Lately, it seems like every celebrity has entered the beauty products market with his or her own line of custom skin care products. If you are a small business owner interested in developing your own line, there are custom formulation development companies available that can help you to create personal care, health and beauty products. They will assist with product formulation to your specifications, small batch production and packaging.

As an entrepreneur, you understand that having a product in hand is just one step in the process. You will need to do some due diligence and market research before you begin the product development stage.

Let’s take a look at some key areas to research as you develop your business plan:

• Research your competition first. Amazon.com is a great place to begin. What products are currently available in your market niche?
• What is the average price point?
• Do these products have any special features? For example, are they organic? If you’re interested in developing an organic product, this may limit your choice of producers.
• Do they have special ingredients that are prominently mentioned?
• Who is the marketing targeted towards? Women? Teens? Tweens? Check the product description for clues.

As you delve into your research, you will begin to develop ideas for your product formulation. Make special note of common ingredients such as jojoba, tea tree oil, or special emollients so you can forward them to your development company.

Your research should also lead you towards your target market and price point. Make sure when pricing your product line to remember product development is only one cost to take into account. Don’t forget to include all of the production and marketing costs involved in rolling out your product in order to determine an accurate profit margin. Most development companies will create your formula in a small batch and bottle the product in packaging you provide. You will need to pay to design and produce the packaging and ship it to the development company.

Once you’ve named your product, turn to a site like Fiverr.com. On Fiverr you can find talented graphic designers who can assist you with logo development for as little as $5 dollars!

Finally, here are two quick tips to remember when shopping for a product development company. First make sure that they adhere to strict manufacturing guidelines. When your product sells out and you need another round of production, it’s critical that the product is exactly the same formulation every time. Lastly, make sure you work with a company that will sign a confidentiality agreement. In the event your product is a runaway hit, you want to lock in exclusive rights to your formulation.

Image source by Jillian Johnson.
Author: Jillian Johnson is a professional content marketing writer and blogger with a particular interest in writing about health and fitness. To read more writing by Jillian, follow her @MissWritey.