Beata Leyland
Business Owner & Author of this article
In the era of so many products on the market it’s easy to be overlooked, so emphasis on marketing, brand building, reputation is truly key.
Intrigued ?
Creating own brand is a dream of many of us.
Some choose to sell services and some products.
White label, sometimes also called private label, is a type of product manufactured by a 3rd party provider under your label.
There are different varieties of such cooperation.
Let’s take a look at nutraceuticals for instance or skin care.
Many founders wish to have their own formulation incl. key ingredients important for them under own label.
3rd party manufacturers usually offer R&D consultation, a graphic designer to help with creating the actual label, and many offer sourcing of raw materials used to compose the product and packaging.
This industry is very popular in the U.S., but I see a huge amount of growing competition across the whole world.
U.S. is popular due to the big consumer market so minimalizing risk of unsold inventory.
Nutraceutical, skin care, home cleaning products, apparel, food – in fact your imagination is the limit as I’ve worked already on really niche products under private label.
How does it work in practice and how we can help you?
Small founders like (or have a tendency) to do all on their own which overstretches their area of expertise.
A good chunk of my clients chose manufacturers using popular searching engines, checked a few reviews, and the sales team made sold them an illusion and as a result they got a contract which wasn’t particularly good for them.
Once such founder realised that he ended up in not the best spot, as many points have been overlooked, and then the calls for help started.
Picking a good consulting company which specializes in private label (of course I recommend us) can save you plenty of time due to connections already established.
You don’t waste your time and money; results are delivered rather fast and potential savings opportunities are shown.
You should definitely ask if companies have signed contracts to recommend particular manufacturers ( we don’t ) so you know that you get a fair deal.
Some founders admit already at the very beginning that they don’t have time for searching, talks and they need results and know how.
This saves them time, money and stress.
I wouldn’t like to favour one way over another as it truly depends on founder, personality, and business approach, not necessarily money.
Traps of white label
First which comes to my mind, market research.
I had a countless amount of people who search more for hope than a product launch.
What do I mean by that?
We call it in the company “dude idea” because they sound like the talk of a few people in a bar who discuss business deals without touching reality.
If you want to launch a product on the market, you need to come with the idea which you feel.
Why?
Because how can you push through when it will be rough and difficult if you don’t feel any attachment with your business idea.
There are people on the market who have savings which they would like to invest.
Some of them they think that by paying someone $30-50 per hour this person will create them a business from the scratch without their involvement.
Yes, believe me there are such people and more than a few of them.
What I see that if a founder doesn’t feel that launching let’s say some snack for cats is a good idea how will he convince his potential clients?
Who will he hire etc.?
It’s like a chain reaction.
It doesn’t mean all research have to be done by the founder, it means that the idea must come from him/her and people helping him /her add to the idea, help better understand it, help with creating visibility and the plan.
If a captain of the ship doesn’t believe he steers a good ship, then it is rather hard to trust such a cruise.
The most popular traps:
idea,
choice of product,
choice of manufacturing plant,
marketing,
branding,
ignoring risk mitigation & more, so not that different than running any other business to be frank.
Who are founders of White Labels?
All of them are extremely creative and ambitious and honestly, it’s a pleasure and great privilege to work with such people on a daily basis which doesn’t mean it’s always easy.
A huge amount of people who become founders of private labels are very skilled marketers or passionate experts of their sector who would like to add something to the industry.
Both groups have a high success rate.
I also know founders who are extremely open and their curiosity and openness helps them to achieve big success.
Creating statistics wouldn’t be fair but what winners have in common is adaptability, asking many questions without hesitation and passion about the project.
Exactly passion is something that carries them when it comes to making difficult decisions.
Founders either use their own capital or have investors backing them up.
No matter the source of budget, what is crucial during launching is to understand their own boundaries/limitations (time, money, gaps in own skills).
In the era of so many products on the market it’s easy to be overlooked, so emphasis on marketing, brand building, reputation is truly key.
A great part of the modern world is the pace of changes which creates a great pool of opportunities for open and skilled people to understand where the market is short and what can be offered.
There are so many face creams on the market yet new ones are still successfully launched.
Creating your own brand is an absolutely fantastic process and feeling, but it comes with a dark side too.
That’s why it is so important to give your idea a solid foundation.
If you are searching for inspiration, I recommend you read our article about business plan.
Much useful knowledge there should give you an idea how to look at the project and it doesn’t necessarily mean create a 50-page plan, but rather to understand what is needed.
We offer of course our helping hand with advising you where to start,
how to start,
as well as searching for manufacturers so you can see within a few months your ready-to-sell product on the shelf in the market or online E-Com.
Give us a try!
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