What are cosmetics?
Cosmetics are all kinds of beauty, body, and hair care products such as body lotion, hair cream, hair relaxer, tooth paste, lipstick, nail polish, hair spray, face powder, body wash, lip balm, and many others.
This article is specifically written to give you a detailed practicable guide for starting a cosmetics business in Nigeria. If you’re willing to start this business on a small-scale, it does not require heavy capital. Having the right exposure for setting up a fragrance, beauty, and cosmetics retail store is the formula behind running this business successfully.
The secret behind the mounting high of the cosmetics and beauty industry today in Nigeria is that everybody wants to look awesome. Because of this, the basically-needed cosmetics products such as the body cream, detergent, hair cream, and bath soap sell very fast in the market.
A cosmetics business is a very lucrative one in Nigeria and can be run either on a small-scale or on a large-scale depending on how much you’re willing to invest into it for a start.
If you must get a huge capital to start this business, then starting in a lifetime is not feasible with you at all. So, if you have passion for selling cosmetics, beauty and body-care products, start somewhere. Use the little amount you have in account for a start and rock the business gradually.
How to Start Cosmetics Business in Nigeria
If you’re ready to start a cosmetics business somewhere, here are the right steps to follow:
- Make proper findings about the cosmetics business first
- Prepare a business plan
- Choose the hot selling cosmetics products
- Choose a location suitable for your cosmetics business
- Get the certificate of incorporation for your cosmetics business
- Decorate, furnish, and load your cosmetics store
- Set a capital budget
- Connect to distributors
- Implement the working strategies
- Sell your products online
Make Proper Findings about the Cosmetics Business First
Before you start the cosmetics business at all, try getting some information about the business, where to start from, how to set it up successfully, how to order products, how to resell, and how to make substantial profits from it.
You need to learn from those who had been in the business over a long period of time, grab their skills, devise the same marketing strategies they implement, emulate their sales techniques, as well as attract visitors the way they do.
Prepare a Business Plan For Cosmetics Business In Nigeria
The reason behind the fall in most businesses in Nigeria today is that no adequate plan was made prior to starting up. There is a clear difference between what is efficiently planned for and what is not planned for at all.
So, in starting a cosmetics business, just like in any other entrepreneurial business, you must prepare a business plan in which you’ll:
- Set the goals and objectives of the business
- Write the vision statement
- Write the mission statement
- Set the start-up funds
- Conduct a market research
- Structure your organization; and
- Make provisions for bad debts
Choose the Hot Selling Cosmetics Products In Nigeria
For a cosmetics business to be profitable, more of the hot selling products must be chosen and loaded in the store. This ensures that products get sold out on time. When the selling rate becomes very high, profit will be worth it.
Some of the hot selling body care and beauty products include:
- Laundry and toiletry products
- Hair care products
- Skin care products; and
- Makeup products
Laundry and toiletry products: Laundry products and the toiletries are products such as deodorant, bath soap, tooth paste, tissue paper, body perfumes and many others.
Hair care products: These products include hair relaxer, hair attachments, conditioners, hair spray, shampoo, and many others.
Skin care products: These are products such as moisturizer, body toner, age defying lotion, and many more.
Makeup products: The makeup products include black opal, Clinique, Mary Kay, and many more.
Choose a Location Suitable for your Cosmetics Business In Nigeria
In setting up, you need to find a location that is highly suitable for running a cosmetics business. Putting this into consideration from the onset will ensure a smooth operation and the success of the business. As it’s really good to learn from the mistakes of others, it is not good rather to fall into the same as such mistakes may be costly sometimes.
Before buying the products to be arranged in the shop, you must have got an awesome location for your business first. This particular step should precede the loading of the products in the store.
Get the Certificate of Incorporation for your Cosmetics Business In Nigeria
The process of registering your business as a company is one of the most crucial steps you need to take first to ensure a smooth business operation.
The branch offices of the Corporate Affairs Commissions are all over the nation. So, look for a nearby office and make your intention of registering your business as a company known to the official in charge. You’ll then be given the basic instructions to follow to successfully register your business and get the certificate of incorporation.
There are two alternative ways in which your certificate of incorporation arrives from the headquarters in Abuja. The first ensures that your certificate arrives in 5-6 weeks, whereas, the second way which is called the “Express” way processes your certificate and gets it ready in less than 1-2 weeks.
Decorate, Furnish, and Load your Cosmetics Store In Nigeria
One of the ways to attract the potential customers to your retail store is by designing, furnishing, beautifying and loading the store with lots of beautiful and hot-selling body care products. This is the most working strategy to captivate and attract so many people to patronize you.
Set your Capital
As said earlier in this article, you need some funds to really venture into a cosmetics business, though you may start on a small-scale or on a large-scale. Even if you’re only capable of starting very low, strategize the business and wait for the results ahead.
Connect to Distributors
If the business is being operated on a large-scale, then you’ll need to connect to suppliers. These are the groups of people who will supply the products to the retailers. Sales will be remitted to you, commissions will be paid to suppliers if they’re acting as sales representatives and profits will be sorted out.
Implement the Working Strategies
In every entrepreneurial business, there are working strategies to be implemented such that sales are made on time. This is part of the skills you’ll need to acquire from those who had been in the business for a very long time.
Those who implement the working strategies get better results and move faster in business. To ensure you step up on time, get close to those who had ventured into this business long before you started planning at all.
Sell your Products Online
Going online for the marketing of your cosmetics products is the wisest step you can ever take in a lifetime. The internet is used by over 3.75 trillions of people and millions are surfing it daily, searching for one thing or the other. So, whoever is searching for cosmetics products or trying to learn how he can set up the business can find your blog easily.
Though things don’t work out in a day or week, you can begin by launching a personal blog and, before you know it, you’re already pulling in the traffic.
