5 tips to cosmetic product launch success

cosmetic brand Success Tip #1: Check the concept FIRST

So you’ve had a great idea for a cosmetic product… the next things you need to do is check what the market already has available. Does a competitor offer something similar, in which case, what will your point of difference be? Or, is it currently not available? And if that type of cosmetic product isn’t currently available, why not? Is it against the cosmetic regulations to use the ingredients you want, the claims you want to promote it, or is the cosmetic product itself not compliant? Is the combination of cosmetic ingredients not compatible or the product not stable or effective the way you want to create it?

If there is competition in the market, what do you plan to do differently with your concept to make it stand out and get the required sales? If there is too much competition for that type of product in the market already, then think of something else!

If you can’t offer a compliant product or market it using compliant claims, it will fail; so if that type of product isn’t currently available, check why not or have someone run the compliance checks for you.

Finally, if the ingredients aren’t compatible or the product can’t achieve a good shelf life or required performance, it won’t be successful, so think of something else!

cosmetic brand Success Tip #2: Ensure suitable profit

Straight after you have done your concept checks you should know:

1. the cosmetic product can exist from a regulatory perspective, including all of its ingredients AND

2. it can exist in theory based on the cosmetic ingredients you want to include AND

3. the price your cosmetic product should sell for in the market place

Once you know the cosmetic product can exist, you now need to use the required pricing to determine that you can make suitable profit, including the initial investment you should be making into R&D. Your profit margin should be 25-30%. Your R&D budget should be set at around 5-10% of expected sales over a 3 year period; or up to 15% for therapeutic/pharmaceutical products. If you can’t achieve a suitable profit and recover your R&D investment then you need to rethink the project.

To top it off, you should be allowing at least 2-3 weeks for these first two steps to be completed – if you don’t do these checks first up, then you can’t expect the rest of the development to proceed according to plan or be successful in the marketplace.

cosmetic brand Success Tip #3: Get good development

Clearly define what the cosmetic product should look, smell and feel like; what it should do and what price it should be. This needs to be defined in a product development brief for a formulator to then work from – but you MUST make sure you clearly describe what you are looking for and DON’T change your mind once you send it! Make sure you have done good cosmetic market research to define all elements of the brief because any changes you make WILL incur additional fees and additional time. Be prepared and be professional or expect delays and difficulties.

Remember too that just because you can clearly define a cosmetic product in a brief, doesn’t mean it is possible – your cosmetic chemist will be able to advise you if changes need to be made for compatibility/stability or other reasons. You can’t argue with science – if something can’t chemically happen, don’t expect the formulator to be a miracle worker – but instead, work with them on how to approach the issues from another angle to get the product you want.

Make sure you provide prompt feedback on any cosmetic samples provided and allow at least 1 – 3 months for this stage, which should provide you with a suitable sample to sign off on, ready for the next stage. If you delay on your evaluations or feedback, it will only add to this time, so be prepared, professional and prompt with your brief and feedback!

cosmetic brand Success Tip #4: Know what to expect

So you have signed off the sample, you are ready to order, right? WRONG. You now need to:

• Get a large lab batch prepared – a sample you have signed off based on a 200g sample could be very different when you move to 200kg – so suitable scale up needs to be done, and this starts with a large lab batch.
• Run at least 3 months accelerated stability tests, including PET – if a product separates, shows contamination or fails quality in the market place, it is the company who put the product on the market that is responsible. Just because you have got your product formulated or manufactured somewhere doesn’t make them responsible for ensuring the product will maintain its expected shelf life – it is the company who put the product on the market that is responsible. Manufacturers or formulators are only responsible where they have been negligent, for example, where they have used bad formulation techniques or used contaminated equipment… negligence does not include a brand owner who hasn’t done the required testing! All too often, brand owners don’t run stability programs because they assume it is the manufacturers’ or formulators’ responsibility but this is NOT correct – get the stability testing done or face failure (and a recall) in the marketplace!
• Run any evaluation tests necessary to support claims - especially if you are making claims about SPF.

Organising enough raw materials and running the preliminary stability trials will mean this stage takes at least 3-4 months. Don’t expect it to take anything less than this or if you try to get to market early and skip this step then don’t be surprised if you have issues later!

After this step, you need to proceed to pilot production, which will take at least another 3 months to prepare – and you will need to put this through accelerated stability too – at least another 3 months, to ensure the formula is ready for full scale production. Full scale production will then take at least another 2-3 months from the time you order – so these last 2 steps will add at least another 5-6 months to the process… didn’t know all of this was involved? Then learn how to KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT!

cosmetic brand Success Tip #5: Have a GOOD project manager

All too often people think it is easy to launch a personal care product into the marketplace but the reality is, if you want to be successful in this industry, you need to have researched the product well, run concept and regulatory checks, prepared a good brief, evaluated and confirmed suitability of samples promptly and appropriately and progressed through additional stages of pilot and full scale production. Even when everything does go to plan it is a minimum 12 month process, so it needs someone who knows what they are doing with a careful eye and head for planning to keep the stages moving.

Having a project manager is not enough; you need to have a GOOD project manager to keep it on track! Someone who is great at communicating with all involved, who takes responsibility for adhering to the timeline and budget and who is not afraid to follow up, follow up, follow up!