How to Produce Air Freshener and Sell in Large Quantities in Nigeria, Materials Needed and Process

In this article, I am going to provide a breakdown of the processes involved in production of air freshener. I always like my articles to be quite simple to understand and very informative, and I hope by the end of your reading, you would have little or no problems with taking that bold step and venturing into life as a maker of air freshener.

Air fresheners are used in almost every setting in Nigeria, ranging from homes to offices and even public places. A good air freshener company with quality products will be loved by users, because in Nigeria, every one wants the best reliable products. So, what do you need to start?

The first thing you would want to consider is value creation. If a product does not create value, then there is no need to even bother about making that product. Only a product that adds value would be bought and build brand loyalty, such that your customers would not buy any other product until they find yours. How do you create value with air freshener? First of all ask yourself.. what do the consumers want?

1. Perfume /Fragrance: Air Fresheners are supposed to fill the air with fresh smell. So, that smell that comes out of your air freshener has to be capturing and mesmerizingly fresh. However you would want to make sure that the fragrance is not too strong, because you don’t want it choking the room. Or do you?

2. Packaging: How do you want to package your air freshener? Do you want to follow what is already in the market or you want to try something new and creative? The choice is up to you.

However, you have to decide what kind of air freshener you want to make… What purpose will it serve? Where will it be used? Is it meant just for cars? Or do you intend for it to be used only at home or in the office? Is it for more open places like large gatherings and public events? All these determine how you will package it… And the fragrance too. You cannot use the same perfume strength for an air freshener meant for cars and another meant for a large hall.

3.  Pricing: The third factor you should consider is the price of your air freshener. There are two things that primarily determine the way you will price your product.

Yes, I know you know all about the price determinants you were taught in commerce and marketing. Albeit that, the basic determinants are your cost of production per piece and who you intend selling to. You definitely cannot sell below your cost of production, so you have to find cheaper ways to get what you need to produce.

If you need help with that, you can contact us, and we will try our best possible to help you out professionally. But the focus of this article is to first put you in business and to make sure you start on the right foot.

Back to pricing. Who are you selling to? The general public? Or do you have a target market? Maybe people that won’t mind paying a lot of money to get the best? All these matter a lot. However, if you are selling to the general public, its usually good to use the prevailing market price of air freshener as your benchmark.

4. Production:

How Do You Make Air Freshener?

This is the part many of you are probably waiting for. Here, I will give a breakdown of what you need to prepare air freshener. You however must know that there are two common kinds of air fresheners. The first kind is liquid, and the second kind is gel. Gel is the most commercially made kind, while liquid is usually homemade for personal use. It is also sold widely around Nigeria. I am going to first talk on making the gel air fresheners then follow up with the production of liquid air fresheners.

HOW TO MAKE GEL AIR FRESHENERS

To make gel air fresheners, you are going to need the following:

1. Four packages of unflavoured gelatin
2. Salt (About 1 table spoon)
3. Food colouring of any kind
4. Water (2 cups)
5. Essential oil
6. A little alcohol like vodka

You will also need basic kitchen equipment like whisk, spoons, a pan large enough, and some jars or wide bottles. You must find better packaging when you are ready to sell. Now, lets really get into it.

Step 1: Put your pan or pot on fire and pour 1 cup of water into it. Allow it to boil till you are satisfied.

Step 2: Add the packs of gelatin into the boiling water and start stirring until everything is fully dissolved. Once this is done, you can move on to step 3.

Step 3: Bring down the pot from the fire and continue stirring while adding the second cup of water into it. After this is done, leave it till it cools down. Some people proceed without allowing it to cool down, but its safer to allow it cool down,unless you are scared that it might not capture the other ingredients easily.

Step 4: Get the jar or wide bottle container and put 1 table spoon of salt into it. After this, add some drops of essential oil, depending on how strong you want the eventual scent to be. About 10 to 20 drops is usually sufficient. Note that salt is an inhibitor, so is alcohol. So you have to pick which of them you prefer to use. Vodka can be your alcohol. If you choose to use alcohol, you just need a few drops too. Please be careful with your food colouring. Just add little drops into your mixture, then stir everything for a while. Note that you are doing this while your first mixture cools down.

Step 5: Now it is time to marry the two mixtures. Turn the content of the pan or pot into your jar and stir. Note that you are not going to wait for the pan mixture to get completely cold. Warm is okay. Now you are almost done.

Step 6: For fragrance and scent, you could use lemon or levander or whatever scent you like. Mix your perfume with the mixture you have now and stir very well.

Congratulations. You are done. You could then tightly close the jar and put it in a fridge first or just leave it like that till it cools completely. If you put it in a small vaseline jar, it can last for about 4 weeks. Remember to package it very well before you start selling. The gel air freshener is the most commercially used kind. If you have any questions of face any difficulties, do not hesitate to contact us on the numbers given or via email. We will get back to you in time.

For those who would like to make the homemade liquid type, the process is even less complicated. You can also sell this, as it is currently being sold across Nigeria for home use. What you will need for this is quite simple.
1. Caustic soda
2. Perfume
3. Formalin
4. Water
5. Sulphonic Acid
6. Soda Ash
7. Colorant of your choice

To begin, find a container, advisably plastic, and pour 4 litres of water. After this is done, add a spoon of caustic soda and stir till the caustic soda dissolves.
Now, add half a spoon of sulphonic acid and stir rigorously. At this point, you would want to check that the PH of the solution is about 7 or 8, or at least not too far from this.
The next step is to add your forrmalin and colorant into the mixture and stir gently. Now you can add your perfume. The quantity largely depends on you, as I have explained earlier. You can now leave it for about a day before it is ready to be sold. Quite easy, right? Yes.

Always remember my four 4 Ps of getting into air freshener business – Perfume, Packaging, Pricing and Production. I will also like to advise that you measure your ingredients cautiously. Be patient. Quality is one goal you must be after. I hope I have been able to help you out with this article. Feel free to read other interesting articles on this website, and please drop your comments. We love to hear from you.