Struggling to get your private label products noticed in a competitive market? These days, consumers have more choices than ever. No matter what they’re shopping for, they’re usually inundated with options. If your private label products aren’t grabbing their attention in the right way, they’re likely to be passed over in favor of your competition.
What can you do about this? This is where product differentiation comes in. This strategy entails distinguishing your products from the competition, which creates a huge competitive advantage for your brand.
How can you do this? Read on as FLPL shares some top tips for differentiating your private label products.
Emphasize Quality
When a market is saturated, one of the best ways for your private label products to stand out is for them to surpass the competition in terms of quality. This is something that will not only grab consumer attention in the first place but will keep them coming back for more.
For this to happen, you need to be working with a private label manufacturer who prioritizes quality, just like we do at FLPL. Quality needs to be a focus at every stage of the design and manufacturing process, so that you can be sure that your products outperform and outlast the competition.
Say, for example, you’re producing a line of skincare products. Incorporating innovative, high-quality ingredients that can’t be found in your competitors’ products will immediately differentiate your own and give your formulas the edge that they need to succeed.
Showcase Unique Features
Hopefully, your private label products have unique features that can’t be found in your competitors’ products. Make sure that consumers know about these, as they may very well be the reason that your products are chosen over others.
This is something that ties in with marketing. After all, the only way for people to know about the one-of-a-kind features that your products boast is if you tell them, and marketing is one of the most effective ways to do this.
What about if your products are more on the generic side and don’t have any unique features? This is something that you can work on. With private label manufacturing, it’s very easy to tweak your products and add in new elements, so take full advantage of this.
Experiment With Pricing Strategies
Pricing is another common way to differentiate products, whether private label or otherwise. How you price your products will significantly influence how they’re perceived, as well as how many sales you rake in.
If your private label products are high-quality and truly unique, don’t be afraid to price them high. With that said, if your prices are currently too low, raise them in stages rather than all at once. You may also want to consider adding something of value to help justify your new prices to your customers.
On the other hand, you could try to differentiate your products with low prices. This will appeal to budget-conscious customers, but you would need to sell more quantity to ensure a healthy profit.
Other pricing strategies, such as subscription pricing, can also help a brand to stand out. This offers convenience, which we’ll talk about in more detail later on!
Highlight Heritage
Heritage brands have been around for a long time. They use their history to their advantage, showcasing their longevity, authenticity, and reputation. It’s a great way for a brand to differentiate itself and earn trust from potential customers.
If your private label brand is relatively new, it won’t have a long heritage to fall back on. However, your brand will still have a story and a history, and this is something that consumers want to know about. Highlight the heritage of your private label products, and you’ll find it much easier to connect with new customers and draw them in. It will also set your brand apart from any generic competitors that don’t have a rich narrative to share with your target audience.
Work on Your Branding
Have you ever purchased a new product solely because you like and trust the brand that has produced it? Chances are, your answer is yes, which just goes to show how influential good branding can be.
A strong brand identity can quickly attract new customers who align with your brand’s values. This should carry through to the private label products that you create, so that they’re instantly recognizable as yours.
If branding isn’t your forte, team up with a private label manufacturer who can help you with this, such as FLPL. Assistance with branding is offered as part of our range of services. Whether you need a new logo, a compelling brand story, or anything else, we can help you create show-stopping branding that ensures the masses see your products.
Lean Into Your Niche
Does the niche you’re in seem to be growing more saturated by the day? As more competitors enter the market, it will become even harder for your products to get noticed. This is when it can really pay to lean into your niche even further, carving out a micro-niche that your products are able to cater to.
In order to do this, you’ll need to conduct plenty of research into your target audience. Find out what matters to them, as well as what problems they’re facing that other brands haven’t yet helped them to solve.
Let’s use skincare as an example. Imagine you’ve created a line of face serums that target the appearance of aging. A decade or so ago, this would have been a micro-niche in itself. Now, however, with so many other serums available that do the same thing, you’ll need to specialize even more if you want your private label products to stand out. Formulating your serums to suit a specific skin tone or skin type, while also still targeting the visibility of skin aging, will enable you to dive even deeper into your niche.
Provide Exceptional Customer Service
If you’re struggling to differentiate your products from the competition, one way to convince customers to choose yours over others is to offer stellar customer service. The better the customer experience, the more likely people are to purchase your private label products, now as well as in the future.
How should you do this? Start by taking a look at the customer experience offered by the competition. Then, find a way to one-up them! If you’re selling hair care products, a 24/7 chatbot that specializes in answering hair care questions could help to set your products apart. Even if this means allocating more resources than intended to customer service, it could make a huge difference in the long run.
Be Socially Responsible
In today’s world, it’s so important for a brand to consider social responsibility. This is when the decisions made by your brand benefit society and the environment, as well as your brand. Research shows that 92% of customers place more trust in brands that are socially responsible and environmentally friendly, making this a great way to draw in more sales.
How can your brand/products be more socially responsible? Here are some options:
- Ensure that all decision-making is ethical.
- Be as sustainable as possible so that your private label products don’t have a detrimental environmental impact.
- Get involved with your local community, whether this may be donating funds or simply volunteering time.
- Collaborate with other businesses/individuals who prioritize social responsibility.
Assess Your Delivery Methods
When a customer orders one of your private label products, how quickly are you able to deliver that product into their hands? This is another area in which you could really differentiate your products, especially if you’re selling something that people often need at the last minute. They’re much more likely to choose your products over the competition if you’re able to get your products to them faster.
Why aren’t all brands differentiating themselves by offering fast delivery? Because this isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’ll need certain distribution facilities in order to pull this off, which could require some extra investment in the beginning. However, this would then set you up to be able to offer super-fast delivery in the long term for all of your products, making your brand the go-to for anyone who needs what you’re selling as quickly as possible.
Offer Convenience
Many consumers prioritize convenience, which could be something that your private label products offer. How? This depends on what you’re selling, as well as the type of convenience your target audience is seeking.
Subscription pricing, as we mentioned earlier, offers serious convenience if your products need to be purchased on a regular basis. The same applies to fast delivery methods – again, very convenient for the customer.
How your products are designed can affect convenience too. Say you’re producing a range of hair tools. If your tools are extremely large, bulky, and need a lot of space for storage, they’re likely to be passed over in favor of tools that are streamlined and easier to have around.
Safety First
If there are safety concerns surrounding the type of product you’re creating, ensuring that safety is a priority can be a good way to differentiate what you’re selling.
This is particularly important if you’re selling products designed for a younger audience, which are purchased by parents. Guaranteeing safety in various ways will entice those parents to pick your products over the less-safe options created by your competitors.
Differentiate Your Private Label Products With FLPL
As you can see, there are a number of ways in which you could differentiate your private label products. Figure out which methods would work best for your brand, implement them as soon as possible, and then watch your sales figures start to rise!
