Why kill a popular scent?

Some (not all) use a busines model that follows. Release a new scent, get people talking about said scent raising demand, continue producing new scent until demand slows to a trickle( this happens because soaps tend to last a long time and very few stick with one scent/brand daily) so in reality they are probably selling less than two items per person per year. Once sales slow down to a trickle they announce the scents being discontinued, this causes all of the people who enjoy the soap to stock up thus clearing out any remaining inventory, after some time people will have finished their soaps and begin talking about it again wishing it was still available, with most people stock running out and people talking about it on forums or just wishing they could get it again demand then skyrockets, at this point you start producing it again as a limited run and repeat the above. Its just a more complex version of having seasonal soaps. It basically keeps your products from becoming stagnet, especially since a tub of shaving soap last a long time, no business can survive or provide soaps cheap enough to sustain profit for a long time. Its actually a good thing it means we dont have to be limited to mass produced products, dont let my name fool you, i like a mass produced soap lol but also love options.

Personally I don't care for the ROAM soap at all but I believe that I understand what he's doing here and why he's doing it.

With moving scents in and out of the lineup he's created a sense of urgency to purchase a product as soon as it's offered of you might not be able to get it. It costs money for products to sit on the shelf collecting dust. By doing it this way he releases a soap as a limited run and people buy three or four of them. They then sit on the customer's shelf instead of his shelf and he doesn't have money sitting there in the form of ingredients, containers and labels. We all want what we can't have and if you tell me I have to buy it now or I won't be able to get it later then I'll buy it now.

Now while they're not making ROAM they're making another limited run release of something else. So if you want to try that scent you'll have to buy it now to see if you like it or it'll be gone again. This creates a culture where people start collecting soaps and buy every one, sometimes even two of each. It creates loyal customers that buy every soap that they make in fear of missing out on something really great. This marketing strategy keeps the products moving and makes Barrister & Mann one of the more profitable soap makers from what I can gauge. Very smart business in terms of selling more product and keeping demand up for their products. .

For a small vendor, stocking twenty soap scents, and keeping them in stock, is likely extremely difficult if not impossible. So some choose to do less. Makers who keep six or so scents in stock don't create a sense of urgency, so for me I'll just wait to replace the tub I have until it runs out. I'll revisit the scents I like and skip the others knowing that they'll be there later on if I change my mind. So no sense of urgency and I'm not buying every scent that they release.

If I were making soaps myself, after coming up with the very best soap that I could make I'd do my best to keep around six of the more popular scents in stock, including a couple simpler scented ones so that people could always try my soap to see if they like the performance. I'd then create every other scent as a limited run to create that "have to buy it now or I won't get it" sense of urgency.

Personally I don't care for the ROAM soap at all but I believe that I understand what he's doing here and why he's doing it.  

With moving scents in and out of the lineup he's created a sense of urgency to purchase a product as soon as it's offered of you might not be able to get it.  It costs money for products to sit on the shelf collecting dust.  By doing it this way he releases a soap as a limited run and people buy three or four of them.  They then sit on the customer's shelf instead of his shelf and he doesn't have money sitting there in the form of ingredients, containers and labels.  We all want what we can't have and if you tell me I have to buy it now or I won't be able to get it later then I'll buy it now.  

Now while they're not making ROAM they're making another limited run release of something else.  So if you want to try that scent you'll have to buy it now to see if you like it or it'll be gone again.  This creates a culture where people start collecting soaps and buy every one, sometimes even two of each.  It creates loyal customers that buy every soap that they make in fear of missing out on something really great.  This marketing strategy keeps the products moving and makes Barrister & Mann one of the more profitable soap makers from what I can gauge.  Very smart business in terms of selling more product and keeping demand up for their products.  .

For a small vendor, stocking twenty soap scents, and keeping them in stock, is likely extremely difficult if not impossible.  So some choose to do less.  Makers who keep six or so scents in stock don't create a sense of urgency, so for me I'll just wait to replace the tub I have until it runs out.  I'll revisit the scents I like and skip the others knowing that they'll be there later on if I change my mind.  So no sense of urgency and I'm not buying every scent that they release.  

If I were making soaps myself, after coming up with the very best soap that I could make I'd do my best to keep around six of the more popular scents in stock, including a couple simpler scented ones so that people could always try my soap to see if they like the performance.  I'd then create every other scent as a limited run to create that "have to buy it now or I won't get it" sense of urgency.

FOMO is a real thing and something I have never understood when it comes to shaving soap. It's fing shaving soap. You won't die and will find something just as good as roam to use.

For a small vendor, stocking twenty soap scents, and keeping them in stock, is likely extremely difficult if not impossible.   

It is possible as my favourite soap artisan has over 40 scents and they are always in stock, unless one or two are curing.

There’s always a silent majority. Despite all the hype on the specialist boards I suspect that there may be less sales in reality. Plus, who knows if Roam would’ve sold remotely like it did if it wasn’t LE?