It Costs What it Costs
Americans everywhere are cutting back so that we can afford the necessities. I don’t even know what I spend on groceries each month! I do know that my tried and true method of cooking from scratch is cheaper and healthier others, but feeding four mouths in 2023 seems to cost the same as feeding six mouths in 2020. Restaurants aren’t an option most of the time for us because we can’t get dinner or lunch for less than $100. As much as I love to eat at restaurants, I’m at peace with this arrangement; my children are old enough to help with the cooking now, and everyone benefits when we improve our at-home cooking skills.
I’ll spare you the rant about college tuition, though, as I am putting my twins through for another two years.
All that said, rising costs have affected small business owners tremendously. A new vendor told me today that the price of lavender essential oil has tripled in the past few years, only to settle in at a more reasonable price in the past few months. Still higher than before it spiked, though. Pricier raw materials leads to pricier product, and when you add the cost of shipping, well …
So, back to pricing. The market research we conducted as Lucent Gift launched showed two interesting things:
1. The demographic least likely to balk at the cost of a luxury cancer care package was the young professional man.
2. The demographic least likely to purchase a luxury care package was the middle-aged woman.
This leads me to the assumption that while most men are uninterested in taking the DIY approach, most women my age may prefer it. They want to save some money and send a thoughtful gift. I’m all for doing things yourself; there are moments in each day that it matters and it saves money. But, in the hours I have spent determining the best price for a Lucent Gift, I can honestly say,
But what you lose is the scrutiny applied to the usefulness, beauty, safety, and sustainable manufacture of each product in a Lucent Gift, down to the gift box itself. What’s more? We work with regional woman-owned businesses, and we are narrowing in on 100% for that element of our business. We only sell what we be know to be useful and believe to be beautiful.
In the end, all of this puts me in mind of a quote from a contractor years ago when his client (not me) was complaining about prices.
It costs what it costs.
A word of advice: if you find the prices of our products a bit stinging, then crowd funding a gift was always part of the hope and design. This was all before venmo was a cultural norm, and I’m glad didn’t have to provide the infrastructure for that!