What are private label cosmetics?
Introduction
Finding a perfect, suitable cosmetics manufacturer (private label producer) is no easy task by all means. At first, you will be overwhelmed by how many of them there is. After sending a few emails you will find that quantity says nothing. We'll explain why.
In this article, we're going to help you with the complex process of sourcing a perfect cosmetics contract manufacturer.
Let's start with a riddle, what do you think 2/13 mean?
Read on to find out.
I recommend reading this article from beginning to end, preferably with a warm cup of coffee ☕
But if you’re pressed with time, jump to point no. 6, which is surprising.
Who is this article for exactly?
This is a helpful piece of content both if you are a B2B cosmetics industry professional as well as if you are just starting out, but mainly I will be focusing on:
- People searching for a cosmetics manufacturer
- Beauty brand owners/founders/CEOs
- Buyers
- Procurement specialists/managers
- Private label specialists/managers
- Influencers and their managers
Ok, let’s dig in.
Cosmetics manufacturers market
There are hundreds of manufacturers in the world right now like EnglewoodLAB to name one of the larger. There are websites listing many of them like Cosmetics Index. But there is much more to it than briefly checking their bio, sendting an email and waiting your problems will resolve. In this article we will arm you with knowledge to do better.
Moreover, due to the stay-at-home eCommerce boom, most of the manufacturers have a ton of work for brands that became popular and skyrocketed during pandemic. Therefore you might encounter delays in reply times and longer queues for product development and this is unavoidable unless you have established great relationships with manufacturer's representatives.
What will you learn here?
We won’t be teaching you how to use Google Search here, we will give you far more valuable knowledge that will:
- Save you 90% of time spent on sourcing
- Avoid dead ends
- Show you how to filter manufacturers
- Give you an advantage in negotiations
- Make you score points in your manager’s eyes
- End up finding a proper cosmetics manufacturer
Let’s break it down...
7 Tips On Finding A Perfect Cosmetics Manufacturer
1. Prepare for a possible struggle upfront and act on it
First of all, you need to know that the entire process of finding a tailored cosmetics manufacturer is a very complex one. Typically, a private label cosmetics project consists of several stages:
- Searching for manufacturer
- Sending several initial inquiries
- Product idea overview
- Reply and Price Offer Inquiry
- Sending details about products according to manufacturers needs
- Receiving further questions about packaging and raw ingredients
- Waiting for a price offer
This takes even 30 days and it is before you see any prices. Yes, it is overwhelming for some.
Then you need to dig into details, ingredients, laboratory tests, lead times, packaging, printing, another quote. Not to mention some manufacturers will be able to offer only part of your planned products.
It can make you dizzy and this is totally fine. You are mentally prepared, so keep on reading to find how to deal with it.
2. Ask good questions
Once you find some cosmetics manufacturers, start with good questions included in your initial inquiry. Ask about:
- MOQs, which stands for Minimal Order Quantities, therefore the quantity of each product you will be obliged to order in the first batch
- Certificates, especially GMP ISO22716, which is a must-have certificate
- Timeline of each step of the process
- Packaging possibilities (try "What's your most interesting packaging?")
- Sustainability solutions in the manufacturing process (CO2 emissions, solar powering etc)
- Product portfolio
Do you still remember the 2/13 question from the beginning?
We've run a test lately and emailed 13 new manufacturers for initial terms and possibilities. After a 10 days only 2 replied back. None of them were doing our products. This might be depressing but this is how the industry looks like.
Let's see how to find one.
3. Don't overestimate the experience of a cosmetics manufacturer
Experience is one thing but using experience to bring you benefit is a whole different story. We have witnessed this several times already. Cosmetics manufacturers tend to be rather an old school in most cases.
Of course, this is not a standard, just a rule of thumb.
You will know who is just talking about the experience and who is using it to your benefit and acts on it.
Make sure to also get to know the people behind the company - the ones you will be talking about your products for the next 12-24 months - pick the nice ones, as this will be influential to your mood.
4. Think about your products portfolio and match manufacturers accordingly
In most cases, a single cosmetics manufacturer will not be able to offer you a solution for your growing product portfolio. This is because each manufacturer is specializing in certain kinds of products, which is fine. But if you really grow your categories and start to talk with dozens of suppliers it is not fine. And certainly not fun.
5. Relationships with the cosmetics manufacturers
Relationships over the business. As you are just starting out it is hard to have any kind of relationship in the industry. However, sometimes this is a vital part of great projects. Make sure to cultivate it from the start with anyone you talk to in the cosmetics manufacturing industry.
You may know or not, but in DTC or B2C world, the relationship between the brand and customers is very important but it is whole another world of depth if we compare that in B2B it is more likely a human to human relationship. B2B is like a marriage. You should pick it very carefully. Here in Cleansery, we decided to share our small marriages with suppliers with you - use it, it's not cheating! :)
6. Backup. Wait, what?
Ok, let's assume you have found your small marriage with the manufacturer. This is not over 😑 Think about your backup supplier. Or five.
We’ve been in this game for over 10 years combined and we will not be surprised by anything. Imagine, your supplier stops replying and taking your calls for no reason and you never hear from them again.
Imagine, after a successful year of manufacturing your supplier thinks it is fine to stop manufacturing private label brands from tomorrow onwards.
Well, this happens. Make sure you will partner up with verified suppliers only, whether it's by recommendation or great opinions.
We have developed a process to verify the credibility of cosmetics manufacturers. We help to mitigate the risk.
We tested them all, and all of them are bound by agreements. We don't recommend fighting with Cleansery Law Department, as they are like small Avengers.
7. The Good Way
Our job at Cleansery is not only to take all the stress away from the product creation process but also to build your strong muscles for brand development.
We've combined cosmetics industry knowledge with a new platform where we host over 60 manufacturers ready to take your ideas, projects and product developments.
We overcome everything mentioned above that is staying between your idea and bringing it to life.
Get to know more about how Cleansery might reduce your stress and find you a suitable manufacturer here or contact us already.
Examples
To briefly visualize what a good partnership can do for your brand take a look at these great examples of well-paired brands and private label cosmetics manufacturers:
- Fenty Beauty and Kendo Brands (by LVMH)
- Kylie Jenner's brand and Coty
- Phlov and Alkemie
- the same goes for H&M or Zara beauty products manufactured at Maesa
(more about private label cosmetics in this article) - Action markets and their sub-contractors
- Belei is an Amazon-owned beauty brand (interestingly, Amazon currently owns approx. 400 brands, up from 140 in 2019, that is what you call a pace!
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Conclusion
In conclusion, this will be an exciting journey one way or another. I hope this won't scare you off, but encourage you to do better. Be smarter.
Whatever you decide, remember that choosing a manufacturer to work with is crucial and will affect your next 12-24 months of work-life (at least!). Make it stress-less. Search for a relationship, don't pick judging solely by the business offer.
Now, it is your time to do the job. Or leave it to us.
If you have one minute of your time, make sure to head to our Instagram where we post a bunch of beauty-of-the-world-inspired content.
Written by Andrzej Suwara, CEO of Cleansery, who is on a life mission to make the private label projects more accessible and to bring the entire industry together.
Tell me about your project during a short, free call - schedule here via email.
What are private label cosmetics?
- You don’t have ownership of the formulation
- Your product line won’t be unique – there may be many brands selling the exact same product
- You can’t change the formulation or choose what it looks or feels like
- Customers can feel betrayed if they find out your product is not unique so you have to align this kind of product launch with your brand values and buyer personas
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