I private labeled and manufactured car care products before selling my company at the beginning of this year. I private labeled a multi purpose cleaner, wax, polish and a water based interior dressing. I also manufactured a multi purpose cleaner and a high gloss tire dressing. Here is some advice off the top of my head. Make sure you are legal and insured. Some places, there is a lot of red tape to cut through to sell a product. The good news is that it is easy to find out that information either online or by making one phone call to your proper city/state offical. Next is insurance. Find out what you need and get it. One of the best lessons I ever learned was never underestimate the general public. Someone somewhere will do that stupid thing you thought no one would ever do. Part of the insurance process is also finding out and knowing what you have to have on your labels as far as directions, languages, warnings ect. You want your tail covered. Sometimes when private labeling a product, the manufacture that makes and sells a product to you are selling you products that are really geared for a professional detailer. They sell it to you, you sign off on it and they cover their tails. While those same products work amazing read the warnings on the MSDS sheets. They are made up of some pretty nasty stuff because they are originally created under the pretense that a professional would be the end user, not the average person in their driveway without gloves or a mask. Basically, just do your homework and take some extra time to get the right products. Also, starting out with a single product is a great thing to do. One product is easier to build brand strength and you can introduce more products to the line in time. This also helps from a cost perspective as well. What worked for me was a tire dressing first. It was an incredible dressing. Anyone who used it always bought it again and again. It was also priced very well so it sold a lot of units. When I launched a new product, all my old customers bought it based on the strength of the original product. I used a tire dressing first because to compete against waxes and the really popular products is a lot more work. There is so much to selling to retail stores PM me and I will get you off on the right foot. I don’t want to waste everyone’s time reading another story…. lol. In a nutshell, forget about selling to detail shops. Some will buy, but not enough and definitely not at the margins you want. Gear your products towards consumers for the most profit. Car shows are a great place to sell because cost can be relatively low and consumer exposure is really high. But get ready to put on a show because you have to convince “car guysâ€� to leave the products they have used forever and try yours. Remember “car guysâ€� are not Autopian’s. Autopian’s want to try new stuff and love the new car care products. “Car guysâ€� love the cars and use the stuff they think works. Without typing too much more the best thing for you to do is link up with a great “partnerâ€�. When I say partner I mean a popular local speed shop ect. Sell them on your product (again PM me and I’ll give you some tips without wasting everyone’s time) and sell your products through them using their brand identification and strength. Sorry for the story length post. This is a topic that can use a plethora of space. PM me with any questions or if a mod says it’s cool I will right out the long and complete version.
Thanks,
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