In today’s world, you don’t necessarily need to invest your resources in a product manufacturing facility or having to have technical knowledge about it. You can start selling your products online or via retail much faster than you think. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of e-commerce merchandisers have never laid hands on the products that they are selling.
You Ask Yourself How They Do It?
They do it by making use of a private label business model. Private labeling allows you to sell your products under your own brand, where you have to provide your logo and design for your products to a third-party manufacturer. Private labeling is a great option to choose as you can focus your energy in defining your target audience and sending to them a coherent message that you brand conveys.
What is a Private Label?
Much similar to white label products, private label products are such that are created by one company and sold by another. Simply put, an entrepreneur who has decided to sell a specific product places his own brand name and sells it as if it was his own. Among some of the most common examples of private label products are cosmetics and clothing.
Main Advantages of Private Label Products
Private labelling a product has a number of advantages that go way beyond than simply transferring the responsibility of the product development to a third-party company.
Let’s dive into some of the main advantages, because of which entrepreneurs decide to pursue the option of private labeling:
You Control the Quality
You can exercise control over the quality of your products. The way you do that is by telling your manufacturer about the type and quality of raw materials that you want them to make use of, when developing your product. Furthermore, you should ask them to regularly send to you product samples of different batches in order to make sure that the quality is kept up to your expectations.
You Choose the Design
It is up to you to decide what you want your product to look like. We advise that before deciding on your design, to make a thorough research of existing competition and further read reviews from their existing customers. This will help to define a direction and further provide the market with a more accurate product of their desire.
You Have Control Over Pricing
One of the greatest features of private label manufacturing is that you have full control over the end customer price. You can perform different tests by lowering or uppering your price and see how sensitive your customers are accordingly.
How to start?
You probably find asking yourself oftentimes what a viable product is to private label?
One the most important steps that you should begin with is performing an extensive product research. You can begin by first choosing which product category you are mostly interested in (it can be such that you are passionate about).
Below we are going to take a look at the processes that you should consider when starting your private label entrepreneurial journey.
Develop Your Idea
The main idea to keep in mind, while researching private label product ideas, is to find something that is:
In high demand, while there is a low number of sellers for it. One tip is to investigate the products that are sold on Amazon and see what is trending and how many people are trying to sell them.
Has a good profit margin. It is important to know that there is a lot of competition within the different product categories. You must create a section in your plans and calculations that is dedicated to an estimate of a marketing budget. Make sure that you leave a big chunk of your capital to it, as in the beginning it will take some testing to define your target audience, which in itself is a quite costly process.
Is within your budget. Make sure that you honestly know what kind of capital you have decided to dedicate to your private label project. If a product that you have decided to sell is way out of that budget make sure that you start with a different option. Furthermore, make sure that you calculate properly the shipping expense for your product – from the place it is manufactured to your warehouse or marketplace.
Find the Best Private Label Manufacturer
There are two main criterias that you should consider when looking for the best supplier of your private label product: quality and distance. You can determine the quality by asking different manufacturers to send to you samples of your final product. The distance will have an effect on your product cost as you should consider it when drafting the price for it. Furthermore, distance determines the time it takes for your products to travel to your designated marketplace. We advise you to find a manufacturer that is as close as possible to your desired market.
Decide Where and How to Sell the Product
When doing your research work, make sure to measure the demand for your private label product on your target marketplace. You can find that out by taking a look at indicators such as: number of competitors, price levels and opinions of end customers.
Build A Strong Brand
Make sure to research what the consumer’s behaviors and expectations are on your specific market. An example of that is the case of cosmetics products. Nowadays end consumers are environmentally conscious and prefer to purchase skincare products that are cruelty-free and organic.
If you want to have a higher chance of success with your private label product, it is important to take into account your target audience’s desires and expectations and live up to them.
