Welcome to the beauty business! It’s one of the best times to start your venture. Why? Well, the beauty business was valued at $532 billion(2017) and according to market experts, the trajectory is estimated to only go upwards! The United States alone consumes 20% of the beauty market share, followed by China at 13% and Japan at 8%. Yes, the growth projection is certainly not static, but as we said earlier, it is estimated to go only upwards!
Although the world is in crisis right now, with the Coronavirus and COVID-19, there’s still a way to bring beauty products to market. The internet is your vehicle and Segway into the market and world of beauty.
In fact, most independent market research says that, business owners who have invested in a beauty brand, can expect to get a return of 5%-to-7% compound-annual-growth-rate.
And at this rate, the total market will reach $800 billion by 2025 and most of the transactions will happen online!
So your decision to start selling beauty products online is definitely a step towards a beautiful future. There’s no better time to launch your beauty business than now.
Now, at this point, you might be thinking, ” Juliette, if a beauty business is so profitable then why do some people fail?” Because there’s something they don’t know.
It’s a fair question and a great place to start. It shows you’re on the right track to becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Question every number, question every possibility. Trust me this will help you a lot in the days to come. And yes, you’re right. The beauty business is definitely a promising one, there’s no doubt about it, however, not fail-proof. Is anything?. You must understand that there’s no such thing as ” easy money”.
The opportunities a beauty business offers is huge. This is the reason this industry draws a lot of spectators. Hence the increase in the business competition of this field. If you do not know the way to success, you will be lost as others have been.
You’ll spend a lot of money searching and looking for help from people who haven’t owned any type of business. Let alone a beauty business.
Fortunately, we’re here to help.
I’ve often heard people say they wished they’d had someone to lay it out for them before they started their beauty business. I’m one of them! I had no clue of what I was doing.
I was transitioning from the apparel industry into the beauty world. What a learning curve. My experience had mostly been working in retail environments, teaching courses or working as an image consult.
To step into the world of beauty, especially running a business online was indeed a shock.
What had I gotten myself into?
Before doing anything, know your business niche first. A Beauty Business as a whole, is part of a large and diverse industry and you cannot serve every one of them.
The segmentation works like this:
So, if you plan to sell skin care products online or want to sell hair care products online, then you have a much greater audience to sell to. This in essence will draw more revenue.
Again, before investing even a single penny, study market trends. Remember how Warren Buffett started his first business? No? Time to do some research on Warren Buffett to see how he approached getting started.
That’s another thing. Study successful people who’ve started businesses in general. There will be plenty of things you can learn from them when it comes to the world of beauty.
If you do not know how to sell and market beauty products online, you will find difficulties to stay afloat. There are, however, many institutions and online destinations who are ready to teach you the “ins and outs”.
So if you have a lack of knowledge in how to run a beauty business, take that as a challenge and join classes, trainings or groups before you begin your venture.
While you are learning what to do, remember to write down everything and don’t forget to do your homework!
Before getting into a beauty business, you must know the cosmetic regulations of the FDA. FDA regulates cosmetics under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). Study and memorize the rules carefully or get help from people who are involved in this business for a long time.
Get the permits needed to launch your business. This process depends entirely on state jurisdiction. However, generally, you will need a DBA certificate, employer identification number and sales tax permit.
More than 70 % of US consumers say their shopping decision is affected by the packaging design. According to Forbes, 60 to 80 % of customers do not go back to the same brand if they weren’t satisfied while opening the package.
Yes, packaging plays a great role while selling anything. You won’t believe how many people buy cosmetics based on the aesthetic rather its performance. But it doesn’t mean that the performance has to be bad!
Elegance isn’t limited to the packaging of your product. Your website is your boutique, business card and brochure. These three factors are what sets your brand a part from other businesses online. Think carefully about how you want to be represented and perceived online.
Marketing is crucial for your business success. The traditional way of marketing has pretty much changed. Now businesses rely heavily on digital marketing.
The thing that could give you an edge, is to incorporate older marketing concepts such as flyers, brochures, postcards and business cards into your marketing strategy. Strategically place them into environments where your potential customers will frequent.
With businesses slowly opening back up, salons, barber shops, yoga studios, gyms … these are all places that you can cross market your products to. Talk with owners of these establishments and see how you can help one another grow as we move out of this global pandemic.
This is known as offline marketing. Yet when incorporated with social media and other online strategies, it can give you a greater reach into your niche.
Social media marketing would be the go to strategy for most businesses. The reason? Well, if you do a market study, you will find out that most of us are spending a lot of our free time scrolling through social media feeds.
The United States currently has a total population of 327.9(estimate) million. Out of that, 230 million or 70% are active social media users. If you can own your prospect’s social media feed through strategically placed promotion ads or content, you will notice dramatic changes in your overall sales numbers.
If you don’t know how to set up a digital marketing plan that delivers, you can always talk to us and get help.
Okay, this post is a bit longer than usual! However, it was necessary for aspiring entrepreneurs like you to hear what you’re up against.
To summarize, to start a beauty business, you need time, marketing expertise, dedication, a willingness to learn and a can-do attitude.
Building a beauty brand is not child’s play. You have to find a creative way to overcome the challenges to ensure your business is successful.
Remember, when you hit a point of feeling this isn’t going to work … breathe. Know for sure that nothing is a failure. It becomes a great learning experience for you to grow from.
So good luck and get moving. Your business isn’t going to launch itself, right?
Years ago, when we first launched our beauty business, we came across many challenging and unique situations which took a lot of effort and resource to overcome. More than likely you will face those problems as well. And from our experience, we can say that you will have countless sleepless nights on the way!……… Feeling Scared? Don’t be!
We have been on that path and we know exactly what to do to bypass those obstacle and reach the destination. What’s the sense in having knowledge if you’re not willing to share it with those in need… right?
Throughout our successful and some not so successful years in business, we’ve gained a lot of experience in selling beauty products online. We can help you steer clear of many of the barriers lying on the path to your business success. We’re an email away. We’re here to help
That’s it for this week. As always, we’re …
Dedicated To Your Success,
Juliette Samuel