Brainstorm with me on businesses like this.

Since it is a real product, then yes you won't have the guilt of selling dreams to your customers. It is true that all people use soap. But, do people really spend time looking for new soap brand to use ? Are they researching a lot their choices ? Are they willing to change the soap they use right now ? For me it seems like all buy the soap from supermarket, and I never spend more than 1$ for soap. So there is little room to move around. I understand why you want to go offline, it seems attractive to me too, but I would choose a bigger product, where you have more to research, more to offer to your customers.

I imagine there is room for someone to dazzle us all with a fresh, exciting take on soap.

It had better be creative, honest and fill an emotional desire for a more satisfying soap experience though, or you will lose out to the $1 soaps in the supermarkets the above poster referenced.

Same goes for any other niche you decide on. There is no shortage of unexciting everyday "stuff" out there that can be marketed better. Just like any other business, though, if you can't effectively communicate to your market why your product is the superior choice, then you may as well not bother.

These are typical MLM-company products. The reason MLM's tend to revolve around products of this kind is the MLM philosophy of "not asking people to buy anything they're not already buying, but just asking them to buy it from a different place".

The potential difficulty with them (and I'm just thinking aloud, saying this) is that these consumable products (I don't mean edible, just "which get used up"), and which people continue to buy indefinitely, are also the ones manufactured by some of the world's biggest corporations, whose decades' experience at producing and marketing them mean that they can do everything for lower prices than anyone else, and it can be terribly difficult to compete with them. They can, if necessary, even afford to compete temporarily at a loss, just to get other suppliers/manufacturers/marketers out of the market.

I think the path to success, with things like this, is probably "upmarket niches" in which high quality products of individuality can sell at a real premium to customers who don't necessarily care all that much about the prices? Because in any other part of the market, it's going to be really difficult to compete with household names producing and marketing things by the hundred-million?

Pretty fruity soap slices and other toiletry products are great, but they are also faddy. People will try them out maybe once or twice, then go back to the supermarket soaps that they are used to. I have bought the same soap for over 25 years.

We had a store open in my town selling exactly those products. It looked great, smelled divine and lasted for around 6 months. Everyone liked it but no one wanted to buy from it.

I just dont think its a product on its own that people shop online for. Mabey gift baskets of different soaps along with other complimentry products.

Many years ago I was involved with Amway and they started by selling soap and other similar products. The 2 biggest issues were:
1. Price. Their costs were higher than you would normally want to spend.
2. You have to plan ahead and so you may run out.

I personally buy the cheapest homer brand soap from the supermarket. IT does the job and so why spend more.

You're looking at a niche market, even though soap is used by everyone. So you need to think accordingly.

You can have a very profitable craft soap business.

I love my network marketing business and focus nearly all
of my time there but my wife and I also own a small herd of goats.

Research the nutritional properties of goat milk... you'll be amazed!

Anyway ... the wife makes a line of goat milk skin care products
including scented lotions and soaps. She does very well with them.

She sells on her Facebook page, on Etsy.com and at local farmers
markets. She even has about a dozen local spas and boutique gift
shops who buy from her at wholesale and resell to their retail customers.

She has a hard time keeping up with the demand... it's a very good business.

So you guys have come up with some awesome feedback on soap as a business.

Anyone have ideas for similar businesses?

Your dreams may burst like a soap bubble if you don't niche in...
I may be babbling here...but J&J have the whole niche for baby soap...
So how about a soap for Seniors that suits seniors skin?
How about a herbal medicinal soap for persons with psoriasis skin.
Of course there may be legal complications.But i am just brainstroming!