to the city itself. After the pandemic hit and the city began to empty, Erica was inspired to capture the things she loved about New York and launched Literie Candles as a love letter to the city.

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Literie Candles is a brand of scented candles with names like “brunch in the West Village” and “hot roasted nut cart” that evoke the memories of New York. Erica had no experience in the candle industry or in entrepreneurship, but she was able to sell 10,000 candles in the first nine months with the help of her packaging, which was a collaboration with a designer friend.

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Erica shares some of the lessons she learned about packaging and here are the five things you can learn from her success:

1. Choose the right paper type for labels – Different products have different needs in terms of the adhesiveness and durability of the label. Erica and her family learned this lesson the hard way when they realized the labels they had printed were made out of the wrong type of paper and had to be redone.

2. Make sure the packaging will protect the product – Erica and her family were in charge of fulfillment in the early days and there were a few complaints from customers that their candles had arrived shattered. Erica realized that the packaging wasn’t sufficient to protect the product, leading to quality control checks and eventually switching to a third-party logistics company to handle shipping and fulfillment.

3. Lean into your team’s talents – Erica has been working with the same designer, Kasey Bohnert, since the beginning of Literie Candles and she attributes the brand’s shelf appeal to Kasey’s style.

4. Capture the brand’s tone through colors – Erica wanted the colors of the packaging to evoke a feeling of fun and lightheartedness, which she believes they accomplished.

5. Surprise your customers – As an April Fool’s Day prank, Literie Candles posted that they were making a “Summer in the Subway” candle that smelled like trash. Instead of making a whole new product, Literie sent customers who bought the joke candle a surprise candle instead and donated the proceeds to a New York charity.

It’s always inspiring to see people like Erica turn their ideas and passions into reality. By learning from her success, you can apply the same tactics to your own brand and be successful too.

Sources:

https://www.shopify.com/uk/blog/literie-candles-packaging