There are many considerations in the sale and marketing of honey, market research is a massive business these days and you have to be as good at placing your product in the market place as any of the ‘professionals’…

Sizes and Styles of Jar

Squeeze Bears and other Fancy Packing (value added)
Labelling, Artistic Considerations
Labelling, Legal Considerations
Cut Comb
Chunk Honey
Section Honey (Square or Round)
There is also the issue of selling in bulk to a co-operative or a major honey packer.

Market Research

Find out what competition there may be in your area of operation, record the numbers of outlets, what the rival product is, what it’s price is and whereabouts it has been placed on the shelves, the type of establishment doing the retailing and the attitude of the people running the store. all of these will help to guide you.

Trial Marketing

Try and match your product to an outlet, heather honey will sell more easily in an ‘up market’ establishment that has customers who already know what heather honey is and how good it tastes. Baking honey can be sold to bakers and confectioners for the same reason, they already understand the product. There is a growing market for baking honey from pubs and restaurants that my using it for glazing parsnips or gammon ham.

Samples and Free Gifts

I have had good results by giving half pound sample jars to individuals, for instance… In the normal course of business, I visited my bank several times per week, you get to know the tellers and on one occasion I took some half pounders along and gave them one each. You will not hook everyone that you target, but the proportion of those that come back repeatedly, is quite high.

You can give tasting sessions if you are on a market stall, particularly if there are a lot of children accompanying the adults.

Market Stalls

This remains a very good means of selling honey particularly if you are prepared to “knock off” 10% or so from the retail price.

Fetes and other events

These vary quite widely and also vary from year to year, in any period of five years you may expect one poor year, three average and one year that is excellent.

Mailshots

Have a very poor success rate you may expect one or two percent replies, but only a few of these will mature into business.

The Internet

Unsolicited Email is considered bad form. However, a well designed website properly promoted may be very effective, but you may have to pay large fees to get the right promotion. After paying your large fee someone else may “jump the queue” by paying an even larger fee.