Ariel Laboratories Goes Beyond Private Label With Custom Formulation Capabilities
When it comes to launching a new cosmetics line, or extending one that's already in existence, many companies choose products with stock colors and packaging from a private label manufacturer's catalog, brand those products with their label, and then try to get them to market as quickly as possible. As far as cosmetics are concerned, competitors often feature quite similar lines as one another, with different brand identifiers applied to the packaging.
But what if a customer wants a truly unique formula with certain properties that can't be found in a stock brochure or catalog? Or what if they want to closely match a product that's already on the market, with perhaps a few minor tweaks or color variations? Can the private label manufacturers help? Sometimes, but a custom formulation laboratory might be better suited to provide a customer with exactly what they want.
A custom formulation laboratory specializes in developing innovative and unique products. It also has some stock formulas that are easily adapted to create the exact product a customer wants by changing or adding certain ingredients or properties.
According to Susan Padula, Technical Director at Ariel Laboratories, "Ariel Laboratories is a custom formulation laboratory and, while we do have an impressive array of stock cosmetic and health and beauty product formulas, custom formulating is what we do every day. And, because we do it every day, we have better knowledge of and access to new raw materials and emerging technologies. Unlike private label companies, we don't have a catalog or in-house product line-ups for customers to choose from – and we don't house large inventories of filled units – we create custom formulas as we receive specific requests from our customers."
If a customer needs a speed-to-market, ready-made solution, private label is most likely the better alternative because private label manufacturers can accommodate that type of urgency with stock formulas and colors, complete product lines, and off-the-rack packaging. But when a one-of-a-kind formula, with distinct properties and ingredients not found in "stock," is desired, then a custom formulation laboratory has the experience and the expertise to best deliver what the customer wants.
Padula concludes, "Our customers constantly challenge us to develop new formulas that are different, better and more unique than what is already on the shelf. This demands that we be more creative to meet their needs and their expectations."
|