What is Private Label vs White Label for a Product?
Labeling is taking a product or service and putting your brand on it. A lot of times people confuse private labeling vs white labeling or use the words interchangeably, when in reality they are similar but very different.
Private Label vs White Label – Illustrated:
What Is Private Labeling?
Private labeling is buying your product or service from one manufacturer, enhancing, modifying or changing the product in any way, then putting your brand on it and a selling it. Nike, for example, is a private label company. They buy bulk from a manufacturer, switch up a few things, put their name on it and sell it. That sounds easy right? There’s way more to it.
Private labeling can be a long process due to marketing expenses, hiring a developer to enhance or make changes to your product, finding a niche target market and creating brand awareness. Although it is harder, it can be better than white labeling because you get more control of your product. Not only can you control the production of the product, but you can control the pricing as well.
What Is White Labeling?
White labeling is buying from one or more manufacturers and putting your brand on the product/service and selling it as is, with no changes. With white labeling you are competing with several buyers. For example Fenty Beauty, a makeup line by Rihanna is made by a company named Kendo. They produce all of the products that are sold in the makeup line, but they also produce makeup for companies including Kat Von D, Marc Jacobs, Lip Lab, Bite Beauty and more. You can learn more about selling beauty products on Amazon here.
White labeling is cheaper than private labeling because it doesn’t take as much time to produce and plan. With white labeling, ultimately the only thing you worry about is the brand name. The product is already made and all you have to do is put your name on it and sell it.
With white labeling you aren’t the only one buying from one manufacturer like private labeling, the manufacturer is selling the same product to multiple people and taking part of the sale when the product is sold by the wholesaler. This is how they make their money.
Not only does white labeling save you time and money, it can improve your client loyalty. Customers constantly ordering the product with your name on it shows that you have repeated success with your products.
Private Label vs White Label: Which Is Better For Me?
If you are looking for a faster startup, and you don’t have much time to market or simply you don’t feel like going through the long process of hiring a developer to come up with enhancements for your product, sampling the product & finding an exact target market, then I would say white labeling would be best for you. White labeling overall is a much faster process, but on the downside, you don’t have much flexibility with your product. On the other hand, if you do have time to hire a developer, create samples & come up with a marketing strategy, then private labeling would be a better option.
Pros and Cons of Private Label vs White Label:
Ultimately, you have to make the best decision for your brand. Consider your resources, your business goals, etc. and decide which labeling option will work best. Whether you want to sell beauty products, household goods, handmade items, or baby products, you know your business best so the choice is yours. If you need advice, you can schedule a time to speak with one of our Product Specialists here. They have experience selling on Amazon and would love to chat about your Amazon business!
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