Full Check-list to start a lash supply business

For such a checklist, you can easily ask AI models like ChatGPT or Gemini. However, you might also benefit from the insights of experienced professionals in the lash industry. This article is written by a lash manufacturer who work with many lash supply business. Hope that it can give you some more intesting information.

Quick Action: Check-list to download: HERE, Insights from us as content below.

I. RESEARCH AND PLANNING

1. Market Research

When you start, Market research should be simple like getting to know Who is your customers and Who is your competitors.

The first bitter truth we have to accept is that a single lash supply business can’t sell to everyone. Therefore, we must choose the right customer segment to serve effectively. And on your targeted customer segment, there would always be competitors there. Serving them effectively means “significantly more effective than your competitors”.

The simplest method to achieve both objectives is as follows: list all the criteria that can be used to differentiate customers and competitors in the market of your lash product, and then use each pair of criteria to segment in a matrix.

• Branded or Non Branded Product, Luxury and Exclusive product or Basic.
• Trendy or Basic Product
• Online or Offline Buying
• Brand loyal or price-sensitive
• Profession: Technical Mature Market or Young Market.
• Income level: Budget-conscious buyers vs. premium product buyers
• Urband or Rural Area
• Regular or Ocasion Buying
• Style preference: Natural or Bold, Western or Asian?
• Values or Attitutes: High or Low on Eco-friendly and cruelty-free products
• Order size: wholsale buyers or retail buyers?
• Business size: At home, independent lash artist or big salons?

Don’t worry if you see a strong competitor in your favorite segment. First, it might be a signal to reconsider why you prefer that segment. Second, when you work with other pairs of criteria, you may find that the competitor is no longer in the same segment as you. In such cases, you will discover your unique differentiator. Afterall, you’ll find your “blue ocean” by summing up the segments that you’re in, and easily to set out your USP (Unique Selling Point).

2. Business Plan

Define your business goals and mission.

Since you have conducted thorough market research on both customers and competitors through careful segmentation, you now have a clear understanding of your ‘blue ocean’ in your lash supply market. Your mission is simply to strive to become the ‘King of that blue ocean’.

For example, if this your case of market segment:

• Branded or Non Branded Product, Luxury and Exclusive product or Basic: Branded Luxury.
• Trendy or Basic Product: Basic
• Online or Offline Buying: Offline
• Brand loyal or price-sensitive: Brand Loyal
• Profession: Technical Mature Market or Young Market: Technial Mature
• Income level: Budget-conscious buyers vs. premium product buyers: Premium
• Urband or Rural Area: Urband
• Regular or Ocasion Buying: Regular
• Style preference: Natural or Bold, Western or Asian?: Bold
• Values or Attitutes: High or Low on Eco-friendly and cruelty-free products: High
• Order size: wholsale buyers or retail buyers?: Retail
• Business size: Professional Salons.

The mission of your lash supply company would be something like: The first and last place where true lash professionals can come to find truely high-end lash products for their salons.

And Now about the Business Goal: It should align closely with your mission. Think about when you would like to achieve your mission and the criteria that will indicate its realization. This clarity will help you define your business goal precisely.

For example: You would like your mission would be completed in 2 years, and you can only agree with yourself on that only when you convert 60% of luxury lash salons in your area into your loyal customers.

Since you can estimate the number of customers in your segment and their average spending on your products, you can translate these figures into targeted revenue, profit margin, and other metrics like scale and costs. This approach enables you to set business goals across various areas—whether it’s marketing, sales, cost management, or financial performance.

Outlines innitial cost, pricing strategies and revenue projection.

Now that you have your business goal (a SMART one), complete with specific numbers and a timeline, creating projections becomes much easier. These could include revenue over time, variable costs, stock requirements, and financial investments over the same period.

Your initial costs will not only cover inventory and online presence but also include expenses related to an offline store. This offline store should be seen as an investment, recouped over time through depreciation factored into the selling price of each product. We will discuss about this in the next section.

Your ‘blue ocean’ (the segments you have chosen) will guide your pricing strategy effectively. In line with your mission from the example above, you can set premium prices to reinforce your image as a luxury brand. Instead of lowering prices or offering discounts, focus on adding unique benefits to enhance the total value package for your customers. For example, it can be a free-trials of your products in your store including some gifts with their first orders after trying. Or you can also consider trying Iphone price skimming strategy if you have a plan to upgrade your products seasonally.

Build up your business model.

Taking the time to think through the pieces below will help you get a complete picture of your business model.

• Customer Segments: For whom you’re creating values? Who are the most important customers?
• Value Propositions: What values do you deliver to your customers? Bundle of products/services we offer.
• Customer Relationship: What type of relationship does each of our Customer Segment expect us to establish with?
• Channels: Through which Channels do your customer segments want to be reached?
• Key Activities: Which key activities do out value propositions require?
• Key Resources: Which key resources do out value propositions require?
• Key partners: Who are our key partners?
• Revenue Streams: For what values are our customers willing to pay?
• Cost Structure: Which are the most important cost?

And make sure that you will not think about it for only 1 time. Regular review is a good practice.

II. LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SETUP

1. Business Registration

Choose a business name and register it with your local authorities. Your lash supply business name can be the same or not the same as your lash brand name. In case that they’re not the same, you need to choose both.

To choose good name, you can refer to our post: How to get great eyelash business names

Decide on a business structure (sole proprietorship, LLC, etc.). If you’re not familiar with this, counsult a law service would be the best choice.

2. Licenses and Permits

Obtain any required business licenses or permits, Check local regulations for selling lash products and tools. And also you should check the licenses of doing business under other lash brands name or products granted with patents owned by other lash suppliers.

3. Tax Identification

It’s crucial to apply for a tax identification number (EIN) even when you just start your lash supply business at a very small scale.

Anyway, Legal and Administrative setups are normally 1 shot actions and you can always hire a service to help you. Spending too much of time and effort on it could take your energy that you should have to start a business.

III. FINANCIAL PREPARATION

1. Startup Costs

You would need budget for these groups of cost: Innitial inventory, Branding and Designing, Legal and Administrative Costs, Marketing and Advertising, and other Operational Costs, Product Development and Testing. Other additional cost might be: Employee or Freelancer Costs, Education and Training, Custom Tools and Equipment, Miscellaneous Costs, Technology and Automation…

There would be specific type of cost in each of those group. You can download a Full list of costs in details here: STARTUP COSTS FOR LASH SUPPLY BUSSINESS

2. Banking and Payment Setup

You need to open a dedicated business bank account and Set up payment processing systems (e.g., PayPal, Stripe, credit card processing). Nowadays, many customers prefer using Creditcard or even BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) Services like Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm…

IV. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

1. Source Products

Find reliable lash suppliers or manufacturers for your lash supply business.

As you may know, almost all lashes are made in China & Vietnam. Korea seems to have many lash brands, but actually their products are made in China and Vietnam too. And especially, Vietnamese factories are really willing to support you to start from very small.

Refer to these posts:

• How to find good lash vendors in Vietnam
• Vietnamese lash vendor list – a practical guide to collect
• Your lash vendor should be a real factory, not a trader
• 5 Types of lashes supplier in the world.

Sampling

Samples can help you in many things: to see the quality of both lash product & service provided by a lash manufacturers, to test the sales or the reaction of your customers and photoshooting too. You may also want to customize something on the lashes in accordance with your customers’ feedback. Therefore, paying for samples is really worthy. And since buying samples are costy, it will encourage you to take more time studying on a lash supplier. However, don’t underestimate free shipping policies from strong manufacturers.

Ex: Sen Lash Factory Vietnam’s Free samling policy for lash supply businesses:

2. Lashes Catalog Building

If variety is not a must, your lash supply business should not pursue it immediately by default. And the rate is very important. 80% of the revenue can be generated from 20% of your products. Basic things you can do is asking your targeted customers and spy on your competiors. And remember that you can always ask your manufacturer for their experience. They can surelly tell you what is selling good, what’s not.

Don’t underestimate the important of small items. Their values might be very small to make you some margin, but they can help to fulfill the need of your customers. It give you more chance to connect to your customers and give less chance to your customers to buy from other supplier.

3. Packaging and Branding

Create a logo and cohesive branding: No matter if you are going to design it by yourself or hire a professional service, Refer to this post first: Lash Logo – An ultimate guides for lash businesses.

Design appealing and durable packaging: Keep in mind that desiging packaging means not only the aesthetic part but also the functional part. Aesthetic part depending on not only the drawing, but also the knowledge of the materials & the finishing technology. The functional part are decided buy the structure of the packaging. And there are always other constraint like cost, MOQ. Make sure that you have the at least a consultation with your lash manufacturer in this phase.

In many cases that you find a professional lash manufacturer, they can help you in this designing for free.

Refer to: Sen Lash Factory Vietnam ‘s private label/ OEM/ ODM service HERE.

V. ONLINE AND PHYSICAL PRESENCE

1. Website Development

To facility the customer experience of online shopping, you should build an e-commerce website with product listings and secure checkout options. Shopify, WordPress are most favourite platforms which enable you to integrate almost all operational functions of your lash supplies business into 1 website. You can also consider creating your online stores on other e-commerce websites (like Etsy, Amazon….).

You should also needd to at least include product descriptions, reviews, and high-quality images. And don’t forget to think about a space to provide your targeted audience with useful contents in the future when you design your website.

2. Social Media and Marketing

• Set up your lash supply business profiles on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. However, Don’t try to appear on all social media platform. Consider Where your potential customers tend to visit, your human resource and your advertising plan before setting up any profile on any social platform.
• Share tutorials, before-and-after photos, and user-generated content. Don’t just make it spontaniously. You better have a content plan to make sure that you can deliver all the important message to your potential customers via those contents.

3. Physical Location/Warehouse/Store/Pickup point.

If you’re opening a physical store, choosing the right location and space are two of the most important factors. Consider how you want your customers to discover you, interact with you to learn about your products and services, and ultimately receive their purchases. These considerations will guide you in making a good decision.

For example, if you want customers to discover your store by seeing it in person, you should choose a location with high foot traffic. On the other hand, if you expect customers to find you through Instagram and visit your beautiful store nearby, you can opt for a less crowded area for a wider space.

VI. OPERATION AND LOGISTICS

1. Inventory Management

• Organize a system for tracking stock levels. Remember that you need to track the stock on both physical warehouse and on your information system. Therefore the way you organize the stock in your warehouse should facilitate not only picking up the lashes but also the inventory on a regular basis. To manage the stock on your information system, it’s the best practice to integrate this function into your website which can connect your data of stock and sales, and make you real-time reports.
• Plan for restocking popular items. After implementing your sales strategy for 1–2 months, you can observe and anticipate trends. Don’t forget the safety stock when making the forecast to guide your restocking plan.

2. Shipping and Delivery

• Research shipping providers and costs. And be creative on it. You can also create new shipping service. For example, you can cooperate with some local famous place for a click-and-collect point.
• Offer various delivery options, including express shipping.

3. Customer Service

• Provide a clear return and refund policy.
• Set up email and chat support.

VII. MARKETING AND GROWTH STRATEGY

1. Promotional Campaigns

There are 3 effective ways to run your promotional campaigns in lash industry:

• Collaborate with influencers in the beauty industry.
• Run discounts/Gifts for events.
• Organize events or sponsor for events.

2. Customer Engagement

• Encourage reviews and feedback at all of your touch points.
• Offer loyalty programs or referral bonuses.
• Build groups or community where your customers or potential customers can join and free dicuss about anything regarding to lash businesses. Listen to their needs/problems… can give you a chance to support them. And then you get their better engagement.

3. Analytics and Scaling

• Use tools to track sales, website traffic, and customer behavior. Normally, you can integrate all of these functions into your website.
• Expand your product line based on demand. And don’t forget to be aware of new trend or new products on the market. You should do that for a period of time for a real deep understanding about customer needs and failed solutions before really taking actions to lead the trend.

VIII. CHECK-LIST TEMPLATE TO DOWNLOAD

We have make you a template of check-list here for anyone who are interested in starting a lash supply business, so that you can download it and use in your way.

DOWNLOAD: Check-list to start a lash supply business