How to Get Your Beauty Brand into Retail Stores

By Kady Sandel | October 13, 2022

The beauty industry is an incredibly crowded space. With so many brands and products to choose from, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. That’s why it is important to have a clear vision of what you want your cosmetics & beauty brand to represent and do.

As beauty products become more accessible, more people are using them as part of their daily routines and as a way to enhance their self-image. And to bridge this demand gap, brands like Sephora, Nordstrom, and Ulta are expanding into new markets.

But even the expansion still hasn’t made it easier for cosmetic entrepreneurs to get their products into these retail stores. So, how do you crack your way into retail?

If you’re ready to upgrade your beauty packaging and make more product sales, learn about Aventive Studio’s cosmetic branding & packaging design services here.

Prepare to Get Into Retail Stores

To get your beauty brand into retail stores, you are going to have to prepare. You can’t just go out and start selling products to stores without doing the groundwork.

Assess Your Supply Chain

Most brands aren’t ready to get their products into retail stores because they haven’t figured out their manufacturing process and other logistical details. That’s why it is important for you to assess your supply chain to see if you can handle retail traffic. If not, you might have to rely on wholesale distribution or eCommerce fulfillment.

Here are some questions to ask:

Do you have the infrastructure in place to handle the high volume of traffic generated by customers?
How long would it take for you to get from point A to point B in terms of logistics?
What kind of inventory do you need? Are there any suppliers who can provide it at an affordable price? Do you even need a new supplier?
Do the retail stores in question provide a physical space that’s big enough for customers to browse and shop your products? If not, are there other options available?

Know Your Competition

We can’t stress enough how indispensable competitive research and analysis are for beauty brands, especially now that there are so many of them.

Find out about your competitors as much as you can. What are they doing? What do they charge for their products? How much is it costing them? How much revenue does that bring in for them? Can you compete with their prices and quality? Do you have a strategy to compete with them against shelf spaces?

To scale your beauty business to the next level, you will need to work with a professional branding agency who can analyze your competitors, create your target profiles, and establish what colors and visual designs will attract your unique target. View Aventive Studio’s wellness branding, website, and packaging design projects here.

Determine Your Value and Pricing

While determining your pricing strategy may seem easier than ever before, thanks to online shopping and eCommerce fulfillment services like Amazon and eBay, having a physical retail presence requires a lot more upfront investment than online businesses do when they open up shop.

The inventory and warehousing alone can add up to your prices and make it nearly impossible to stay profitable if not done correctly. So, plan accordingly.

Determine Your Position

If you want people to buy from you instead of your competitors, you need to show them what’s different between the two of you that makes your product worth buying over theirs.

Start by asking the basic questions. Is it a premium brand like Sephora or is it more of a mid-tier brand? What word do you want to be associated with? Do you want to be exclusive or accessible?

Your brand needs to be positioned as an expert in your niche or sub-niche, rather than a generic brand. You also need to understand who your target customer is — whether they are male or female, young or old — and what their lifestyle looks like.

You can do this by conducting customer research or talking with existing clients and customers. If you have existing products that have already been successful in other stores, it is likely that they will work well in retail locations, too.

Use the Right Branding Strategy

Beauty branding includes everything from your packaging design to the brand voice that you use to communicate with your consumers and more.

As you can guess, selling offline is a tad more challenging than online. In online stores, you have real-time data needed to persuade shoppers using specific triggers that work for them. You don’t have the same luxury in offline channels.

For instance, your cosmetic packaging design is one of the most important aspects of branding because this is what your prospective customers will first see when they spot your product. If it isn’t appealing, you have already lost the sale.

The most low-risk decision you can make for your brand is working with a professional branding agency that has experience with beauty brands. They will be able to develop the most suitable brand guide and strategy for your business so that you can start off on the right foot.

To position your beauty brand apart from the crowd so you can grow faster and make more sales, contact Aventive Studio here.

Start Your Online Marketing Activities

Starting with social media marketing, PPC advertising, and content marketing while you build up your brand’s offline presence on the internet can be a great way to get noticed by retail owners.

Not only will this help you get some initial visibility in search engines and boost traffic to your website so that people can find out more about your company but it will also help you show market validation for your products.

Engage Influencers to Be the Face of Your Brand

The beauty industry is a hotbed of influencer marketing, and beauty brands are taking advantage by working with these influencers to feature their products in their social media posts.

Influencers are well-placed to showcase your brand because they are already well-known, trusted, and influential. They can also act as an ambassador for your brand, helping it to grow even further.

And if you think that doesn’t work, bear in mind that even big brands like L’Oréal have to use ambassadors/influencers to maintain trust in the market. Of course, their influencers are high-end celebrities but you can always find nano- and micro-influencers to do the job just as well.

Here are some quick tips to get the most out of your influencer marketing.

1) Find an influencer who has a vision similar to your business. For instance, if you are a natural makeup brand, which endorses clean beauty and natural looks, you should consider finding an influencer who is into minimalist beauty.

They would already have an audience base who would be more willing to try your products over others because you fit their interests.

2) Reach out to them and explain why they should be excited about promoting your product line. You need to have a separate pitch for the influencers.

3) Once they agree, make sure you send them an invite with all of the details about how things will work for your partnership (ex. where/when/how often). Also, include any incentives you think might motivate them to promote your brand beyond the occasional social media posts.

Use Tradeshows to Expand Your Network

You can’t even think about getting your beauty brand into retail stores without having contacts. That’s where tradeshows come in handy: They provide an opportunity for budding businesses to network with one another, meet potential retail owners and showcase their products.

You will meet some of the people who work at those stores and get their feedback on what they are looking for from a potential partner.

You can also attend trade shows with a specific audience in mind, such as women’s health or organic beauty, and talk to the attendees about their needs and expectations for products in these categories

You can target your marketing efforts more effectively if you know which retailers need what from your brand before you start talking with them.

Keep in mind that you must:

Use the event as an opportunity to share your story with the audience and give them a glimpse of what you do.

Be sure to ask for feedback from attendees on how they could use your products in their stores, as well as any ideas they have for marketing and branding. This can help you get more exposure through social media and other means.

Make connections with key people at the show who can help you build relationships with local retailers after the show.

Reach Retail Store Owners with the Perfect Pitch

There are two ways to get your beauty brand into retail stores – and neither of them is particularly easy.

The first is to approach a store owner directly with a pitch that tells them why their store needs you. This is an age-old method of selling, but it requires more work than most people think. It is also very inefficient if you are not already in contact with retailers. In this case, it is going to take some time to develop relationships and build trust.

The second way is to find out what the store’s needs are and cater to them. This strategy works best if you don’t have existing relationships with retailers because you are engaging in a value exchange. It is a straightforward transaction and if you succeed, you are in – regardless of whether you have the right connections.

Here are some more tips to make it easier for you to get in:

Reach out to the right people (and not just anyone). You want to speak directly with the store owner or any decision maker who will be most receptive to selling your product.

Be prepared with samples or swatches of your product. If you are sending an email asking if they would like to carry your product in their store, send them a sample of it first!

They will be more likely to open up their store space for a new client if they can see what they are getting themselves into. Plus, it is always better to show them what you are offering than just telling them about it!

Write a compelling letter for each retailer. Each retailer has different needs and requirements for carrying new products, so keep this fact in mind when writing your letter.

A few things that can help convince retailers include listing the benefits of carrying your product and what makes you unique from the rest of the brands in their store.

Remember that there’s no perfect pitch. All you can do is tailor yours to suit the vision that retailers have in mind so that you can get your foot in the door.

Partner Up with Brokers or Sales Representatives Who Can Let You In

The beauty industry has a lot of room for growth, and it is not just the number of beauty brands that are increasing — it is also the number and variety of products they offer.

That being said, it is still hard to get your product into stores without having someone help you out. Even if you are a great brand with an amazing product, there are so many factors at play that make it difficult for new brands to break through (or even stay afloat).

Partnering up with a retail broker can help you navigate those waters in ways other people simply can’t. There are several benefits to this, namely:

You don’t have to do any marketing yourself, so you can focus on other aspects of business development.

You can get started quickly and efficiently by working with someone else.

You get a professional to negotiate the terms for you, which is always a better choice.

If the representative is successful in getting you in, you will obviously have to spare some commission for them. But considering the time and hassle they can save you, it can be a good business decision.

The Bottom Line

Again, it may sound simple, but getting your beauty brand in retail stores is no easy feat. If the thought seems daunting, consider starting with a small pilot project. This will allow you to test the waters before expanding into larger stores as well as gain valuable feedback from customers who find your products in smaller, select stores.

What’s important is that you get your beauty branding right so that your products appear more appealing to retailers. After all, they are your first customers. If your branding doesn’t impress them, it definitely won’t impress the end user.

That’s where Aventive Studio comes in! We help you get your beauty brand strategy right from the beginning, so you can take on the retail world with unwavering confidence. Get in touch with our beauty branding agency to learn more.