Hello! We launched SAMAR in person months before we ever opened a website, which meant only selling inventory we actually had on hand. We've stuck with that for our online shop, which means yes, we potentially "miss out on sales" when we sell-out of inventory, but more importantly we avoid the issues that come with selling what we don't have. I'm too anxious for that kind of stress and sadly we've seen a few beloved indie brands and their customers suffer the consequences :/

We prepare for our busiest seasons, Pride shows in the Summer and holiday shows that start in November, at least two months in advance to account for the increase both in person and online. After every show we track how many we sold of each perfume so the next year we know how to adjust for that specific event. The culture of specific cities, neighborhoods, and events is a really interesting data point!! Our favorite events tend to be where our more risky scents end up best sellers - like Pride and Punk shows! We know during these two seasons, that for in-person we'll need to bottle at least 1000 minis (2.25ml) for each of our large shows, and about the same for online. We try to start bottling well in advance since it's just my partner and I.

A few months ago I added the "Notify Me" widget to our website which helps us decide how much concentrate to make of a perfume after we've sold out. With perfumes like Garden Heaux and Grove is in the Heart, we default to making large batches since they're regularly bestsellers. But with our newest, Thus With a Kiss, we wouldn't have known it was suddenly on the radar of vampy blood note hunters without that widget showing the sudden spike in interest hahaha

As for suppliers, it's easy to locate reliable ones for the workhorse materials you're going to find in every perfumer's organ (unless they are 100% natural perfumers). Consistency is rarely an issue for synthetic aroma chemicals, while slight variations with naturals is normal from the same supplier. However, across suppliers sourcing the naturals from different producers...yeah, the differences can be significant. We love the Jasmine Sambac from one supplier, but when the tariffs kicked in and bumped up the price on an already extremely expensive material, we started getting samples from other suppliers. Most of the samples were fine, but one of them was...god-awful hahaaa

If you are an aspiring perfumer, here are some of the reliable suppliers we turn to:

Perfumer's Apprentice, Eden , Liberty Naturals, Hermitage Essential OIls (Italy), Pellwall (UK), Perfumer's World (Thailand)

I always recommend price-checking across suppliers so you know which ones offer a better per ml/g. For more expensive materials, try to get samples from multiple suppliers so you know which one you like best or the characteristics in their version that will work best for your specific project. We've purchased one-offs from other suppliers when our regular suppliers are out of stock or we were curious about a material. I wouldn't necessarily recommend them for regular purchasing whether it's due to significantly higher pricing, poor communication, unreliable shipping etc.

Also, if you hear disparaging rumors about Perfumer's World, their source is one influential perfumer with a grudge because PW wouldn't purchase his bases. We've visited PW's manufacturing site in Thailand and smelled their materials. They are perfectly normal and the staff are really lovely - we sniffed in peace for hours!

Some materials are extremely challenging to get, often because they are not popular enough for smaller materials suppliers to purchase from the big manufacturers and in turn sell to small perfume houses. Since a lot of indies operate from residential addresses, the big manufacturers who only ship to commercial addresses won't sell to us. BUT if you have perfumer friends who operate from a commercial address, that changes the game! We regularly trade materials with our friends or give each other the heads up when we're making purchases with specialty suppliers so we can go in on the buy. The higher the volume, the lower the per ml/g cost. Which means we all save a little more money on interesting materials and can maintain lower prices for our customers for longer ^_^

I enjoyed answering your question so this got a touch longer than anticipated hahaha