Retail can be a lucrative income stream for hair and beauty practitioners – your clients trust you, they essentially pay you to choose products for them and recommend what to use, and you demonstrate them as part of the appointment process! If you’ve ever thought about launching your own range, Georgina Tang has the lowdown on what to expect.
If you want to set up a beauty brand and start selling skin and haircare products, you might not know where to start. In fact, you might think your only option is to mix your own products yourself.
However, you have several options to choose from, starting with white labelling. This practice, where one company provides a product, which another company then rebrands to make it appear as though they made it, is commonplace within the beauty industry.
As the founder and CEO of YNNY, a multi-award winning vegan and natural beauty company, I offer both – I formulate skin and haircare to be sold under my YNNY brand, and we also make white label products, giving me a unique perspective on both sides of the business.
If you want to start white labelling, you need to weigh up the pros and cons, particularly if you want to join the legions of companies importing skincare, haircare, cosmetics or beauty equipment from China.
There are many positives in buying white label products from Chinese manufacturers – it provides complete anonymity as others wouldn’t know where you bought the products from, for starters.
There is also a good variety of quality packaging to choose from, as the main manufacturer of packaging is from China, and overall the costs are lower. However, there are also considerable negatives. Quality control can be a problem, along with the language barrier which can result in mistakes.
There are additional transport and custom tax costs, you need a longer lead time and buyers are likely to have to pay in full upfront, so initial outlay can be high if you are buying a range of products.
For skincare, haircare and cosmetics, the buyer will become the Responsible Person and need to upload paperwork to the Submit Cosmetic Product Notifications portal (SCPN) to comply with all relevant regulations before putting products on the market.
The manufacturer also has to provide all the required paperwork and safety documents in English to complete this task, which can be a challenge for smaller manufacturers.
And for electrical equipment, there could be support issues if they don’t have an office in the UK, while you also often have to order a larger minimum quantity.
Instead, consider UK manufacturers, bearing in mind that with the bigger manufacturers, their minimum quantity tends to start from 500 to 1000 units per product, whilst smaller ones require a smaller quantity, so always research well to identify a manufacturer that suits your needs.
At YNNY, we cater for small to medium sized beauty businesses with smaller minimum quantities to cater for a wider market, in addition, we offer bespoke formulation of natural skin and haircare service.
But there are other ways for professionals to access and sell skincare, for instance via being a stockist or associate of brands like Crystal, Dermologica and Eve Taylor.
To sell these brands, you must be a professional beauty therapist or an aesthetician. And with their higher price points, these products are aimed at a more affluent population, so it’s key to ensure that these products suit your customer base.
Another way to offer a skincare range is via network marketing companies such as Arbonne or Tropic, where you can earn 25-30% commission via personal sales. These are natural organic vegan products, so could attract a wider customer base despite their higher prices.
Increasing numbers of people are into natural products, so there is also the option of buying the products at discounted price and making money by selling them to your customers too.
There are many options available on the market to have your own skincare, haircare or equipment – work out the pros and cons and budget, then choose the one that you feel is the best for you.
*Always check with your insurer to make sure you have the appropriate cover in place for retailing white label products.
Georgina Tang is the founder of multi-award-winning beauty brand YNNY. She also creates white label beauty products for high-profile brands and influencers.
