So you heard about ecommerce. You decided to go down the rabbit hole and discovered white labeling, private labeling, Amazon fulfillment centres, eBay and all those other things associated with selling products online and now you’re pumped up and almost ready to go! Almost. There’s still one vital thing to do before you start your online venture…
...actually choosing what you are going to sell! It might be an overwhelming task with the amount of products available and that’s not even touching the topic of which manufacturer to choose. In this article we will try to make your life easier by presenting you with a list of the best products for people starting with white label and private label products selling.
It is only appropriate to firstly differentiate those two before we dive in any further: private label products are usually produced by a manufacturer exclusively for one company under their name, while white label items are produced by the manufacturer and then sold to many retailers for them to put their branding on them. Private labelling will require you to provide your product’s specifications to your supplier before he can produce them. White label products are already designed manufactured, so they require less hassle but you don’t have the influence over the product’s specs.
Now that we got that off the way, let’s see what are your options!
Pet products
Astonishing 49.3% pet products sold in 2017 in Europe were private labels, in countries like Germany, Spain and Hungary this number was as high as over 60%. That fact alone makes them a perfect niche to start with in ecommerce but wait, there's more. The entire pet industry has seen an amazing growth in recent years without any indication of stopping.
Although pets have been around for a while (and by ‘a while’ we mean forever) this sudden growth is not that surprising with millennials and gen Z gaining more purchasing power and adopting the pet-owning lifestyle more than any of the other generations. That might also influence the high percentage of white and private label product sales, as these generations are increasingly looking for cheaper alternatives to big brands.
Private labelling is much more popular among pet food brands, as they often offer natural ingredients with price significantly lower than the big names in the industry. However, white label is far from absent in the pet industry, the situation in the pet toys segment is somewhat different. White label pet grooming products also seem to be doing very well, especially among the previously mentioned generations.
Diet supplements
Another market that is currently on a steep upward trend and is white and private label friendly is dietary supplements! Valued at an astonishing $115.06 billion in 2018 and with the compound annual growth rate of 7.8% to 2025, this is also one of the most ecommerce friendly markets out there.
With growing health awareness and popularity of wellness oriented lifestyle it is not a surprise that the sector is growing as much as it is. Other important market drivers are the increasingly positive outlook towards sports nutrition and rise of gyms and sports complexes in urban areas.
The boom started in the early 2000’s when people started looking for cheaper, easily accessible nutrition and although the motivations for buying have become more diverse, the trend is carrying on today. Manufacturers around the world are capitalising on this by distributing private and white label supplements to countless retailers. The popularity of these practices makes it easier than ever to start your own line of supplements and there are many opportunities for entrepreneurs in various niches within this market.
However there are a couple of things to keep in mind while starting a private or white label supplement brand. One of those things is that it’s a quite regulated market, therefore it will be easier for you to start a white label brand than private label. Don’t let that discourage you though, as many private label manufacturers offer ways to make meeting the right regulations and certificates easier!
Beauty Products
Following the pattern in this article it is appropriate to start this paragraph with another statistic, so here we go. The global beauty industry was valued $300 billion in 2018 according to a report from Trefis,and within that market the global skincare segment was valued at nearly $135 billion. If these numbers don’t make you salivate, you’re probably dehydrated.
The market isn’t stale either, the US sales of skincare products grew by 13% just in 2018 and in the UK between 2015 and 2018 it was close to 15%. The same trends seem to be present across the rest of Europe and North America as well. Ecommerce businesses certainly noticed an opportunity here, as the skin care products are just as easy to manufacture to a given specification as supplements.
White labeling is also very much alive in this sector - big brands are losing customers to independent brands as contents of the bottle have become of primary importance as many people today are looking for more organic and environmentally friendly brands. That means that if you’re looking to start a white label beauty care brand you have to carefully choose the manufacturer!
Additional advantage of this market is that large and lively communities online focused around this topic allow white and private label brands to reach more people and win their trust by careful branding and transparency regarding ingredients.
Vaping products and e-cigarettes
E-cigarettes and vaping products are quite a new industry compared to the other ones we’ve already mentioned in this article, nevertheless they are one of the best products to sell from white label and private label suppliers. Wide social acceptance of vaping and e-cigarettes has led to a high demand and increasing interest of smokers in the alternatives.
Because cancer is a huge concern amongst traditional smokers, so it is only natural that they’re looking for alternatives to tobacco. It is no surprise then, that the e-cigarette market is steadily growing across the whole EU with no sign of slowing down with the compound growth rate being 15.7% to 2025. If you’re wondering which countries you should sell your products in to make the most of that trend, Euromonitor International reports that the US, the UK and France are the biggest markets for e-cigarettes and other alternatives.
Most of the liquids used in e-cigarettes are manufactured by white label companies, meaning there is a great variety of suppliers to choose from. And there’s more good news for anyone looking to start selling private/white label vape liquid, the industry is predicted to expand over the next few years, leaving plenty of room for the development of more start-ups.
CBD Products
Similarly to e-cigarettes and vaping products, the CBD sector is very fresh and it has been rapidly growing in the past years. It is estimated that around 4-6 million people have tried CDB in the UK alone, with over 90% of CBD products on the market today coming from white label suppliers.
This is one of the fastest growing industries today and is predicted to be worth over £2 billion by 2025. Having developed from a niche to a mainstream product category, it has led many entrepreneurs to huge success already. This is a great sector for anyone looking to get started, but there are many rules and regulations sellers need to be aware of before diving into the exciting world of CBD. To make sure you don’t forget anything while starting your white or private label CBD business, check out this article from Talk Business.
If you’ve reached the end of this article I’m assuming that you’re in some way connected to or want to start a white label or private label brand. There’s no better way to get educated and to see all the hottest suppliers than coming to the White Label Expo in Frankfurt on 6 & 7 May. Register for the tickets today to make sure you don’t miss out on the biggest event in the industry!