Chelsea's Little Flower Soap Company gets a hand from Amazon

(FOX 2) - "I made my first batch of soap in 2010 as favors for my wedding," said Holly Rutt. "My husband and I put them at every place setting and I guess contacted us and said the soap is so amazing."

Meet Holly Rutt.  

"My husband helps, he writes all the recipes so we push an idea to him and he tells us what quantity of each ingredient to put in," she said. 

She and her husband Justin are cleaning up big time - after the perfect recipe for success found in soap. That and a little help from Amazon's first Amazon storefront national advertisement featuring the couple from Chelsea.  
  
The one minute and 20 second commercial featured their creation, the Little Flower Soap Company is now doing big business.
  
They went from selling 40 bars of homemade, essential oil soap nine years ago to now selling 4,000 bars a month.
  
The national commercial is just one ingredient in their sweet smell of success.  Amazon Handmade is a special section the shipping giant teams up with to help local hometown business that specialize in homemade merchandise. 
 
It's a model that isn't shutting out local business but instead embracing it and helping promote local shopping. 

Half of all businesses on Amazon are small or medium size businesses in the United States and they are trying to help people make aware of that fact. So for instance my shop here in Chelsea, it's for sale on Amazon but we are making a right here. 

Amazon Handmade helps small businesses have a prominent platform on their site.  During the holidays, bourbon lip balm sales spiked. 

About 1,400 of their $5 balms were sold in one day on amazon. All of it locally sourced in the studio where they cook it up.  

"I love knowing someone in my community or in my state made an item," Rutt said. "Because I know that they want to be proud of what they made and that they're making it extra special so they can feel good about it. The thing with artisan products is how unique and the quality they can be compared to things that are a mass produced."  

Amazon's hope is people see them as not the guys putting the little guys out of business but instead helping mom and pop stores grow their success as quickly as they grow the lavender in the yard to fuel it.  The commercial has helped.  

"It's incredible! I've been seeing a flood of emails," she said. "Lots of job applications and we have in fact hired and trained I want to larger staff than we had before the commercial." 

>>> Learn more at their website: littleflowersoap.com/