Creating your online store for bath products

The cosmetics industry in general, and bath products in particular, is thriving online. In return, competition is fierce, which means you need to prepare your project meticulously before launching. You’ll also need to stand out from your competitors to carve out a place in the market. Here are the essential steps to follow when creating your online bath products store.

1. Decide on the niche you want to target and define your positioning

The products you decide to sell and the way you present them are two decisive factors for the success of your business. You need to make sure your concept is original enough to attract new customers.

Your idea absolutely must be innovative. If you enter an already saturated niche, you’ll have a hard time convincing customers to come to you rather than their usual supplier, or one already established in the market with a solid reputation.

Your positioning affects how you sell: do you want to reach a broad audience, sell at low cost, move toward a luxury offering, and so on.

You also need to confront your project with market reality and its trends. Take the time to visit online bath products stores to examine the items on offer and how they’re presented and sold.

There are several ways to stand out from your competitors:

• the nature of the bath products;
• the price;
• the packaging;
• customer engagement: for example, you could offer an affiliate program;
• the sales strategy;
• promotions;
• expanding your product range or, conversely, focusing on a very small number, or even a single item;
• loyalty programs, etc.

Finally, your offering must match your target audience, both in terms of image and financial aspects. This should be verified during your market research.

Market research and the business plan

Once your idea starts to take shape, carry out thorough market research. It allows you to define your persona, i.e. a profile of your ideal customer. You then determine whether your positioning lets you reach enough people and whether you have a place among the competition.

Market research allows you to validate the viability of your online bath products store project. It will also help you build your commercial policy and your communication strategy.

Market research fits into a broader document: the business plan, which is your bible. It’s used upfront to convince investors to back your project. It should be the first thing you provide to your banker. It will then serve as your roadmap for your first years in business.

2. Determine the origin of your products

Your products can come from 4 sources: homemade manufacturing, outsourcing the manufacturing of your own products, white-label sales, or reselling. Your choice affects your logistics, your prices, and your margin.

1 — Homemade bath products

Making your own homemade bath products guarantees you a unique and original offering. If you choose this option, you need to be rigorous, as you’ll have to comply with strict rules regarding the choice of raw materials, the manufacturing process, certifications, packaging, and compliance with regulations, including mandatory labels and pictograms.

You should inform yourself and get trained so that your business is legal.

2 — Outsourcing the manufacturing of your bath products

Outsourcing the manufacturing of your bath products lets you create your own formulas without dealing with the manufacturing and packaging constraints that require financial investment and time. You also benefit from your manufacturer’s expertise, which helps you develop the products.

3 — White-label sales

Selling under white label (or private label) means reselling products that the manufacturer supplies without their own brand attached. It’s up to you to create your brand and visual identity, as well as your sales pitch.

White label is a compromise that lets you distribute your bath products under a single brand, even though other resellers of your manufacturer will distribute exactly the same products. The customer, on the other hand, may feel misled if they notice the trick, though the odds of that are slim.

This method requires you to focus on your packaging and your commercial offering, since you can’t differentiate yourself through the simple composition of your product.

4 — Reselling

Reselling bath products is the simplest approach, but the one that will give you the smallest margin. You select one or more manufacturers who have chosen not to distribute their items directly and prefer to entrust that to people like you.

Some may even offer you the dropshipping model: once an order is placed, it’s up to the manufacturer to ship the package to the customer, which saves you from stocking inventory and handling logistics. Dropshipping is the easiest solution by far, but it further limits your margin.

Regulatory compliance

Whatever your choice, you need to know the regulations. Even if you’re not the manufacturer yourself, you must be able to ensure your manufacturer complies with the standards. These primarily concern the composition of your bath product, since it’s a sensitive item in direct contact with the skin. You then need to comply with packaging rules and the mandatory information that must appear on the packaging: expiry date, period after opening, name and address of the manufacturer, list of ingredients, batch number, specific precautions for use, and country of origin for imported products.

Finally, you must comply with truthfulness requirements and be able to back up your marketing claims about the benefits of your bath products with solid evidence.

3. Building your offering

If you’re not working on the resale model, you need to create your own brand. This involves defining a name, then designing a logo and a broader visual identity. These are key elements that must be evocative and inspire trust. They also play into your positioning — the presentation of a mass-market brand is not the same as that of a luxury product.

Make sure your image, positioning, pricing, and target audience are all consistent with each other.

4. Creating your online bath products store

It’s time to get into the concrete part of your project: creating your online bath products store. You can learn on your own and use a CMS that makes the job easier, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, etc. If you have a bigger budget, hire a professional to build your store to access more customization.

Your site must be user-friendly and easy to navigate. Each of your products should come with as complete a product page as possible. It should include the product’s characteristics (size, weight, scent, etc.), its purpose, and how to use it. Your product page should be written with a sales angle in mind to encourage prospects to add the product to their cart. Avoid flashy, exaggerated claims that could mislead your customers and generate negative word of mouth.

Don’t forget to write your “About” page, which explains your approach and your brand’s philosophy. It’s very important for building trust with your visitors. They should also have direct access to a contact option to ask for more information.

Showcase your products with photos that show them from every angle and also demonstrate the results during or after use. An image of a bathtub filled with a generous, silky-looking bubble bath, for example, helps drive the purchase decision.

Your terms and conditions of sale and your return policy must be clearly displayed, as should your delivery terms and rates.

5. Rolling out your sales strategy

You should have described your sales strategy in your business plan. Now it’s time to implement it. You absolutely need to generate traffic to your site to maximize your chances of selling.

There are many ways to do this: paid advertising campaigns, social media communication, organic search visibility through blog articles, affiliate marketing, promotions, etc.

6. Managing your online bath products store

Managing your online bath products store requires the use of e-commerce accounting software. Choose a tool suited to your business. It should be practical, intuitive, and efficient. Your goal is to spend as little time as possible on your accounting while getting the most out of its features.

You can try the Bizyness invoicing software for free, specifically designed for e-commerce. It adapts to your legal status and syncs with your online bath products store, as well as with your bank account. It lets you automate as many tasks as possible. Bizyness helps you manage your customer and supplier records, generate exports for your accountant or the tax authorities, and automatically issue your invoices to save you time.

Bizyness offers a host of other features you can try, thanks to a free, no-commitment 15-day trial.