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There are plenty of perks to having a private label. It can allow for higher profit margins and exclusive products that foster greater customer loyalty. But your success in this arena depends on finding the right private label manufacturer—and that requires some skillful vetting. Here are some tips to guide your efforts.
Katie Schmidt
Katie Schmidt is the founder of Passion Lilie, a New Orleans-based, eco-friendly, and fair trade clothing line ethically made by artisans in India. After visiting India, Katie saw firsthand the potential benefits of fair trade and decided to create her own clothing company that focused on sustainable materials and processes.
When considering a private label manufacturer, contact several, and get quotes to see which best fits your requirements. Do not expect the private label manufacturer to give you all the information you want. Instead, do your own research and come up with a checklist of requirements. Here are a few things to consider:
- Are you looking for a company that is fair trade, eco-friendly, or sustainable? Then make sure you do a lot of research (visiting the manufacturer is usually best) to make sure their ethics and values match yours.
- Get quotes on the minimum order quantity for your product. Every manufacturer is different. Sometimes there may also be minimums on the materials, such as the fabric.
- If you’ll be dealing with overseas shipping, provide them with the exact delivery address and how you would like it to be sent—by ship or by air—when asking for a quote.
- Make sure to clarify what the quote does include. For example, does it including shipping costs, tags, labels, etc?
- Make sure they know your product specifications. Ask for two or three product samples before you place an order to make sure the quality is consistent and the design or fit matches your specifications.
Alex Tran
Digital Marketing Strategist with Hollingsworth, a national e-commerce and logistics company.
From a supply chain company perspective, it’s important to know where you’re sourcing your product from and if the effort is worth the ROI. Most warehouses may cost more to use than the profits you will earn from your private label. Simply posting it online for sale does not work. You will need to use digital marketing to bring clients to your brick and mortar or online store.
Private label manufacturing can be tricky because you do not want to copy someone else’s brand name or break any exclusive agreements you have with a vendor. You can research business licenses within your state and do a Google search online. Make sure you also get a resellers license for your business.
When labeling your products, you can either label items yourself or ask the manufacturer to do so. Make sure that when this is happening, you are pricing things accurately and with your allocation in mind. I worked in retail buying where it was important to be aware of semi-sale events where prices were reduced for the event but went back up when the event was over. We had to ask our manufacturer to ticket items right way. This was an additional cost, but helped with expediting our product to the sales floor.
It’s also important to source responsibly. Nowadays anything can be made into a private label. Sourcing responsibly will allow us to better serve the world we live in and give you a marketing edge if you have the right copy and company values/message.
