If you’re in the process of building a new beauty brand, you’ll hear all kinds of advice about where to do your manufacturing. In recent years, conventional wisdom among competitive and successful businesses has been to outsource manufacturing to countries and regions where costs can be minimised while output is maximised.
While it’s hard to fault that logic, as an aspiring Australian beauty brand, you should really look for a beauty manufacturer in Australia. Below, we’ll explain more reasons why that is:
1. Higher Standards Can Be Better Guaranteed
This is not to say that other countries in the world don’t make products to high standards, but the reality of differing standard and quality thresholds across differing economies cannot be denied. Manufacturers in other countries might quote you low prices and assure you of the highest quality control standards, claiming all kinds of certifications and experience in the field, but it’s only really with a domestic manufacturer that you can ensure a level of transparency that you can feel more confident about.
With a domestic manufacturer, you can regularly pay visits to the production facility to ensure standards are high, and you have better recourse for solving complaints when you share a common language and culture, something that importers find difficulty with when dealing with manufacturers in China or Southeast Asia, for example.
2. Transparency and Ethical Standards Can Be Kept Higher
Besides the pure quality of the product, there is also the advantage of being able to add more transparency on ethical standards when using domestic manufacturers. It’s easy to determine whether or not a manufacturer treats workers well, pays them properly, and employs proper practices when it comes to things like waste disposal.
Once again, overseas manufacturers do also adhere to very high and strict standards, but the difficulty for you — especially in the age of international COVID travel restrictions — is that you have very little real control, or ability to maintain a watchful eye on how your overseas manufacturer is really behaving.
3. Supports the National and Local Economies
Another great reason to use domestic manufacturers is to support Australian business and economic well-being. When you place orders with domestic manufacturers, you’re supporting Australian jobs and livelihoods, and helping to ensure that home-grown businesses can grow, employ more people and bring real benefits to their surrounding communities. As your manufacturer grows, so too do other businesses in the area that can work to support the manufacturer: food and beverage for workers, accounting and financial services, legal services, delivery and logistics services, and more. The benefits spread around.
4. Reduces Delivery Times and Costs
While the prevailing assumption is that overseas manufacturing is still far cheaper even when you take shipping and logistics into account. It might appear to cost less financially, but there’s a huge time and opportunity cost that comes with shipping from overseas locations. What’s more, in the current climate of closed ports in countries like China, and the unstable condition of international supply chains, it may work out far better financially to stick with domestic production where lead times and deliveries can be better guaranteed.
5. Reduces Your Carbon Footprint
Following on from the previous point, using a domestic manufacturer greatly lowers your carbon footprint since the distance it has to travel is so greatly reduced. Importing your cosmetic items from a country like China means truck and/or rail transport in China to a port, ship or air freight to Australia, followed by even more trucks and vans to bring it to you.
Furthermore, boosting your brand’s environmental and carbon footprint awareness is a key part of the brand’s overall value. Consumers now care more than ever about how responsibly (or not) companies behave when it comes to their impact on the world.
