What to Know Before Launching Your Own Cosmetics Business
The cosmetics industry is worth $17 billion in the United States alone, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5% over the next few years. Especially as consumer demands change (for example: clean, organic, hypo-allergenic, sustainable), those with entrepreneurial mindsets are seeing opportunities in the industry and want to learn more about what it takes to start a cosmetics business.
What’s your why?
Before starting your own line, understand why you want it. Starting your own beauty business can be a long, arduous process. You need to have an underlying motivation and passion for this endeavor to help get you through ups and downs. Perhaps you want to create a sustainable brand because you’re passionate about the environment, or you want to offer a brand that empowers women to succeed. Whatever it is, make sure you have defined your “why” and ensure it remains a driving force behind the decisions you make as a business owner.
What sets you apart from the thousands of other brands out there?
While a cosmetics business can be a lucrative opportunity, it is also a highly competitive space. That’s why you need to clearly define who your ideal customer is, and why they will want to choose your product instead of a competitor’s. In order to do this, think about your unique offering.
Find your passion and niche. What is it about cosmetics that you love? What exactly makes you excited about cosmetics — is it a specific product category, the chemistry, or the aesthetics? Maybe there is a gap in the market that you see and want to address it yourself. If you love to wear matte lipsticks but struggle to find a formula that isn’t overly drying, perhaps you want to create one yourself. You have to do some internal reflection and define which niche you can credibly own.
Here’s a tip: Start small with one or two types of products and go from there. It is really costly and time-intensive to create a wide variety of products, especially if they each have a range of shades and colors.
Do Your Research
Once you have your “why” and select what product you’d like to start with, you need to do your research. Understand how large the market is in the geographies you plan to sell into. What are the price points in this market? Who are the competitors in that market? What are customers saying about those competitors, what are their expectations for your product, and how can you exceed those expectations?
You also need to research ingredients. Find out which ingredients are key to your product, how they are sourced, and alternatives you would like to consider. Determine which ingredients you definitely don’t want too, like parabens or sulfates.
Partner with the RIGHT Third Parties
Once you have a solid grasp on what the requirements might be for your product, it’s time to find reputable vendors to help source the ingredients, create the formulation, and assemble the complete product.
You’ll need a lab to create the formula, a component supplier for the container that formulations sits in, a packaging supplier to create the box or package for the product, and a label supplier for labeling the package. Some vendors may offer two or more of these services.
Determine what your requirements are for vendors. For example, would you want them to be based in your own country or abroad? Do research on vendors that are accessible to you in terms of geography, pricing, and minimum order quantities. Reach out to labs and see if they can create a product according to your requirements. You must do your due diligence, asking questions about why they use certain ingredients and what other options they may offer.
Product Development Process
After you’ve vetted the suppliers you might want to work with, you need to start the product development process. This can often be a complex, time-consuming process as there are several moving parts involved.
Order samples of the base formulation according to your requirements. You may need to go back and forth a few times with the lab to get it just right. You will also need to order samples of each color or shade that you’d like to include in the initial launch.
Once the base formulation and shades are fine-tuned, you need to find a component that will hold the actual makeup (i.e. a tube, or pot, or palette). Components can come in various shapes, sizes, colors and materials. You need to decide which type and style of component suits your product best.
You also must conduct extensive testing to ensure that your products are safe to use. You will need to send your desired components to the lab to conduct stability testing, to make sure the materials don’t break down when married together. You will also need to do microbial testing, which ensures that there isn’t any dangerous bacterial growth or contamination in your product. Depending on the type of ingredients and materials used, there are various safety tests like patch tests and eye irritation tests to confirm the product isn’t harmful to the user’s health. If you are going to make any claims to advertise the product, you may need to do some performance testing. There may be other tests that you may need to do based on the type of product you are launching and the ingredients in it.
Branding: Packaging and Labels
While you are going through the testing process, you’ll also want to search for a packaging supplier. You can provide the dimensions of your product and receive options and quotes for the different types of packaging that can encase the product. You will also need to find a company to create any labels for you that may go on your product containers. It is important that the packaging reflects the vision you have for your brand. You will likely need to hire a graphic designer or artist to help you with any artwork or branding elements that will be incorporated into the packaging.
Putting It All Together
It may seem like designing the perfect product is the most important piece of launching a cosmetics line. But what you do after you’ve designed the product is just as important. After all of the above pieces are in place, you will be ready for production, which involves filling, assembly, and inventory management.
To fill and assemble your products, you may need to hire additional vendors or one of your existing vendors may offer these services. Depending on the size of your operation and budget, you may even package the filled products yourself.
You also need to estimate how much inventory to order for your initial launch. Hopefully, as you’ve been busy with the product development process, you have been simultaneously building a captive audience who will be eager to purchase your product. Even without having any product to sell yet, there are ways to gauge demand by setting up a pre-order or email list. Leading up to the launch, you should be preparing social media content and digital advertising to promote your new product. After you launch, you will need to closely monitor your sales so you can order more inventory as needed.
You’re Not Alone — Get Support and Expert Advice from Creator Nova
This entire process may seem overwhelming, but don’t let that deter you from pursuing your dream of becoming a beauty entrepreneur! Remember your “why” — the reason that is calling you to this mission.
Here at Creator Nova, we want to democratize beauty entrepreneurship, and help you save time and money by removing the burdens of searching for the right suppliers, planning for demand, managing inventory, finding high-quality packaging options, etc.
Creator Nova Insiders have exclusive access to our service and will be the first creators designing their own beauty products with Creator Nova. Our team will tailor products specifically for you and your requirements, making sure that we find the right suppliers to design exactly what you want.
With Creator Nova’s design, manufacturing and fulfillment support, you can seamlessly launch your personal, premium beauty brand. Join us today!
