How to grow your candle business with flameless home fragrance Adding room and linen sprays, reed diffusers, or wax melts as a way to increase sales and achieve long-term success.
One aspect of running a successful candle business is keeping up with changing trends and customer needs.
The flameless home fragrance product category has grown rapidly in recent years. Driven by consumer demand for safer, more convenient, and more flexible scent options, retail sales of flameless home fragrance products are expected to grow by 14% in the next five years.
Whether it’s to avoid open flames, prevent smoke in indoor spaces, or enjoy “set-it-and-forget-it" fragrance solutions, consumers are now seeking alternatives to traditional candles more than ever.
If you’ve been curious about expanding your business to include flameless home fragrance products, this article is here to help you explore the different options, learn how they can boost your business’s revenue and bottom line, and see how easy it is to get started!
Flameless Fragrance Options for Your Line: Room and Linen Sprays, Reed Diffusers, and Wax Melts
The flameless home fragrance market is booming thanks to products like reed diffusers, room and linen sprays, and wax melts. These products complement existing candle offerings and present an exciting opportunity for your business. Let’s look closer at these options, which allow customers to enjoy beautiful scents without a flame.
Room and Linen Sprays
Room and linen sprays are a practical and popular choice for people who want to instantly refresh their spaces with fragrance. They’re ideal for quickly eliminating odors from litter boxes or wet pet smells and offering precise control over how much scent fills a room and where it goes. Plus, they’re great for mixing and matching scents to create personalized scentscapes. Their portability and ease of use make them a go-to for on-the-spot fragrance boosts.
Reed Diffusers
Looking for effortless, long-lasting fragrance? Reed diffusers are a stylish, low-maintenance way to keep any space smelling great. They provide a continuous scent for three to six months with minimal upkeep. Not only are they a flameless option for those concerned about safety, but they also add a decorative element.
Another popular take on diffusers is car diffusers. Whether made of paperboard or wooden beads, this diffuser still only requires a base and fragrance to add aromatic ambiance to your car.
Wax Melts
Wax melts are a fantastic gateway for candle lovers curious to try flameless home fragrance products. They are familiar thanks to being made of wax—but feel fresh thanks to the lack of flame.
Wax melts can have real staying power and strength in terms of fragrance throw, and some people find them preferable to candles for that reason alone.
"Flameless fragrance is for everyone! It’s perfect for people who can’t have [an] open flame in their dorms or apartments, or simply just don’t feel comfortable with an open flame. Flameless fragrance is also portable…you can enjoy room sprays and car diffusers in your car, office, or classroom."
Why offer flameless home fragrance products in your business?
Adding flameless products to your candle business grows your customer base, which leads to more sales and increased revenue. Here’s why:
- Broader customer reach. Flameless options attract shoppers who might otherwise avoid candles for safety reasons or personal preferences.
- Diverse price points. Room sprays and wax melts can offer affordable entry points to your product line, while reed diffusers appeal to customers looking for higher-end options.
- Seasonal alternatives. Candle sales may dip during warmer months as consumers avoid the perceived heat of lit candles. Flame-free products still let them enjoy fragrance at home until they’re ready for candles again.
- More sales opportunities. Additional product types mean customers can enjoy their favorite scents in different applications, encouraging repeat purchases.
- Bundling options. Fragrances in multiple formats allow you to create themed bundles or gift sets that combine candles and flameless products. Bundles often incentivize shoppers to spend more than they might otherwise, leading to higher average order values and more revenue. They are also effective for moving slower-selling products by pairing them with popular items.
"I decided to add flameless products for a couple reasons. First, I use soy wax for my other products so they take a long time to cure. The room sprays and reed diffusers allow me to always ensure I have enough stock to sell and especially so when prepping for markets. The other reason is to easily add variety to my store. I know lots of people don’t have wax melters and are looking for something cheaper than a candle. This way I will have a fragrance solution for almost every one. And the best part as I get to use the same fragrance oils and recipes for all of these products."
How to add flameless home fragrance products to your line
Adding new products to your collection might feel daunting, but including flameless fragrance items is simpler than you think! Here are a few tips to help you decide which products to start with and how to easily integrate them into your production flow.
Choosing which products to start with
Not sure whether you should start with reed diffusers or room sprays? Our first and best tip is to gather data directly from your customers! Here’s how:
- Consider what product requests you’ve already received at markets or in your DMs.
- Post a poll on your social media account or email your customer list to find out what kind of flameless home fragrance product your audience would be most interested in buying.
- Test the waters with a limited-edition run of the product to determine whether it’s successful enough to join your line permanently.
"I also use a select set of VIP customers whose feedback I trust to help me develop and test products before rolling it out to the masses, as they have different perspectives that I might not!"
Making room and linen sprays, reed diffusers, and wax melts
Once you’ve chosen your first flameless product, the next step is to start making it! Fortunately, creating any of these products is relatively simple and rarely requires big changes to your production setup.
CandleScience EcoBaseTM Room and Linen Spray is a concentrated base that requires only water and fragrance or essential oil.
Follow our easy room and linen spray tutorial, or skip ahead to our room and linen spray batch calculator to create your perfect spray.
Nearly all CandleScience fragrance oils are approved for use in room sprays, so you can easily match your spray and candle scents. We also offer essential oils approved for this application if you want to opt for naturally scented sprays.
"The thing I like the most about flameless products is how quickly they are to make as they practically don’t have a cure time at all. It makes prepping for markets a lot less stressful."
Reed diffusers are incredibly quick, easy, and rewarding to make! It’s as straightforward as adding fragrance to a diffuser base and bottling—but our reed diffuser tutorial walks you through the exact steps.
Be sure to select the Reed Diffuser Application filter in our Fragrance Oil Finder to see which fragrances are recommended for reed diffusers.
"Product testing was incredibly simple as I used ready-to-mix bases and simply blended with fragrance oils. I did absolutely learn a lot about IFRA standards and what 10A meant for diffusers, what oils were compatible and which were not. Please spend time educating yourself about this industry standard."
Wax melts are a natural complement to candles and give you many creative customization options: they can be embellished with colorful, textured botanicals, made shimmery with micas, or poured into molds to make shaped, individual melts.
And melts can be made with seriously strong fragrance loads. CandleScience CocoSol Soy Pillar Wax is a perfect example, with its ability to hold a whopping 25% fragrance load!
Some makers find that waxes like Golden Brands 464 Soy Wax can double as a container and melt wax. Using the same wax allows them to pour candles and melts in the same batch.
Wax melts made with container waxes are usually a bit softer than waxes formulated specifically for pillars, and wax melts. If efficiency in your business is a high priority, you may want to test your container wax to see if it can also work for melts! Otherwise, check out how to select the right wax for any project to find one that fits your needs.
Final Thoughts
Flameless home fragrance products are a natural and exciting extension of your candle business. They offer new ways to delight customers, expand your audience, and increase sales.
Start small, stay flexible, and watch how these products can transform your business. If you have any questions, our Customer Support team is ready to help!