Beauty Product Manufacturing 101
How to Create a Beauty Product Line that Sells:
✔️ Have the right mix of products
✔️ Do extensive market research to establish consumer needs
Launch With 3-4 Products:
✔️ Anchor product – this is the feature product of your range
✔️ 2-3 complementary products
✔️ Different price points to interest different income-groups
Anchor Product
✔️ Can be priced at the high end of the spectrum because it stands out in the marketplace
✔️ Fulfils one or more of these
✔️ Unique ingredients eg. Vitamin E
✔️ Meets a customer’s need
✔️ Tells a good story (the reason why the product started).
Add 2-3 Complementary Products
Example: Skin Care Company
Anchor: Skin Smoother Cream
Product 2: Eye cream
Product 3: Skin Cleanser
✔️ These products work well with the anchor product.
Do Product Research:
Identify 1-3 products you want to emulate
Look for the following:
✔️ Best sellers, price point, customer reviews
Manufacturing Paths for Your Beauty Business:
White Label Products
= purchase already formulated products from a manufacturer and then add your own labelling and branding to them.
Pros:
✔️ A lot of options
✔️ Quicker and cheaper to get to market because product already exists
✔️ You can focus on your branding & marketing
✔️ Avoid issues with creating your own formulas
Cons:
- Products won’t be unique
Best for you if:
✔️ Want to save on upfront costs & get to market quickly
✔️ You want to differentiate yourself based on branding
Private Label
= You provide your own formulas and we compound according to your specifications. Should we not carry all your unique ingredients, you may need to supply your own actives.
Pros:
✔️ Your formula is unique
✔️ You own the formula so no one else will be able to get your products anywhere else
Cons:
- More labour intensive and more costly
- Larger order volumes required
Best for you if:
✔️ You are trying to solve a specific problem that is not being solved by existing products
✔️ A unique formulation is part of your plan to appeal to customers
Semi-Custom Formula
= You work with a manufacturer to add specific ingredients to existing white label formulas.
Pros:
✔️ Products are unique but based on proven formulations
✔️ Avoid issues with creating your own formulas
✔️ More options than private label
Cons:
- Longer waiting times
- Larger order requirements
- Should we not carry all your unique ingredients, you may need to supply your own actives.
Best for you if:
✔️ You want some of your products to be unique to your brand eg. colour, scent & ingredients
Manufacturing Beauty Products:
The manufacturing process entails:
How will you formulate your product?
What will you use for your primary components?
How will you design your primary components?
What will you use for your secondary packaging?
How will you design your secondary packaging?
How will you put them all together?
Minimum Order Quantities:
MOQ
✔️ Determines how much you need to order from a manufacturer
✔️ Can differ depending on the product components you are purchasing
✔️ MOQ for order cost needs to validate the buy-in of ingredients as suppliers usually have large MOQ’s per ingredient
Determine your manufacturing budget:
- Divide your retail price by 2.5 to get your wholesale price
- Divide that by 2.5 to get your budget for cost per unit
How to prepare before calling manufacturers:
- What is your budget for your products?
- What do you want to pay for your products?
Finding Your Packaging Components:
Packaging
Good packaging not only gives your brand a theme and a solid identity, but it can also tell your customers about your brand’s value and sensibilities. Think about what colours you want to use, and do you want to use green/eco packaging?
When you are ready to talk about packaging to the manufacturer, you will discuss two packaging components. Primary packaging that holds your product example the bottle for body lotion and Secondary packaging is typically the decorative box that holds the primary packaging. We highly suggest asking for their packaging catalogue.
Outer-packaging
Your packaging needs create that wow-factor to draw interest. Ensure to make use of a qualified designer to create artwork that works with your packaging.
Primary Packaging
= layer of packaging in contact with the product
- Protects and preserves the product
- Provides functionality in using the product
- Eg. Tubes, bottles and tubs for lotions.
- Find your primary components
- Determine if the component will work with the product
Secondary Packaging
= the outer layer of packaging that is not in contact with the product
- To appeal to your customers through branding and design
- Eg. Packaging boxes & bags.
- Find your secondary packaging
- Design the box (follow cosmetic board requirements for labelling packaging)
Designing & Putting Information on The Components:
Designs can be:
✔️ Hot-stamped: Gold or Silver
✔️ Silk Screened: Each colour is printed separately, looks more vibrant, costs more and fewer colours
✔️ Printed: colours are printed at the same time, colours tend to be more muted
✔️ Labelled
