The production of your own line of cosmetics is a promising niche. This is evidenced by the popularity of many brands. Every year, their ranks are replenished with new players. The demand for cosmetic products is growing. People want to get a quality product while being able to choose. But those who want to become part of this direction do not know where to start.
How to start a business
The success of a cosmetics brand depends on the idea. It should delight you and those you discuss your project with. The idea includes the type of product you want to introduce to the market, its qualities, the audience of the brand, the number of units sold per month and your benefit from this. All these figures and graphs will be a guideline for creating your product, so they must be formulated and presented on paper before you turn to specialists, such as designers, technologists, and marketers.
The idea most often arises when a person experiences the problem of a shortage of a product, or under the impression of using cosmetics already available on the market. But sometimes more than one person and more than one month of painstaking work, research and analysis of existing cosmetic products stand behind the creation of an idea. It will take time, money and effort to create it, and the results will not be instantaneous. Imagine if a vitamin manufacturer had given up after the first failure. The world would never have known about dietary and vitamin supplements. Accept this and then nothing will stop you on the way to starting a business.
What to know
There are two ways to launch a cosmetics brand – start from scratch or with an industrial base. The first option requires knowledge in chemistry in order to independently manage the process of creating cosmetic products. If you do not have a suitable education, you can get training by allocating a rather large amount for this. And the launch of the business will have to be postponed for the duration of the training. Or you can hire a team of specialists who will completely take over the task of creating the formula and formulation of cosmetics.
Ideally, combine your own knowledge with the work of technologists. This will shorten the brand launch time and allow you to control their work. You can deepen your knowledge with the help of cosmetology courses, studying the basics of chemistry, and the composition of cosmetic products. In addition to literature chemistry, a business owner must have the skills of strategy and marketing, negotiations and recruitment, be organized and motivate their employees.
Study the market and choose the implementation path
First, research the market segment and define your target audience. A new cosmetic product appears only if consumer demand is studied. You need to understand what is currently dominating the market and what products are in short supply.
Every debutant, including a vitamin manufacturer, worries about competition with global brands that have long settled in the cosmetic niche. At this stage, most people are eliminated, fearing that they will not be able to draw the attention of the audience to their brand. In fact, there is a prospect of a local trademark, because a local manufacturer always knows what the audience needs, quickly responds to changes in society and can always find a contractor to distribute products to the global market.
There are three ways to implement the idea:
1) Buying a ready-made cosmetics from the manufacturer, picking and packing it under a personal brand;
2) Buying a ready-made recipe at the factory and adding your own perk;
3) Developing your cosmetics from scratch: from formula to packaging.
What to consider when starting production
1. Packaging is an important element of the brand. It affects the perception of the product by the audience, and is a competitive advantage. You can create it yourself, or order a ready-made version. Not only the price depends on this, but also the terms of production.
2. Raw materials. This part of the business can also be entrusted to a contractor, which will be more economical and faster than independent searches. No matter which option you choose, always look for the fragrance yourself, do not spare your budget for it. The client most often focuses on the smell before buying cosmetics. And if they dislike it, you will not hook them with other features.
3. Manufacturer. To entrust the manufacture of cosmetic products and be sure of its quality, when choosing a manufacturer, pay attention to the presence of a quality certificate, the level of qualification of technologists, the popularity of the factory’s customers, the quality of raw materials and logistics.
4. Time to go from an idea to a finished product. It is impossible to immediately name the exact figure, because it depends on many factors. On average, launching a cosmetics brand from scratch will take 9-12 months. You can independently monitor all processes or hire a special person for this. Please note that additional costs will apply.
5. Payback. Even a vitamin manufacturer calculates the payback period, as this is one of the components of business success. This metric can be calculated using the following formula: E=A-D, where A is the amount invested in the business. D is calculated like this: D=(B-C*12 months), where D is average profit per year, B is monthly sales profit, C is business expenses per month.
Conclusion
The cosmetic industry is full of surprises and nuances that you do not know about until you do it yourself. And if you decide to create your own brand of cosmetics, remember the three main things: detailed implementation plan, investment and promotion. Analyze the market, study the experience of global brands and local manufacturers, carefully select each component to create a product that the audience will love.
