Reference no: EM133269008

Question: My sister in law, Emily, has gotten into making scented candles. She has started a page on Etsy where she sells these candles. She's tried selling them at different prices and collected the data in the attached Excel of her sales.

Making candles is easy. For the large candles she is selling she needs a glass jar that is the vessel for the container ($4.00 per container), wax ($0.75 per candle), the candle wick ($0.25 per wick), and essential oil for the scent ($0.75 per candle). Emily also decorates the candle by mixing dried flower petals into the candle wax ($2.00 per candle). Actually, the most expensive thing is the shipping - it costs her $10.00 to ship a each candle to the customer. What is the optimal price for Emily to sell her candles?

Emily is getting married! While she does enjoy making the candles by hand herself, she's getting very busy with her wedding planning. However, she does not want to lose her customers and reputation on her Etsy site. She finds a local store that makes similar candles, and is willing to sell the candles to her in bulk. This vendor is willing to sell Emily candles and even ship them to her customers for her. The vendor would charge Emily $1,750 for 150 candles. What would be more profitable? For her to accept this deal or keep making the candles herself?

Regardless of whether it is more profitable or not, how many candles would she sell if she bought in bulk (in total)?