Do you have dreams of launching your own range of skincare products? In the past, those without the necessary experience, knowledge, and connections would have struggled to do so. Now, however, with private label manufacturing booming, creating a new cosmetics brand is easier than ever.
Wondering how to get started? If you happen to live in the Sunshine State, read on as FLPL explains how to make the most of private labeling to build your very own Florida skincare line.
Narrow Down Your Niche
First things first, you need to narrow down your niche. And no, ‘skincare’ on its own isn’t enough of a niche! Ideally, if you want your brand to stand out, you need a micro-niche. This means specifying the type of skincare you’re going to create, or for whom you’re going to design your products.
Here are some examples:
- Products that are designed for acne-prone skin
- Skincare that targets the appearance of aging
- Vegan skincare
- Skincare that focuses on a certain key ingredient
- Eco-friendly skincare
- A Florida skincare line that makes use of locally grown ingredients
In order to define your niche, you’ll need to do plenty of market research. Identify your target audience and determine what they’re looking for in skincare products. This will help you to identify a gap in the market, which your skincare line can then fill!
Define Your Brand
While the bulk of your branding work is still to come, it’s important to be able to define your brand at the start of this process. Why? Because the next step is to choose a private label manufacturer, and you’ll want to ensure that the company you pick aligns with your brand and its values.
Since you’ve already narrowed down your niche, this will help you to define your brand. Take things further by drafting a brand identity/image – one that resonates with your target audience. You don’t need to worry about the nitty gritty details of branding at this time, but outlining your brand’s core values and principles will help you move forward.
Choose a Private Label Manufacturer
Now for one of the most important decisions you’ll need to make: choosing a private label manufacturer. With private label manufacturing growing so rapidly in popularity, there are now more manufacturers out there than ever before. In some ways, this is great as it gives you more choice. However, it also means that you’ll have more navigating to do to ensure that you make the right decision.
Start by making a list of all of the private label manufacturers that specialize in your niche. While there may be plenty out there that produce skincare, some may be more experienced than others in the micro-niche you’ve chosen. Spend some time exploring the various brands they’ve worked with in the past to gauge how much success they’ve had.
Location can be important too. While liaising with your private label manufacturer can often be done remotely, it’s much more convenient to pick a local company so that you can have productive face-to-face meetings and can easily stop by when new samples need to be approved. FLPL is a popular option for anyone looking to create a Florida skincare line, with our HQ based in Hallandale Beach.
Select Your Product Range
Once you’ve found your private label manufacturer, you’ll need to decide on your product range. While many new brands are tempted to produce a bit of everything, it can often be much more beneficial to focus on quality rather than quantity.
Again, keep your micro-niche and your brand in mind. Say, for example, you’ve found a special ingredient that’s capable of lightening the look of hyperpigmentation. Rather than producing a whole line of face serums, you’re likely to see more success from creating a hero serum that works wonders on the complexion.
A few of the product types to consider adding to your Florida skincare line are:
- Cleansers – the foundation of every skincare routine
- Exfoliators – also considered to be a skincare essential
- Eye care products – a little more specialist, but these can work well if your niche encompasses eye area-related skin concerns
- Moisturizers – another essential, meaning that you’ll need to find a way to make yours stand out
- Face masks – a luxurious extra, although these products are a great way to pack a high concentration of potent ingredients into a single formula
Perfect Your Formulas
Once you’ve chosen the types of products you want to add to your Florida skincare line, it’s time to dive into the formulations that make up each one. Hopefully, you’ve chosen a private label manufacturer that’s happy to get creative with this. Some prefer to simply tweak generic formulas, as opposed to creating new ones from scratch, like we do at FLPL.
This stage is where the expertise of your private label manufacturer will really shine. Chances are that your knowledge is lacking when it comes to the science behind skincare formulations, so don’t be afraid to rely on your private label manufacturer’s experience.
At FLPL, we give our clients access to a vast ingredient catalog. From here, they can pick and choose the key components of their products. We’ll then take this information and use those ingredients to craft effective formulas that ensure that your products are able to do everything you want them to.
Work on Your Branding
At this point, you’ll need to veer back to your branding. Now is the time to put the finishing touches on your various branding elements, such as your logo and your color palette. Statistics show that branding is a significant influencing factor when it comes to a customer’s purchasing decision. Good branding can improve revenue, boost trust, and increase customer loyalty, all of which you’ll want for your new Florida skincare line!
Of course, just like many of the other aspects of producing a new skincare range, branding requires some know-how. Larger companies have entire teams dedicated to this – something that new brands can struggle to compete with. The good news is that some private label manufacturers, like FLPL, will have a team on hand to assist with branding. Simply tell us what you want to see and we’ll make it happen!
Design Your Packaging
Packaging is an important part of selling skincare. Not only does it entice customers to give your products a try, but it also serves a very functional purpose. It needs to keep your products safe, both while in transport as well as once they reach their new home.
At FLPL, we have a variety of packaging components that our clients can choose from, such as:
- Double-walled jars for extra security
- Bottles with airless pump dispensers to keep oxygen out and extend the shelf life of a product
- Tubes made from recycled materials
- Individual capsules to hold single applications of a product
Sustainability is also worth keeping in mind when choosing your packaging. More and more consumers are now choosing sustainable options whenever possible. Try to prioritize recyclable and biodegradable materials. Refillable packaging, although often costlier at the start, is also a noteworthy trend that’s rapidly growing.
Come Up With a Marketing Strategy
Unfortunately, it’s not enough to simply produce a line of show-stopping skincare products with stellar packaging. You also need to market those products. If you don’t, no one is going to know that they exist, meaning that you’ll struggle to make sales.
This is where a marketing strategy comes in. New brands tend to gravitate toward digital marketing since this is easily accessible and relatively low-cost. From a website to social media campaigns to influencer collaborations, figure out the best ways to get your brand out there. Your marketing efforts should align with your target audience, as well as your branding.
Plan Fulfilment
By this point, your products will likely be ready, meaning that you need to decide how you want to handle fulfilment. Many skincare brands often start by storing their products themselves, whether this is in a home garage or a rented space.
The downside to this is that scalability is difficult. If your Florida skincare line experiences instant success, you’ll need a larger fulfilment space, so spend some time exploring local warehouse rentals and third-party fulfilment companies.
The added challenge that comes with skincare is that products need to be stored in certain conditions until they’re shipped to your customers. Make sure that you have a temperature-stable environment that isn’t going to be detrimental to the sensitive nature of some skincare ingredients.
Launch and Adjust
Now that you have everything organized and have spent some time building up some buzz around your new Florida skincare line, it’s time to officially launch your products! Some brands prefer to start with a soft launch, meaning releasing just a limited line of products to begin with. This allows you to test your products in the market so that you can validate your pricing strategies, the efficiency of your fulfilment methods, and more.
Once you start selling, spend some time engaging with your audience. Any feedback that you receive is critical, as this will help to guide your brand’s direction in the future. Listen to what your customers have to say about your products and their shopping experience, and take note of any areas that could be improved upon. Then, share this information with your private label manufacturer. Ideally, you’ll both be able to work together to tweak your various strategies to ensure long-term success.
Summary
There’s so much to consider when launching a new skincare line, but there’s no denying that having a reliable private label manufacturer by your side can make life a whole lot easier! Of course, the steps that we’ve shared above are very basic – there are many other aspects involved, but a good private label manufacturer will be able to seamlessly guide you through each one so that your Florida skincare line experiences success sooner rather than later!
