Like any other business, starting an eyelash business comes with its fair share of challenges if there is no proper strategy. The beauty industry is particularly demanding in terms of resource inputs, technical know-how, and go-to-market strategy, all of which determine whether the business remains successful. For the same reason, we have developed this guide from which you can learn how to start your own lashes business.
Setting up an eyelash business in the online space is even more sensitive and can easily flop if effective strategies are not implemented from the onset. If you are unsure where to start, do not worry because we got you covered. This guide will set you on the right path.
Find Your Eyelash Vendors
As a business, vendors are essential partners in the supply chain. In one way or another, they will contribute to the success or failure of your eyelash business. You want to get the best vendor who will supply the best products at reasonable wholesale prices. The ultimate goal is to get products that will get customers to keep coming while also being able to make profits to keep your business in the growth trajectory.
Why a vendor is important
Once you have established your market and ready to sell products to them, you must have a constant supply to ensure that you meet their demands. Vendors are critical in ensuring that businesses have enough products to sell to their customers. If you do not get a vendor, you will not be able to give customers what they want. They will be disappointed and look for other competitors from where they can get what they want. You will not only lose your customer-base but also risk a damaged brand reputation. There are tips on how to find eyelash vendors.
How to find a good vendor
- Step 1: It is essential to document your eyelash business’s needs as a basis for finding a vendor that best meets your needs. From the document, establish criteria for vendor selection.
- Step 2: Conduct market research to identify potential sources by visiting review sites and websites to determine which firms can best supply what you need for your business. After that, call or send out emails to the identified potential vendors and state your needs.
- Step 3: Organize and hold initial vendor discussions and have each of the potential vendors pitch their products/offerings and why they are best suited to be your choice. A reasonable number of potential vendors at this stage is 8-10
- Step 4: Based on products, service, price offerings, and other business aspects, weed out the vendors, you believe do not align with your needs and expectations. Eliminate and remain with 2-4 vendors.
- Step 5: Have a final round of vendor discussions. Separately engage each vendor and make them aware of your expectations in terms of price and service. As they sell themselves, pick on the differentiators.
- Step 6: Make the final decision and pick one vendor that stands out from the rest and best suits your needs and expectations.
How to determine if a vendor is good
To determine if a vendor is a good fit for your business, consider the following factors.
- Accountability-You will know that a vendor is right if they are ready to take responsibility for quality issues and willing to rectify them as soon as possible for the good of the business. Quality issues are bound to arise, but it makes a lot of difference if a vendor can admit to the same and improve.
- Production capability- As a business owner, you are interested in vendors who can be relied on to meet your requirements at any given time. A good vendor has the required capacity to consistently supply ordered goods.
- Ease of communication-A good vendor has no language and communication barriers. This is vital in maintaining a seamless flow of information between the entities, making it easy to work together.
- Ethical compliance: Today, ethical sourcing is a trend that cannot be ignored. As such, ethical compliance is one of the best ways to determine if a vendor is suitable.
- Regulatory compliance. A good vendor should also be able to comply with all the relevant regulations and standards.
- Good vendors should also be great record keepers, show interest in continuous improvement, and have expertise in your product type and target audience.
- Besides providing high-quality mink lashes, a competitive eyelash supplier should also be able to design eyelash packaging that tailored to your brand.
Decide Where to Sell
One of the most important questions one has to ask when wondering how to start lashes business concerns where to sell. Whether you decide on a physical store or online channels, where you sell your products should be informed by your target audience’s behavioral patterns. It is vital to use the channels that will reach them faster and conveniently. Most eyelash customers and experiential shoppers and like experiment with different features when purchasing their desired products.
Build a website
When starting an eyelash business, it is vital to set up a business to boost your brand’s credibility. A website is one of the best ways to create a great first impression among your target audience. Most people will question the legitimacy of businesses that do not have a website and associate them with low-quality products and under par service provision.
Even as you set up your business, be sure to make it user friendly, easy to navigate, and understand. The goal is to keep customers who land in your website engaged, excited, and satisfied with what they find. That way, you end up with more leads, conversion, and increased sales. It makes no difference is you have a poorly designed website. Most customers will visit such a website and leave frustrated without making purchases. When designing a website, keep in mind that some people (if not most) access the internet through their phones. It is crucial to engage a web developer who can make it compatible with such devices. We created this blog about the best eyelash website to inspire you.
Some of the platforms you can integrate into your website include Shopify, BigCommerce, and Wix, as mist developers can easily integrate plugins and payment processing. Create products on the e-commerce site and add them to your existing website. To create accounts on such platforms and integrate with your website, you have to buy a business domain name. Business domains can be bought from Godaddy.
Online E-commerce platforms
Today, platforms like Amazon and E-bay offer businesses an opportunity to sell their products to customers conveniently. When they visit such platforms, they can view your eyelash products, review their specifications, and make instant purchases. Through such platforms, you can expand your product offerings faster and take advantage of niche markets. It is also a fast go-to-market strategy that requires relatively low costs.
In setting up an online e-commerce page, add products, incorporate payment methods, and spell-out the shipping procedure.
Physical store
When you are starting your eyelash business, it may help get a physical store from which you can build and grow your online outlets. Even though online shopping has become the trend today, research shows that many consumers still prefer to make store visits to sample products, familiarize themselves, and make purchases. Besides, a physical store is an excellent way to have your brand in the street for anyone to see. Those who do not prefer shopping online can still find you at the physical store. At the initial stage, building a store may be too costly. If you do not have enough capital for them, you can consider renting a place to set up your lash business.
Create Your Business Name
How you decide to name your business will determine the first impression that you create on your customers. It is the way people will identify your brand. Having the right business name will not only make you make memorable among customers but also get the attention of potential investors.
As a starting business, you can communicate your strategy through the name that you choose. As an eyelash business, you want to choose a name that will reflect the value you want to offer to consumers, e.g., luxury and sleekness.
It would be best if you also considered choosing a sticky name that can quickly grab the media and the public’s attention. Consider a name that is distinctive that when readers come across, they cannot easily forget. An appropriate business name should achieve the following;
- Create identity-Should be able to identify your business by its nature and product type.
- Memorability – Avoid complicated names that can easily be forgotten. When your business name is memorable, it will be easy to spread through word of mouth.
- Bear a motivational factor – As a founder, find a name that reflects your passion, taste, and business nature. As people see your brand name, they are motivated by the passion and taste behind it.
5 Things to Avoid When Naming Your Business
- Involving the committee in naming your business
- The ‘train wreck’ method of picking an adjective, shortening it, and joining a noun.
- The use of plain words. They will never stand out.
- Cliché names (adjective related to the top position. They are overworked.
- Obscure names. Customers will struggle with their meanings.
Set Up Business Email
Setting up an email account should be among the first things you do once the business name is ready. Your personal email address is not supposed to be used for business use. Some people can judge the credibility of your business. Just as a website is vital in reinforcing a business’s credibility, so is a business email.
A business email is important because as you interact with different partners and presenting your card, they can use the same to contact you. Also, one of the most effective ways to market your eyelash business is through email marketing. As a brand, it is best to send emails using your official legit email account. It is not only professional to do so but also works best to build your brand’s credibility.
Reasons Why You Should Use Professional Email Address
- To maintain a positive brand image
- To create a link to your website
- To avoid being marked as spam
- To enable team collaboration through solutions such as office365.
- To promote brand awareness
Create A Bank Account
Once you have a brand name and a business name, it is crucial to create a bank account. It is the bank account that you will use to make and receive payments. For easy tracking and purposes of record-keeping, the use of bank accounts is preferred over cash payments. A bank account also makes your business look credible.
In setting up the account in your brand name, your business registration number must be included. There are different account types and options available to small businesses. Be sure to talk to your bank’s executives for advice on the account that best suits your eyelash business.
Price Setting
One of the most important things to know and consider before setting your product prices is your customers’ expectations and the prevailing market prices. For the same reason, it is crucial to conduct an initial market study to gain essential insights that determine the decisions you make for your lashes business. How you price your products will make or break the business for you. If you get it wrong in pricing, you are bound to run into challenges along the way. Follow this guide to set prices that meet your business goals.
- Cover the costs involved: Set prices that cover the costs of things like materials used, labor costs, and overhead costs. If you do not cover the costs, you will not be able to make any profits.
- Take the market and competitor’s prices into consideration: It is crucial to base your prices on your competition and the market prices. Do not set prices that will scare away potential clients. At the same time, it is not a must to stick to the market prices. Each business comes with its value proposition. If you bring that extra touch that is missing in your competitor’s offerings, do not shy away from setting relatively higher prices.
- Make use of the dynamic pricing strategy: The beauty industry is quite competitive and affected by several factors. As such, the most effective pricing strategy is the dynamic strategy that takes into account several factors such as demand, competition, and season. With the advancements in place, some solutions can automatically analyze and recommend prices based on their parameters. The dynamic pricing is the best strategy as it handles everything on its own why letting you focus on other aspects of the business.
Market And Grow Your Eyelash Business
Effective marketing is one sure way of growing your business. It is crucial to use various strategies to reach a wider audience, create brand awareness, attract prospective customers, and maintain them.
It is through marketing that you inform customers about your products and service offerings. They will understand the value they stand to gain from your products and any additional information they need to know as customers. Here are some methods and strategies on how to market your eyelash business.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Marketing –These are strategies meant to improve a website’s visibility to get more traffic through organic search results on search engines. As you leverage SEO, you will get more traffic, leads, and sales.
Email Marketing – Email marketing involves the process of sending out timely emails to prospective and existing clients and establishing relationships with them. An effective email marketing strategy should convert potential customers into existing customers and first-time buyers to repeat buyers.
Video Marketing – Videos work well with beauty products such as eyelashes. You can create makeup tutorials or how-to-do videos and post them on YouTube channel. The videos can also be shared on the website on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, etc.
Local Marketing – This is the most effective way to reach customers close to your business e.g., in a city or neighborhood. Some such strategies include promotions featuring local celebrities, local sourcing of products, human resources, community involvement, and branding.
Social Marketing – To reach a wider audience, especially the tech-savvy customers, create social media accounts on different platforms and engage your audience through content. It is essential to monitor their reactions and comments on your posts to get insights into what they love and don’t, any concerns they have, and changes they would love to see. The insights can be used as a basis for continuous quality improvement.
By following this guide, you will be able to set up a schedules for your own lash business. As discussed, you must have the right vendors, a proper business name, a strategic place to sell (online, physical store, e-commerce platform), and set up a business bank account. It is crucial to have a professional business email. Be sure to use the dynamic pricing strategy to arrive at the best suitable price for your lashes. Lastly, employ different strategies to market and grow your business.
