Many of those who are planning to start their own business pay attention to the niche of cosmetics production. This category of goods is distinguished by its popularity, stability and profitability, because most buyers care about their health and appearance, skin and hair condition. That is why the production of cosmetics can be an excellent choice for a young entrepreneur.
However, there are many features and pitfalls in this area that you should familiarize yourself with before starting a business. It is necessary to understand each stage of cosmetics production in order to create a truly successful and useful product. The selection of equipment, the creation of a recipe, laboratory experiments, the promotion plan — all these details can affect the final result.
We invite you to get acquainted with the main stages of cosmetics production — this will help you build a successful business strategy and create a safe, unique and successful product that will be popular among consumers.
Main Stages of Cosmetics Production
Typically, cosmetics production is a multi-stage and rather complex process that requires attention to detail. Much depends not only on the size of the initial investment, but also on the characteristics of the market, production capabilities, product uniqueness and other factors. Let us take a look at each of these stages in more detail.
1) Idea
Every cosmetics manufacturer starts with an idea. You need to understand what kind of product you want to create, what its uniqueness is and why the buyer should choose your cosmetic product. Further steps depend on the initial idea.
2) Research
To understand whether the idea is feasible, it is necessary to conduct a thorough market research. The key role is devoted to the analysis of the target audience of the product: the unique selling product offer, brand values, packaging design, price category of a cosmetic product and other important decisions depend on the portrait of your potential customer.
3) Business Plan
After the research, it is worth creating a detailed plan for the production of the product. You need to take into account all the costs and potential profits from the sale of cosmetics, based on your financial capabilities. It is worth considering that today entrepreneurs can produce cosmetics under their own brand even with a relatively small start-up investment thanks to successful partnership.
4) Partner Search
This stage is important for those who have limited time or funds to create their own production, because it requires a lot of investments: renting or buying premises, purchasing all the necessary equipment, obtaining certificates, and recruiting highly qualified personnel. However, thanks to a partnership with an existing cosmetics manufacturer, you can manufacture products under your brand at the partner’s production facilities.
5) Recipe Development
If you have enlisted the support of a professional and experienced technologist, they will help you create a high-quality and unique recipe based on your wishes and preferences of the target audience. If you contact a cosmetics manufacturer, you can order a development or choose a cosmetic product recipe from the manufacturer’s range.
6) Sample for Testing
When the budget, type of cosmetic product, quantity and proportions of ingredients as well as production methods are agreed upon, it is time to create a product sample for further testing in the laboratory. This is necessary in order to be sure of the quality and safety of the received product, its compliance with all norms and directives.
7) Production launch
Before launching into mass production, you need to create the first experimental batch of cosmetics. This allows not only to test products again, but also to analyze the entire production process for more accurate planning of further work.
Final stages of cosmetics production
When the first pilot batch has been tested, the cosmetics manufacturer has a few more important steps to take.
- Certification of products. For the sale of cosmetics, it is necessary to obtain all the necessary certificates and permits. Usually this process is faster if you use contract manufacturing services, because such factories already have a process for obtaining quality and safety certificates.
- Establishing distribution channels. At this stage, it is important to conclude deals with logistics companies or create your own logistics system, as well as choose partners for the sale of cosmetics. These can be both premium niche cosmetics stores and the mass market — it all depends on brand positioning.
- Implementation of the marketing plan. After brand positioning and packaging design development, a promotion plan should be worked out in detail, which will help convey information about the new cosmetic product to the target audience.
- Mass production. The launch of production at full capacity and in the volumes provided for by the business plan.
If you pay enough attention to each of the stages, cosmetics production will turn into a well-coordinated mechanism that works for maximum results.
How long does it take to go from idea to mass production?
The amount of time it takes for a cosmetics manufacturer to go from idea generation to mass production depends on many factors. Financial capabilities, entrepreneurial experience, the level of complexity of technological processes, the production capacity of the enterprise, the qualifications of employees, skills in working with documents, and the presence of reliable partners are important.
This process can seem quite complicated, especially if you have no experience in launching your own products from scratch. In this case, contract manufacturing can significantly save time and money, because cosmetics are produced on the basis of an existing factory with well-established workflows.
You will not need to look for a production site, buy expensive equipment for workshops and laboratories, hire a huge staff of specialists, personally issue all permits and quality certificates, think over a marketing strategy and ways of implementation — all these services can be provided by a partner. In this case, cosmetics will be produced under your brand name.
Some factories can start mass production of goods within a few months after signing the contract, while the creation of independent production can take years. In any case, the production of cosmetics requires a lot of resources from the entrepreneur, but if you take a responsible approach to each stage, you can create a profitable and rapidly growing business.
