Creating Beauty Products

[ItsAllBull]

Hello Fastlaners! ,

Recently I have stumbled upon a facial recipe which I thought was pretty awesome. I came across the recipe while doing research for a skin care routine for myself. After a few hours learning which ingredients are effective I combined the ones I liked the most and just mixed them up tried it. The end result was pretty good. The facial made my face pulsate and instantly look more vibrant and it felt energized afterwards. All natural ingredients of course.

So , wanting to test my facial with others , I bought some mini-plastic bags and then I made a large batch of recipe then stuffed my little bags. (crude I know.) So far I have given my samples to about 50 women (the best test subjects lol) that I know , and so far I have gotten positive reviews.

My recipe is simple , and unfortunately it would not be hard to duplicate , however I have searched the first 20 pages of google and amazon and have not found a product that uses all the ingredients in my recipe. There are some that uses 1 or 2 , but not all 7.

I am thinking of how I can bring this product to market.

I am researching private label manufacturing and contract manufacturing companies currently. Most will not even deal with me or give me price quotes until I own a business , so I need to get an LLC.

I plan to distribute through my own E-commerce site (primary) , Amazon , and other online retailers. One of the ladies I gave a sample to owns 3 beauty supply stores so I can also get my product there as well. I live in Atlanta , Georgia so there are plenty of mom and pop beauty stores , and salons and etc that I could pitch as well.

I plan to Advertise through Social media ,adwords and learn basic seo to get traffic to my site.

So far so good except for one thing.

I do not know anything about the actual process of bringing a Health/beauty product to market besides what i have outlined above.

I know there are some e-com guys here who do supplements but I don't think I have seen any posts about beauty products .

so guys who experienced in this please chime in.

but my main concerns are

1. Does my product need to be licensed by some health authority?
2. Since these are natural ingredients , should I find sourcing for my ingredients or leave it to the manufacturer?

Also to guys who have made supplements and health products are there any other things that I may have overlooked so far?

THANKS!

 

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[ItsAllBull]

Up late researching my idea further

I found this link for anyone who is also interested in cosmetics

Small Businesses & Homemade Cosmetics: Fact Sheet

Basically an fda faq . answered the question I had about getting approved. Which in short is no.

 

[magnificent]

Just go for it.

There are so many moms on Etsy selling homemade stuff made in their backyard or kitchen.

From my experience though, always start small. DIY vs. having a factory will differ in price.

Keep us updated!

 

[samuraijack]

Hey, I have a progress thread on the inside where i document my skin care journey from $3k monthly revenue to $15k monthly (you need an INSIDERS subcription to view it, its absolutely worth it) as well as a few other threads by folks in beauty niche.

To answer your questions:
1) No there are no requirements
2) depends, some will let you source ingredients and ship to them, most will prefer to source their own.

Make sure your manufacturer is cGMP compliant and that they are FDA inspected, aka dont choose a small unknown manufacturer that could be a mom creating hand made products in her home/lab. This will not fly with Amazon.

You dont really need a LLC to start, you can just say its in process. Finding a good manufacturer to make your perfect product will take time so make that your focus.

Since your product is fully custom, be prepared for shelling out $$$ for r&d costs and higher MOQ, usually 1000 units or more (1000 is on the really low side which was my MOQ).

 

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[ItsAllBull]

Hey, I have a progress thread on the inside where i document my skin care journey from $3k monthly revenue to $15k monthly (you need an INSIDERS subcription to view it, its absolutely worth it) as well as a few other threads by folks in beauty niche.

To answer your questions:
1) No there are no requirements
2) depends, some will let you source ingredients and ship to them, most will prefer to source their own.

Make sure your manufacturer is cGMP compliant and that they are FDA inspected, aka dont choose a small unknown manufacturer that could be a mom creating hand made products in her home/lab. This will not fly with Amazon.

You dont really need a LLC to start, you can just say its in process. Finding a good manufacturer to make your perfect product will take time so make that your focus.

Since your product is fully custom, be prepared for shelling out $$$ for r&d costs and higher MOQ, usually 1000 units or more (1000 is on the really low side which was my MOQ).

I will most definitely join and check it out today after I get back home .

While I was doing research for a manufacturer I came across a few private label companies that sells ready to sell products and all you have to do is have them labeled or silk screened . Only a 250 MOQ .

Basically the same business model as what people are doing with ordering products from alibaba (the source is not Alibaba) and selling on amazon .

Do you think this is a feasible way to get started cheaply for the beauty niche ? As a way to fund my own product r&d .

Maybe this is in your INSIDERS thread but I won't be able to access it til tonight ... do you get traffic to your store ? Facebook ads ? And are you shipping your own orders or amazon fba?

 

[samuraijack]

I will most definitely join and check it out today after I get back home .

While I was doing research for a manufacturer I came across a few private label companies that sells ready to sell products and all you have to do is have them labeled or silk screened . Only a 250 MOQ .

Basically the same business model as what people are doing with ordering products from alibaba (the source is not Alibaba) and selling on amazon .

Do you think this is a feasible way to get started cheaply for the beauty niche ? As a way to fund my own product r&d .

Maybe this is in your INSIDERS thread but I won't be able to access it til tonight ... do you get traffic to your store ? Facebook ads ? And are you shipping your own orders or amazon fba?

Yeah you could go private label, but the only difference between your product and your competitors is your marketing/design. This CAN work IMO if you hit a good marketing angle and have a great design (which is completley subjective). For instance my product I took something that existed, made it a bit stronger, and then branded it specifically for a certain subniche. Also my product looks a lot more luxurious/modern than my competitors (which mainly look boring/a generic product a dermatologist would prescribe).

In beauty products, its almost ALL about the marketing anyways, since ANY formulation you come up with, can be and WILL eventually be sold to another competitor. So if you think you can market that specific product better than go for it, if it doesn't break your budget for trying something out. To put it in perspective, my initial cost for my product including screen printing/ setting everything up was around $6000, and I was OK with not making a single dollar from this, because I knew I would learn a lot from trying to sell it.

For traffic to my own ecommerce store, I used ONLY google shopping ads and fulfilled orders myself. That brought in around $6k revenue monthly eventually, then this month I expanded to amazon FBA, which skyrocketed my sales.

 

[mike24601]

Sounds like an interesting plan. I spent some hours looking into private label cosmetics as once upon a time I suffered from a specific cosmetic niche problem and was never satisfied with mainstream product offerings. Eventually someone came along and created an outstanding private line, but had to jump through some hoops because it contained small quantities of OTC level medication. Have you considered building a health niche website and filling it with good information and then also selling your product through there as a potential remedy? Will definitely be following to see how this progresses.

EDIT: Forgot to add that I read some great advice here on the forum pertaining to cosmetics: If it's going inside you or on your skin, go with a reputable supplier. When you go outside the US you risk getting sketchy ingredients.

 

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[ItsAllBull]

Yeah you could go private label, but the only difference between your product and your competitors is your marketing/design. This CAN work IMO if you hit a good marketing angle and have a great design (which is completley subjective). For instance my product I took something that existed, made it a bit stronger, and then branded it specifically for a certain subniche. Also my product looks a lot more luxurious/modern than my competitors (which mainly look boring/a generic product a dermatologist would prescribe).

In beauty products, its almost ALL about the marketing anyways, since ANY formulation you come up with, can be and WILL eventually be sold to another competitor. So if you think you can market that specific product better than go for it, if it doesn't break your budget for trying something out. To put it in perspective, my initial cost for my product including screen printing/ setting everything up was around $6000, and I was OK with not making a single dollar from this, because I knew I would learn a lot from trying to sell it.

For traffic to my own ecommerce store, I used ONLY google shopping ads and fulfilled orders myself. That brought in around $6k revenue monthly eventually, then this month I expanded to amazon FBA, which skyrocketed my sales.

Well I'm one of those excellent genius marketers .... with no sales haha jk jk . I'll have to look into marketing and branding and come up with a solid angle first before I get the private label products. Using Google shopping is ads and making 6k in the first month is impressive for using only one ad source. How much were you spending on ads?

I was thinking of using Facebook ads because it is beginner friendly and I can target customers specifically who have already liked my niche and and similar brands. By spending 20$/day with Facebook ads I can place an ad directly on the newsfeed (not sidebars or other areas ) and reach 5-6 k people per day. Assuming a 5 % click through (250) and of the people who see my product 3% of those convert which nets 7.5 sales a day.

This is my grand theory anyway.

Where your conversions similar or anywhere the ball park?

You started by spending 6k? Was this your first attempt at e-com and if you were to do it again do you think you could have got it off the ground/experimented cheaper?

I'd like to be able to prove my concept for a bit cheaper than 6k. I'd like to be able to try it for 2-3k

Reason being...

I just recently got stable and I have 3 months of living expenses saved. So for every dollar beyond that threshold I do not mind using/losing for experimentation. Just from my job income I can realistically save $1200 a month (thats after all expenses and incidentals) + what ever else I earn from side work or if extra shifts become available .

So experimenting at 6k gives me about 2 or 3 shots / per year to get it right....

at 2-3k I can try up 3-6times in a year.

I'd like more chances to fail if that makes sense .

 

[Walter Hay]

Well I'm one of those excellent genius marketers .... with no sales haha jk jk . I'll have to look into marketing and branding and come up with a solid angle first before I get the private label products. Using Google shopping is ads and making 6k in the first month is impressive for using only one ad source. How much were you spending on ads?

I was thinking of using Facebook ads because it is beginner friendly and I can target customers specifically who have already liked my niche and and similar brands. By spending 20$/day with Facebook ads I can place an ad directly on the newsfeed (not sidebars or other areas ) and reach 5-6 k people per day. Assuming a 5 % click through (250) and of the people who see my product 3% of those convert which nets 7.5 sales a day.

This is my grand theory anyway.

Where your conversions similar or anywhere the ball park?

You started by spending 6k? Was this your first attempt at e-com and if you were to do it again do you think you could have got it off the ground/experimented cheaper?

I'd like to be able to prove my concept for a bit cheaper than 6k. I'd like to be able to try it for 2-3k

Reason being...

I just recently got stable and I have 3 months of living expenses saved. So for every dollar beyond that threshold I do not mind using/losing for experimentation. Just from my job income I can realistically save $1200 a month (thats after all expenses and incidentals) + what ever else I earn from side work or if extra shifts become available .

So experimenting at 6k gives me about 2 or 3 shots / per year to get it right....

at 2-3k I can try up 3-6times in a year.

I'd like more chances to fail if that makes sense .

The cosmetics market is one of the most competitive there is, and you need more than just a great product. You need ways to convince your target market that your product is the one they must have.

The growth in private labeling has seen many newcomers in just about every niche fail, and I suggest that a big part in many of those failures is the idea that all you have to do is "Slap on a sticker" and you suddenly have your own private label brand.

You might be interested to know that I am just days away from launching (to be announced on the forum) my new book with the title: "Labels That Exploit - The Power of Persuasion, Perceptions, and Emotion. " It deals with 26 different branding and labeling options, some of which are particularly relevant to cosmetics, but it covers every product type from food, through clothing, cosmetics, industrial components, electronics, to machinery and hardware.

You need to think carefully before spending money on labels, and don't just let a graphic designer have an open go until you are able to give them strict directions. They might be good at graphics, but do they understand marketing psychology?

Walter

 

[ItsAllBull]

The cosmetics market is one of the most competitive there is, and you need more than just a great product. You need ways to convince your target market that your product is the one they must have.

The growth in private labeling has seen many newcomers in just about every niche fail, and I suggest that a big part in many of those failures is the idea that all you have to do is "Slap on a sticker" and you suddenly have your own private label brand.

You might be interested to know that I am just days away from launching (to be announced on the forum) my new book with the lengthy title: "CREATE AND SOURCE POWERFUL LABELS AND PACKAGING FOR PRIVATE LABELING PRODUCTS"., with a subtitle: "Winning The Fight For Attention Online Or On The Shelves". (Phew!!) It deals with 26 different branding and labeling options, some of which are particularly relevant to cosmetics, but it covers every product type from food, through clothing, cosmetics, industrial components, electronics, to machinery and hardware.

You need to think carefully before spending money on labels, and don't just let a graphic designer have an open go until you are able to give them strict directions. They might be good at graphics, but do they understand marketing psychology?

Walter

Since I've wrote this post I've researched this matter for at least 70 hrs + ., And Walter my man ... let me tell you , let me admit .... I have grossly underestimated this subject and I have come to realized I have a long road of learning ahead to even attempt it . So when you drop CREATE AND SOURCE POWERFUL LABELS AND PACKAGING FOR PRIVATE LABELING PRODUCTS"., with a subtitle: "Winning The Fight For Attention Online Or On The Shelves you can count on at least 1 sale . Me .

 

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[Walter Hay]

This thread was brought to my attention today.
Mostly I don't know the forum names of those who buy my books, so I don't know if you, @ItsAllBull did buy a copy, but if you did, I have good news for you.

I substantially enlarged it this year, with a far greater emphasis on marketing psychology, and all previous buyers are entitle to a free copy of that revision.

It now has a more appropriate name: "Labels That Exploit ... The Power of Psychology, Perceptions, and Emotions."

If you didn't buy a copy and wish to do so now, see MARKETPLACE Walter Hay's Business Books for a special price for Fastlane members.

Walter