Most popular glass bottles?

[BryanEx]

I've been doing a ton of searching here on MapleTrader but still have not come up with an answer on which glass bottle designs are most liked by consumers. I've found much on what size to use or this plastic jug versus that plastic jug but which are the best sellers in glass? The "maple leaf" bottles are always advertised as being best sellers but are they way better than other choices for shelf appeal? I would particularly like to hear from some of the producers that have photos in their gallery or on their web site showing darn near every bottle possible for sale. Do people tend to pick out the same ones or are they more random choices depending on the individual. If you had to pick one glass bottle design for all your syrup this coming season... which one would it be?

[brookledge]

Areyou looking to use glass as a decorative bottle or to just sell your syrup. The glass leaf bottles are definately the most popular but it is more of a decorative bottle and expensive vs. a plain glass jug. Most shy away from using glass as a primary container because of the weight and being fragile.
I've never weighed a glass gal container vs. plastic but it would be substantial and with shipping cost it would need to be priced alot higher when shipped.
I know some like to display there syrup in glass and I can see their point however I only use it for decorative use
Keith

[Bucket Head]

I could'nt tell you what has the most shelf appeal, as we only use the leaf shaped bottle. I think those bottles are the best for showing off your product and everyone can recognize a maple leaf. It just kind of makes sense for us, at least when it comes to retailing it. A leaf bottle with an attractive hang tag makes a nice finished product.

Steve

[BryanEx]

Areyou looking to use glass as a decorative bottle...
Pretty much but with a twist. Anything for farm gate sales or general inventory is packaged in plastic but my main income is from people making their own syrup at my farm. I'm looking to have a selection of maybe 3 to 4 different types of glass bottles they can choose from for their own syrup. It has to be glass because they want to see what they've made but when I went through the D&G catalogue I was a little overwhelmed with choices. That's why I'm wondering what seems to be the most common choices from consumers - maple leaf, log cabin, kent, basque, gallone, etc

[BryanEx]

A leaf bottle with an attractive hang tag makes a nice finished product.
I agree and it was the only bottle I was using last year but I've also read somewhere online that they were somehow losing their appeal. I suspect that's mostly due to many people pricing them slightly higher to cover the cost of the bottle... but I dunno. I'm rolling out a hefty price increase next year but want to add a little more value at the same time which means offering a selection of bottles instead of just one. I'm just not sure which ones to stock right now.

[3rdgen.maple]

I have used quite a few different ones in the past and the most popular one for me are the Bear ( the ladies loved them) but are exensive and the traditional glass bottle I have in my avatar. So I stock a few Bears and alot of the glass in my avatar. I use the 8 and 12 oz ones. Nice thing is if the more you buy the cheaper they are. I can actually purchase I bottle cheaper than one plastic jug. Obviously I need more glass per plastic jug as they are smaller but if you are selling retail they get more bang for the buck. Cheaper than the 16oz jug but hold less so they I end up making more per volume in the long run. I etch all my glass for a personal touch and a nice maple leaf tag with the details is classy in my book.

[firetech]

I use glass almost exclusively. My farm markets people choose glass over plastic 10-1. Customers like to see the product they are buying. It sure looks great with the mornig sun shining thru the bottle on the shelf. Glass is cheaper but plastic ships better. I feel I.m a syrup producer not a glass salesman. So our line up is very simple and goes like this 8/12 oz flat ovals,16/32oz are in the caro syrup style, we changed to this bottle do to the fact that most of our custumers are over 50 with arthisis in there hands and this bottle is easier to grip none of the plastic jugs are easy to pour from, I wish they would come up with another design. More user freindly. All 1/2 and gallons are in plastic do to weight and handleing issues. My goal is to keep as much product at $10 dollars or less and keep a good cash flow going. Never sell cloudy syrup in a glass bottle filter,filter and filter.

[BryanEx]

So I stock a few Bears and a lot of the glass in my avatar.
Ouch... sore point there 3rdgen. I really like that style in your avatar as it's closest to what I picture as "traditional" but my wife (aka business partner) doesn't care for them at all... finds them too plain I guess.


So our line up is very simple and goes like this 8/12 oz flat ovals,16/32oz are in the caro syrup style...
The ovals and Caros - are they plain bottles or the ones with deer, mouse, bear, etc stenciled on them? Good point on the arthritis. I do get visitors with special needs from time to time so that may be a consideration.

[RipTyd]

If you are retailing small size bottles eg 8oz 12oz 16oz You will probably sell more if you use glass bottles. I like to use the round whiskeyjug looking bottles with the round ring, they come in different sizes. I also drink alot of Grolsch beer which comes in a green 15oz fliptop bottle so I reuse them for syrup and people just love the bottle, and I just love the beer so it works out for me... Best of luck!! Oh yeah I use some cool rustic stickers on my bottles as well....

[gmcooper]

Our glass sales trend to change gradually over the years. The 250 ml labasque with moose printed seems to have held up better than most. Some of our wholesale accounts vary widely in what they move in glass just a few miles apart. I would suggest trying a few different styles and see what works. Be carefull to price them accordingly as the cost of glass can vary significantly.

[maple flats]

I only do a little in glass but I show a fairly wide asst. I use the leaves, but also do many cheaper glass designs. I often go to Bascom or other dealers and buy a few cases of discontinued shapes. The price is good and it gives me a good assortment. Along with the special discounted glass I also use handle bottles. The people who buy plastic like to look at the syrup in glass first to SEE it clearly, then most buy plastic jugs because of price. The way I price any given size is that I decide on a gal price and every size under that is slightly higher per oz as the size decreases. Then I add the actual cost of the container (times 1.25) and round up.

[BryanEx]

I'll try to explain things another way... let's say your brother's family, father-in-law, next door neighbour's sister, or whom ever came and "helped" make some syrup. You want to send them home with some and allow them to pick the bottle to put it in. You being the truly addicted maple-holic have pretty near every bottle style in stock. Which bottles do they usually pick? Maple leaf is a common one but I need two to three other popular styles to round out my selection.

[Big_Eddy]

I used Basque bottles exclusively for years, but changed to the Kent bottles (3rdGen's) about 3 years ago, solely because they are 1/3 the cost of the Basque. My customers don't seem to care which bottles I use so I'd rather keep the cost down and pass the savings on to them. 90% of my sales are 500ml and I only package in glass.

We've tried the maple leaf bottles one year, and while they look nice on the shelf, no-one likes them once they start to use them. Darn things are hard to hold on to and awkward to pour from. All my customers are repeats and all shied away from the leaf bottles the next spring.

One complaint about the Kent bottles is that the finger loop is too small for even my pinkie to slip into. Have heard that from customers as well. The Basque handles are functional.

We use the 1l Gallone jugs for our personal needs. They are big enough to last more than 1 breakfast and easy to pour from. Usually have 2 on the go in the fridge.

[BryanEx]

Great feed back Big_Eddy - thanks! Also a great point about the maple leaf bottles. I'll keep that in mind if I have a visitor picking mostly maple leafs to bottle in and maybe suggest some other choices.

Most of my visitors are working out to be annual returns so now that I plan on offering various bottles (their choice) I'll be really curious to see what moves over time. For my personal use I still use the ol' fashioned Mason jar because it's real easy to pour too much. :D

[3rdgen.maple]

Brian just a thought for you. If you have repeat customers send them an email with various pictures of bottles and see what the preferences are. Let them choose for you. Or you may need a year of several type bottles in stock and see which ones are the big sellers and go from there. In the big scheme of thins the bottles are the cheapest thing we buy I think.

[brookledge]

Also based on the way you are doing things you might want to have your repeat customers bring back the bottle to re fillfor them or write their name on the bottom so you can always give them there bottle back. One thing about glass is when the bottle is thin it shows the nice color, once you go with a round gallon jug it looks darker than it really is. That is why the maple leaf bottles are made flat. So if your customers want to be able to see nice light syrup through the bottle then I wouldn't reccomend round or larger bottles
Keith

[3% Solution]

I guess I'd pick the 100 ml painted scenes.
Those look nice and we sold quite a few this year.

[Brent]

We've offered plastic jugs, cans and an assortment of glass.

By far the biggest selling item is the 1/2L 16 oz flat oval like the avatar in 3rdgen.maples header.

We have lots of the maple leaves on display because the are attractive, but we price them higher because they cost so much more.

We catch a lot of people on the way to the airport who want to take syrup to Europe or the Orient, and they buy plastic or tins, rarely glass.

We never pack any for shipping so that's not a concern for us.

[Tim Wagoner]

So these are the different types but from what place have you found them the cheapest?

[3% Solution]

Haven't really looked around, Bascom's is where we get our stuff.
No shipping, just a lovely 30 minute ride through the countryside.