When it comes to personal care and beauty products such as makeup, sunscreen, and skincare, trends have long moved in one direction: towards DIY. The internet is rife with recipes and instructions for creating beauty products once commonly bought in stores, with the at-home methods allowing for customization and ingredient control that is impossible to find with standard brands. While conventional beauty brands continue to thrive, there’s no doubt that the DIY world is exploding in popularity.
The trouble with DIY
There is, however, a catch when it comes to DIY personal care and beauty products: they place a huge demand on a person’s time, time that many people simply don’t have to spare. It’s therefore no surprise that a “third way” option has grown in popularity: products that are handmade with the same care, attention, and simplified ingredient list as any DIY product, but which are sold to users who don’t have the time to make their own concoctions.
The potential business opportunity
There are numerous reasons why selling DIY beauty products can be a successful business, including – but not limited to – the following:
- The ability to start small. You do not need to mass-produce beauty products in order to get your business idea off the ground. You can choose to make a small batch that is sold online, at craft fairs, or at farmer’s markets, and then reinvest the profits from the first batch into creating the second. This fact should mean that your startup capital is reasonable, and lends itself to bootstrapping.
- Constant demand. Personal care products are always in demand, due in no small part to the fact that many products within this category – such as soaps, shampoos, and skincare – are a necessity rather than a luxury. To be completely sure of regular interest, you can also view reports on the personal care industry so you can select products that have proven to be exceptionally popular over a long period of time. Doing so should mean that you won’t have to worry about a sudden sales slowdown in the future.
- Customer expectations of new, innovative products. Customers who buy personal care and beauty products often lean towards the new and exciting, with a willingness to experiment – which means you should have a receptive audience for any products that you choose to sell. This willingness amongst customers to experiment also means that if you’re looking for a business idea that really allows you to be creative and do something different and exciting, the personal care world is the perfect choice.
- The potential for excellent profit margins. While every business’ profit margins will differ, for the most part, products within the personal care world have high gross margins when compared to other industries. Many of the popular DIY online recipes can be made for very low costs, but sold at a significant profit to customers eager to access the benefits of handmade products without the need to invest time into actually making them.
Final thoughts
If you like the idea of experimenting with personal care product recipes, then there’s definitely a potential business venture to be found in selling your own creations. Provided you do your research, make sure you meet all regulatory requirements, and are committed to offering something truly unique in a crowded market space, your own handmade products could pave the way to outstanding future success.
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