Selling far from every product brings significant income and allows you to open a successful business. Cosmetics and perfumes are not among these, they are always in demand.
The main thing is to organize the business correctly. What should be considered when starting such a business? What details and pitfalls do you need to know?
Product Legality
One of the difficulties of such a case is the mandatory certification. All perfumery and cosmetic products must necessarily comply with the rules for labeling and registration of necessary documents, it is also important to monitor the confirmation of quality and expiration dates. When concluding contracts with distributors and manufacturers, all these points will need to be taken into account.
In addition, it is important to choose products with the right packaging. It should contain all the necessary information. You can find out all the requirements and rules in the Technical Regulations, which apply to the CIS countries. Already during the implementation, it is also necessary to monitor the state of production so that expired goods do not fall into the hands of buyers. Selling such products can lead to complaints, loss of customer confidence and lower profits.
Official documents
It doesn’t matter what product you plan to sell: whether it will be expensive selective cosmetics or organic products made on your own, you will need administrative registration of activities. First of all, you need to register as an individual entrepreneur or founder of an LLC. The first option is more convenient for a small institution, and the second is suitable for those who plan to develop a large-scale trading network.
Making the necessary documents, you need to choose the right type of activity: the papers should indicate the retail trade of perfumes, household chemicals and cosmetics. After that, you need to decide on taxation. Consult a financial professional and choose between a single imputed income tax or a simplified system. Only after all these procedures you can conduct business completely openly and legally, without fear of penalties.
Search for premises
It is important not only to immediately understand which products are profitable to trade, but also to find where exactly to do this. The right choice of location for the store is also of great importance. It is most convenient to rent a room in a large shopping center or find a separate point on the ground floor of a residential building. Alternatively, you can rent a detached small pavilion. The rental price is certainly important, but the main thing is to take into account the number of potential buyers.
Therefore, a slightly more expensive room on a busy street would be a much better choice than a budget plot in a quiet area where there are few buyers. Successful trading will quickly pay back the rent. The area of the store should be from thirty to ninety square meters. The optimal size is about forty-five squares. So it will be possible to conveniently organize the space and not overpay the lessor for too much space.
Equipment purchase
Like any other trading business, cosmetics and perfumes require certain costs for the design of the store. You will need counters, shelves and shelves, an attention-grabbing sign and cash register. When choosing the design of a trading floor, try to take into account the features of the leased premises.If its area is small, it is better to install only wall counters and racks. If the hall is spacious, you can place and island showcases in the center. 
In the event that the specialization of your store is professional cosmetics, the distributor can offer you branded racks for placing such goods. Bright and open counters increase sales, but when using them, it is imperative to equip a reliable security system.
If you are more attracted to the wholesale trade in cosmetics, the trading floor is generally optional, the office where detailed catalogs and all kinds of samples of the products you offer will be presented is much more important. The bulk of the goods will be stored in a warehouse.
Assortment development
You should consider what the list of products you offer will be long before you start a business. Cosmetics and perfumes are extremely diverse, so the range can be very wide and from any price category. Try to offer customers both decorative and care products, products for the body and hair, for personal hygiene and hair removal. Consider creating gift baskets from the most popular means.
Be guided by the demand of customers, and the advantageous offers of suppliers. To get started, choose the most sought-after products, and order all the new items in small trial lots, already determining in the course of sales how relevant a particular product is. You can expand the list with related products, for example, hair accessories, gift wrapping, jewelry, household chemicals, underwear.
Is it profitable to trade in cosmetics and perfumes? It’s quite, because margins on perfumes range from 45 to 100 percent of the cost, care and decorative products are sold at a higher price than the wholesale price by 20-50 percent, and household chemicals by 15-25 percent.
Staff recruitment
Communicative and interested in their work employees always have a positive impact on the business. Cosmetics and perfumes are among those areas for which this is especially important. Therefore, when drawing up a business plan, you should immediately consider the required number of sellers and consultants.
For a small store you will need four employees who will work in shifts. An administrator is also needed who will control the quantity of goods and carry out accounting. If you want to save such work, you can do it yourself. When conducting an interview, pay attention to what consultants are in communication.
Competent advice and respectful treatment will make customers return to the store again and again. Therefore, it is important not only to know all the necessary information about the product, but also the overall impression. To maximize the level of service in the store, you can send employees to specialized courses from time to time.
Advertising activity
The main profit is formed due to regular customers who are attracted to the store with the help of various promotions, bonuses and discount programs. Therefore, advertising is far from the last important task. Even before the opening of the store, you should think about developing a discount program for regular cardholders and directly making such cards.
Any expenses for such shares will surely pay off in the process. In addition, you need to disseminate information about opening a store by any available means: from distributing booklets to publishing ads in newspapers or magazines. If the attention of potential customers is attracted in advance, in the first days after the start of work, there will be guaranteed no downtime.
Internet Trading
A good additional source of income is to create a store online. Since the goods will still be ordered for sale, it will not be too difficult to send purchases to customers from the Internet.
It’s worth turning to specialists to create a site, but you can try to cope on your own, because there are many tips and recommendations on the network. Please note that the online store page must have a convenient order form and payment methods.
If purchases are intuitive, customers will definitely come back again and again. In addition to the direct assortment, it is worth posting interesting feature articles on the site. With the help of such a store, the business will develop even more actively.
Production of our own natural cosmetics
If the area of the store allows, you can open in it a small department of organic products. The modern desire of people for environmentally friendly and natural products causes a steady interest in such cosmetics. You should not think over a wide assortment - such products are not stored for too long, so it’s better to choose several items that will attract supporters of this type of product to the store.
Keep in mind that it’s easier to work with dry ingredients than waxes and oils, so it’s easier to make useful bath bombs than a body product or face cream. Test each new product at home, offer to try the product to relatives and friends. Carefully study the formulation and properties of all components used before starting production. If all the rules are followed, an excellent product will be obtained, which, with successful sales, can eventually be registered as a trademark.
Cost analysis
As in any other business, there are many difficulties and subtleties in opening a store of perfumery and cosmetic products. Such a business requires large-scale investments. In order for the store to generate stable income, it must be not only competitive, but also beautiful, because the main customers of this kind of outlets are women.
When compiling a business plan, include the rent of premises for a month, the cost of repairs and commercial equipment, lighting, inventory and advertising. Along with expenses for salaries, taxes and utilities, the opening of a medium-sized store will cost about one hundred thousand dollars. Sale of cosmetics, perfumes and related products will make it possible to recoup it in the shortest possible time. And if you have an online store, the enterprise will become profitable even faster.
