PLFアジア2023アフターフェアの感想：中小企業ブランドオーナーにとってのプライベートブランドビジネスモデルの未来とは？

Date: December 2, 2023

After 3 years of covid delay, The 16th Private Label Fair Asia (#PLF) was held at Shanghai New International Expo Center (#SNIEC) from 29th November 2023 to 1st December 2023, PLF is one professional B2B private label trade platform in Asia and 1 of the 3 largest global private label trade shows in the world. These strictly selected OEMs equipped with rich experience in private label and global trading make it a great opportunity for business matchmaking.

As one of the most experienced private label manufacturing for skincare and beauty products, personal skincare hygiene products, Shanghai Easylife International Group Co.,ltd also attended the exhibition and we got some exclusive insights to share with people.

PLF Asia 2023 Shanghai SNIEC entrance (E1 hall for #Beauty #Skincare #HouseholdCleaning Products)

Many world-famous brand owners and shopping mall attended the PLF fair in Shanghai, including Walmart, Metro, Costco, Lotus, SamsClub, Metro, Carrefour ect. We all know there are many advantages for private label model for brand owners.

Create differentiated competition
Higher profit margins
More detailed customer insight marketing capabilities
More conducive to omni-channel integrated operations

Brand Owners, KOLs, KOCs searching for OEM manufacturer at PLF Asia 2023 Shanghai

But at the same time, establishing a private brand also faces many challenges for brand owners, especially small and medium-sized start-ups or KOL KOC individuals.

Private label brands require more investment in capital and human resources

Because private label brands require product design, quality control, packaging design, marketing and promotion, etc., this increases the operating costs and risks of the brand owner.

Private label brands need to face strong competitive pressure and legal risks

Because many emerging private label brands currently come from small and micro units such as industry KOLs KOCs or independent designers. When their brands need to compete with well-known manufacturers or large international chain stores for market share and consumer awareness, they must also comply with relevant laws and regulation, preventing issues such as infringement or counterfeiting, which means that small and micro entrepreneurs face huge challenges in terms of legal risks.

Private label brands need to maintain high product quality and service levels

Because private label products directly represent the brand’s image and reputation, once product defects or unsatisfactory services occur, it will affect consumers’ trust in other products or services of the brand. For mature supermarkets or big brands with accumulated history, they already have mature consumer groups, and the purchase amount is usually large. They can be matched with high-level OEMs to serve them, and the corresponding quality and after-sales service are better and guaranteed, on the other hand, for newly established independent brands private labelling, since they are still in the early embryonic or development stage, the number and amount of purchase orders are relatively small, and the factories willing to OEM for them are usually relatively small, which means quality control and service The level will not be 100% guaranteed, which is also a very fatal risk for new brands.

To sum up, in most cases, new start-ups or KOLs building their own brands can certainly be a magic weapon against homogeneous competition and increase premium space and profits, but they cannot improve the supply-demand adaptation relationship at the strategic level of the project. Therefore, solving problems still requires returning to the essence of business, and self-operated brands are still only one of the means to solve problems, not the only one.

Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the project characteristics, market demand and consumer preferences, and conduct risk assessment and investment return analysis before the company or #KOL #KOC individual decides whether to build a private label brand.