Personal Care: Cosmetics

Private label cosmetics are specifically to help businesses build their brand. When a business connects with a supplier that sell private label cosmetics, they get the following:

• A product that the business can brand as their own (they aren't buying wholesale from another brand, the product will be sold as their own brand)
• The supplier is providing this product exclusively to the business (as opposed to a white label supplier, which would sell a generic product to multiple businesses or retailers) 

Private label products are a great way to sell a product that can make your brand stand out (since it's sold only to you) without needing to make the investment in developing a novel product. However, as you receive product feedback, private label suppliers are also more likely to work with you to develop customizations (since they are only making the product for you).

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There are multiple places to buy wholesale makeup, and one of the best places is to buy straight from a factory. Of course, finding an ideal factory is often easier said than done, especially if you're looking to leverage the cost savings of China manufacturing for better cosmetic pricing. 

If you want the process of finding a wholesale supplier easier, you should consider partnering with a sourcing specialist, like Kanary, to simplify the searching process.

Cosmetics bought from China are actually extremely trustworthy, just as long as you find a supplier that is a good match for your business, and you understand how to enforce quality control protocols. Quality issues from China suppliers generally come from businesses not providing clear expectations, factories having zero oversight from their clients. 

To be fair, providing clear expectations to China factories can be difficult if there's a significant language barrier. Many excellent factories don't have anyone that speaks fluent English, and it's common for U.S.-based businesses do not have anyone on staff that speaks Mandarin Chinese. In addition, given the travel complexities of getting from the U.S. to China, it can be difficult to manage and maintain quality control procedures. 

If you want to remove the doubt and risk of looking to China to source cosmetic products, one way to do so is to partner with a sourcing specialist, like Kanary, that has specific expertise in finding, vetting, and connecting factories with U.S-based businesses.

Product customization is a pivotal step for businesses looking to truly begin making their brand distinct from generic competitors, but there are a lot of factors to consider. The process is product specific (so customizing makeup is going to look different than customizing other cosmetic products), though there are general steps you can expect to take:

• Develop specific, detailed plans: You're going to end up delivering designs for the supplier to follow, so it needs to be as detailed as possible. If you are adjusting the physical size of a makeup product (or if you are making branding customizations) you need to be prepared to send Adobe Illustrator or other digital files. If you're changing the actual makeup, you need to send specific ingredient lists that are clear. 
• Get prototypes and make adjustments: The supplier will send you prototypes of customized products, and you need to be prepared to make adjustments. It's possible that your supplier won't follow instructions perfectly, you may have not sent clear design details, and it's possible that your design just doesn't work, so an overhaul is needed. 
• Tooling, Molds, and Samples: After you land on a prototype, you need to invest in the tools and molds needed for mass production. This will be the most expensive part of the customization process, though it's definitely worth the cost if you are confident that you will order a large volume of units. After tools and molds are made, the supplier will send samples, which will better reflect what your product looks like when coming from mass production. 
• Mass production: There may need to be adjustments during the sampling process, but once you're satisfied, you'll finally move to mass production. 

Customization is resource and time intensive, so if you want expert guidance on creating a product, then Kanary can help.

Since private label cosmetics can vary in weight and size (and how you're selling those cosmetics can vary), there are multiple options for product shipment:

• Sea freight: Sea freight is the most common shipping method for bulk ordering from China, and for good reason. It's extremely cost-effective, which means you can buy a large volume of product and pay comparatively little to get it state-side. It's also the slowest method, which is why proper shipment planning will be important. 
• Air freight: If you need products faster (or your cosmetics are particularly light and compact), then air freight might be a good option. It's faster than sea freight, but also more expensive, so if your products end up being heavier or taking up more space, air freight may not be a good option. 
• China fulfillment: If you are operating an ecommerce store, direct-from-China fulfillment could be another option. In this strategy, products are delivered from your China factory to a China fulfillment center, which then ships directly to customers. This avoids sea freight shipping (and customs) altogether, though you'll generally have a slightly higher per unit price. 

You can also combine these strategies to take advantage of multiple benefits. For example, it's common for businesses to use both sea freight shipping (for the price savings) as well as China fulfillment (when they need fast access to inventory, like during an unexpected spike in demand). Kanary can help organize and execute your shipment strategy, and for clients that want China fulfillment, we partner with EcommOps for outstanding fulfillment services.

Yes! Kanary can help connect you with a fulfillment partner that's a good fit for the kind of product you're selling. We can also help you develop supply chain strategies that help give your business flexibility to market shifts. For example, many of our ecommerce clients find that China fulfillment is a great choice for their business, and we can connect you with EcommOps, the leader in China fulfillment, to make it happen.

The best way to vet a factory that you're buying wholesale makeup from (or any large volume product, for that matter), is to visit the factory in person. This is the easiest way to confirm:

• The general quality of the factory, including how labor is managed and their actual production capabilities. 
• What quality control protocols they already have in place. 
• Relationships with factory managers, including how easy communication with factory stakeholders will be. 

If you can't visit the factory in-person, which is often the case for overseas factories, there's a few other strategies you can follow:

• Ask for videos and photos of the factory
• Connect with stakeholders via video chat or phone call
• Make sure to follow a stringent sampling process (which you should be doing regardless)
• Use a 3rd party specialist, like Kanary, to help you vet the supplier on your behalf.

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There's a lot of places you can look for a supplier if you're interested in white or private label cosmetics. Regardless of where you look, make sure that you start with a lot of options (for example, Kanary starts with 30-50 potential suppliers), and you take your time vetting those options so you end up with a choice that's an excellent fit. Some places you can look for suppliers include:

• Alibaba: Alibaba is the world's largest platform for B2B suppliers, so you'll find a lot of options for cosmetics. However, it is extremely important to take your time vetting options you find on Alibaba, since many of them will not be a good fit for your business. 
• Trade shows: Attending a trade show geared towards the cosmetic industry is a good way to connect with suppliers actively looking for clients. Again, you need to vet these options (and trade shows won't have as many options as Alibaba), but it's a good place to start, especially if you prefer in-person connection. 
• Online search: You can find a lot of suppliers just by searching for them with Google. However, many options you find will be trade companies (which are middlemen between factories), so your pricing may not be as good and customization options may be limited. 

Sourcing specialists: Sourcing specialists are third-party companies that use their connections and expertise to find white label or private label suppliers on your behalf. It's a good way to cut out the guesswork of hoping a supplier you've found is trustworthy, and it is an enormous reduction in the time it would otherwise take to find a factory.

Generally, if you are working with a new brand, you don't want to jump into customizing a product or creating a completely new product. Your brand hasn't had a chance to prove itself, and customizing a product is a significant investment. Starting with a white label product that's an appropriate reflection of what you want your brand to be is a good way to start to see:

• If you understand your target audience
• What your customers value in a product
• What your customers want changed or altered in a product (via product feedback). 

However, there may be instances that it's appropriate to dive into a novel product, for example:

• If you've conducted thorough market research and have a deep understanding of what the market is looking for.
• If you're well-established in the market niche, and while the brand you're launching is new, your experience in what products tend to work well and is in-depth.

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If you end up needing to partner with multiple factories for multiple products, being able to consolidate shipments is an excellent way to reduce your overall shipping costs. Kanary specializes in consolidated shipping, and while each client will have a unique approach, our general process looks like the following:

• Based on lead times, we schedule when production begins to try to get products completed as close as possible (though you should expect that it won't be possible to get all orders done at the same time consistently). 
• As orders are completed, Kanary ships them to temporary storage while other products are still in production. 
• In the meantime, Kanary books containers that are large enough to hold the entire order without wasting space (which wastes money). 
• When all products are complete, Kanary ships them from temporary storage to the shipping container, where they are fully loaded.
• Kanary then manages the sea freight shipment as it reaches customs and arrives at the final destination.