If you’re a small business looking to launch a range of products, private labeling is one of the options available to you. It’s a manufacturing practice that has become increasingly popular over the last few decades, so much so that even larger companies that already have their own manufacturing systems in place are turning to private labeling.
For small businesses, private labeling can be a huge game-changer in many ways. How? Read on as FLPL explains!
Private Labeling Explained
First, let’s make sure we’re on the same page when it comes to what private labeling actually is. Many misinterpret it as buying ready-made, generic products and then selling those under your own brand name. However, this is actually white labeling.
Private labeling, on the other hand, is pretty much the same as creating products from scratch on your own. The only difference is that you would team up with a third-party company that would help you with the manufacturing side of things. Together, you would put your ideas into the design of your products before your private labeling manufacturer creates samples for you to approve. Once this is done, your samples move onto mass manufacturing – again, your private labeling manufacturer will handle all of this, up until your finished products are in your hands and ready to be sold.
You can probably already think of a few advantages that private label manufacturing brings to the table. However, let’s take a closer look at how these can really benefit a small business:
No Manufacturing Experience Required
One big hurdle often faced by small businesses is manufacturing experience. If you don’t have any, where do you even begin? This often puts a stop to many good ideas before they’ve had the chance to grow. The complex world of manufacturing can be intimidating, with so many mistakes for newbies to make.
Team up with a private labeling manufacturer and you won’t need any manufacturing experience – they’ll have plenty! They’ll already have everything in place to save you from having to source a factory, negotiate a deal, implement quality control measures, organize logistics and shipping, and more.
With that said, this doesn’t mean that you lose complete control over the manufacturing process. You’ll still be making all of the big decisions, such as whether you use a factory in the USA or overseas. At FLPL, we give our clients those choices as they can have a big impact on a small business. Of course, we’ll still be there to guide you into making the right choices for your company.
Extra Services Are Sometimes Available
Every private labeling manufacturer will offer their own selection of services. For some, this is solely focused on manufacturing. However, others will provide much more, giving you assistance in other aspects of your business too. For a small business with a small team, this can be incredibly valuable.
Take the services on offer at FLPL, for example. In addition to helping you design and manufacture your products, we can do the same with packaging too. What do you need to include on your packaging? Again, our team has the legal knowledge to ensure that you create packaging and labels that adhere to regulations. We also have a branding department to keep your packaging in line with your brand values.
If that wasn’t enough, FLPL can also help with marketing, as well as selling and e-commerce. We offer the full range of services so that you can draw on whatever you need to guarantee your success.
Products That Are Exclusive to Your Business
As we mentioned earlier, private labeling means that you’ll be creating your own original products for your business. Sure, your private label manufacturer may help with the design and product creation process, especially if you don’t have experience in those fields, but whatever you come up with will be unique. It will have stemmed from your own original ideas.
These products will then be completely exclusive to your business. They’ll be fully owned by you. Yes, your private labeling manufacturer will be working with you and your chosen factory to mass-produce your goods. However, that’s pretty much the same as ordering your products from a factory yourself, except that you have someone to help you do that. Your products will still be yours, and only yours.
Lower Costs
For many, the big question about private labeling lies in costs. Will taking the private labeling route significantly eat into your profit margins?
Many are surprised to learn that the answer is no. In fact, private labeling can often be one of the most cost-effective ways to manufacture products and get them to market. This is why so many bigger businesses are doing it too, rather than relying on their existing factory networks. The way in which private labeling streamlines the entire process, from product development to mass manufacturing means that you won’t need to spend so much on each individual stage.
Private labeling manufacturers will also have a good relationship with the factories they work with. Again, this means that costs are often lower, even if you’re only producing a small batch of products.
Shorter Lead Times
Another benefit that comes from how private labeling streamlines the manufacturing process? Shorter lead times. This is crucial in today’s fast-paced market as consumer preferences are ever-changing.
This is something that companies adopting traditional manufacturing methods often struggle with. If they notice a trend and want to respond with a new product line, it could take several months before those new products actually hit the shelves. By this point in time, trends will have changed, rendering those products irrelevant.
With the shorter lead times offered by private label manufacturing, businesses are able to adapt to trends so much faster. This can really help to build brand loyalty and establish credibility for your business in your chosen industry.
Fewer Risks
Risks are dangerous for any business, but particularly so for a small business. This makes it important to minimize risk as much as possible.
This is something that private labeling can really help with. How? By giving you so much experience and knowledge to draw from. Say you team up with FLPL. We specialize in the beauty industry and have worked with a wide range of brands, from skincare to hair styling to wellness. If you’re looking to create a beauty brand, we’ll be able to share all of our expertise with you. We’ll know what works, what doesn’t, what’s missing in the market, and more. This will save you from making costly mistakes right from the start. The fact that you won’t make any manufacturing mistakes either, since we’ll be doing all of the legwork, also lowers risk.
Let’s not forget that minimum order quantities tend to be lower with private labeling too. At FLPL, our minimum order is 5000 pieces. Work directly with a factory and they’ll often require an order in the tens of thousands. If your product fails (which is unlikely if you work with a reputable private labeling manufacturer!), you’ll then be stuck with so much stock that’s impossible to shift.
Scalability
It’s so important to take scalability into consideration if you’re a small business. You never want to end up restricting your growth. Instead, you need all of your business operations to be as scalable as possible so that your company can expand as needed.
Again, private labeling is perfect for this. Whether you need to suddenly quadruple an order or you want to expand into other product lines, the adaptability of a private labeling manufacturer makes this a breeze.
Less Stress
As you may already know, running a small business can be very stressful. It can often feel as though you’re being pulled in every direction, leaving you struggling to find the time for everything.
With private labeling, a large chunk of that stress will be taken off your shoulders. Sure, you can get involved in the manufacturing process if you wish, but you don’t need to. Allow your private label manufacturer to take the reins and you’ll free up so much time that you can then put toward other aspects of your business.
In the long run, not only will this benefit your business, but it will also do so much good for your own mental health!
Choosing a Private Label Manufacturer for Your Small Business
Now that you understand why more and more small businesses are private labeling their products, how do you go about choosing a good private label manufacturer?
First and foremost, they need to have experience in your chosen industry. Take a look at the brands that they’re working with or have worked with in the past and see if those products resonate with you. If you’re hoping to create something similar, then that private labeling manufacturer could be a good match.
Of course, location is important too. While you don’t need to be situated near the factories that your private labeling manufacturer will be using, it can be helpful if you can visit their offices for meetings. With that said, in today’s digital world, it’s more than possible to form a solid relationship remotely with a private labeling manufacturer too. Brainstorming sessions can take place via video call, samples can be mailed to you, and messaging apps are great for quick questions.
Private Labeling With FLPL
With private labeling becoming so popular, there are now more private labeling manufacturers around than ever before. In some ways, all of these choices are great for a small business. However, it also means that some of those companies won’t be as reputable and reliable as others. Once you’ve chosen a private labeling manufacturer to potentially work with, spend some time finding out more about exactly what’s on offer, as well as the work they’ve done in the past, to make sure that they’re in a position to accelerate your success.
Want to know more about the private labeling services offered by FLPL? Click here to contact us today!
