11 Ways to Start a Perfume Business for Beginners

The perfume business is a very promising business opportunity. The reason is, perfume is one of the beauty products that are in great demand by the public. In addition to increasing self-confidence, perfume can also reflect one's personality. No wonder the perfume business has promising opportunities in Indonesia.

However, before you get into this business, it's a good idea to know a few things related to the perfume business, as the BFI Finance Team has summarized from the following sources.

1. Perfume Business Opportunity

It cannot be denied that the perfume business in Indonesia is quite promising and has a great opportunity to generate a lot of profit. Therefore, let's thoroughly peel what are the advantages and disadvantages of this one business.

1.1. Advantages of Perfume Business

1. Products that are not easily stale and do not require special care

2. High demand and not affected by season or trend

3. Large profit margins due to high selling prices

4. Many variations of scents, packaging, and brands that you can offer

5. Can be run online or offline

1.2 Disadvantages of the Perfume Business

However, the perfume business also has a number of drawbacks that you need to pay attention to, including:

1. Intense competition due to the large number of players in the market

2. Risk of fraud or counterfeit products that harm consumers and your reputation

3. Difficulties in obtaining quality raw materials and affordable prices

4. Requires a large enough capital to buy product stock or production equipment

5. Requires special knowledge and skills to make your own perfume

6. Why the perfume business has promising opportunities

7. The advantages and disadvantages of opening this business in Indonesia

1.3. Benefits of Using Perfume

Perfume not only functions as a body fragrance but also has many other benefits, including the following.

1. Improve mood and self-confidence

2. Make a positive impression on others

3. Generates charm and charisma

4. Helps reduce stress and anxiety

5. Helps remember memories or certain people

2. How to Start a Perfume Business for Beginners

Bisnis Parfum

Image Source: Pexels/Anna Shvets

If you are interested in starting a perfume business, you can use the following steps as a reference that can support your success in selling perfume.

3.1. Define a Business Model

There are several business models that you can choose in running a perfume business. You can choose one of the four business models below.

Make Your Own Products

This model is suitable for those of you who have creativity and passion in making perfume. You can create a unique and exclusive scent that is your signature.

However, you must be prepared to spend large amounts of capital to purchase raw materials, equipment, and packaging. You should also have knowledge of perfume composition, manufacturing process, and testing.

Private Label

This model is suitable for those of you who want to have your own brand without having to make your own products. You can work with experienced and quality perfume manufacturers.

You only need to provide your logo, name, and packaging design according to your wishes. Manufacturers will make products according to the specifications you requested. The drawback is that you must be prepared to pay production costs and a minimum order that is determined by the manufacturer.

Partnership / Collaboration

This model is suitable for those of you who want to develop a business together with other people. You can work with influencers, celebrities, or certain communities to make perfume together.

You can divide tasks and responsibilities according to a mutual agreement. For example, one party is responsible for manufacturing the product, one party is responsible for marketing, and one party is responsible for distribution. Consequently, you must be prepared to share profits and risks with your partners.

Franchise

This model is suitable for those of you who want to sell well-known perfume products and have a wide market. You can join an existing franchise or franchise network.

You only need to pay the franchise fee and comply with the rules set by the brand owner. You'll get help with training, mentoring, and promotions.

3.2. Do Market Research

The next step is to conduct market research to find out consumer needs, preferences, and behavior, or in another sense, this activity is called business opportunity analysis.

You can do this research by conducting surveys, interviews, or observations to collect data. You can also do a SWOT analysis to find out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your business. From the results of market research, you can determine the segmentation, target, and market position of your business.

3.3. Create a Business Plan

A business plan is a document that contains a complete and systematic plan and strategy for your business. This document will help you define your business goals, objectives, budget, and evaluation.

Apart from that, a business plan can also help you to get support from other parties, such as investors, banks, or partners.

To create a business plan you must pay attention to the following important components.

Executive summary: a brief summary of your business.
Company description: a description of your vision, mission, values, structure, and business team.
Market analysis: analysis of market conditions, competitors, and your business customers.
Product description: a description of the perfume products that you offer, including specifications, benefits, prices, and differentiation.
Marketing plan: a plan on how to promote your perfume products to potential customers.
Operational plan: a plan on how to run your business operations, including location, equipment, human resources, production, and distribution processes.
Financial plan: a plan about the financial aspects of your business, including projected income, expenses, profit and loss, cash flow, and break-even point.
Risk analysis: an analysis of the risks that your business may face and how to overcome them.

3.4. Set a Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategy is a way that you will do to attract customer attention and interest in your perfume products. The marketing strategy must match your business needs.

Some marketing strategies that you can apply:

Branding

Branding is one of the strategies that you use to create a strong and consistent brand identity for your perfume products.

Advertising

As the name implies, advertising is the activity of creating or placing attractive and informative advertisements for your perfume products in the mass media or social media.

Promotion

Do attractive promotions, such as providing discounts, bonuses, gifts, or loyalty programs for first-time customers or buyers.

Public relations

Establish good relations with media, communities, public figures, or influencers that are relevant to your perfume products.

Word of mouth

Even though it is considered one of the conventional ways of promotion, you should not underestimate this one strategy. The reason is, through word of mouth, satisfied customers will not hesitate to provide testimonials or recommend your perfume products to others for free!

3.5. Prepare Business Capital

The perfume business is relatively easy for beginners to run. Even so, you still have to prepare venture capital so that this business can run according to plan.

Business capital can come from personal funds, family or friend loans, loans from finance companies, and so on. One of the trusted finance companies that are able to provide working capital loans is BFI Finance.

By applying for a BPKB Motor, Car, or House Certificate loan guarantee, you can meet your needs with a fast and easy process.

Not only that, but BFI Finance also offers unsecured financing with disbursements of up to 30 million!

There are several things that must be considered in determining venture capital:

Production cost

Costs incurred to purchase raw materials, equipment, packaging, and labor to make perfume products.

Operating costs

Expenses incurred to run business operations, such as space rent, electricity, water, internet, telephone, transportation, and administration.

Marketing costs

Costs incurred to promote perfume products, such as advertising, promotion, public relations, and sales commissions.

Unforeseen expenses

Costs that may arise due to unexpected things, such as equipment damage, rising raw material prices, or unfair competition.

Backup fee

Expenses are set aside to anticipate possible loss or business failure.

3.6. Prepare Perfume Catalogs and Samples

Bisnis Parfum Untuk Pemula

Image Source: Pexels/Ron Lach

Perfume catalogs and samples are important tools to introduce your perfume products to customers. The perfume catalog must contain complete information about your perfume product, such as name, description, fragrance, packaging, price, and how to order.

You can print a perfume catalog in the form of brochures, flyers, booklets, or magazines. You can also create a perfume catalog in digital forms, such as a website, blog, or social media.

Meanwhile, perfume samples are perfume products in small sizes that customers can try. Perfume samples must be made of the same quality as the main product.

Perfume samples can be distributed free or for a fee to potential customers. Perfume samples can help customers find out the aroma and quality of your perfume product.

3.7. Set a Realistic Selling Price

The selling price must be determined realistically and rationally. The existing selling price must reflect the value and benefits of the product you are selling and of course has taken into account important aspects such as production costs, operational costs, marketing costs, profit margins, and customer purchasing power.

3.8. Prepare a Trading Business License

A trading business license is an official document issued by the government to grant permission to a person or business entity to run a certain trading business.

This one legality can help you get tax, banking, legal protection, and various other benefits.

3.9. Consider Selling Online

Selling online is an effective way to increase your market reach and turnover for your perfume business. Selling online allows you to reach customers from various regions without being limited by time and place. Selling online also allows you to save on operational costs, such as space rent, electricity, water, and transportation.

There are several platforms that you can use to sell online, including:

Marketplace

Websites or applications that provide online buying and selling facilities for many sellers and buyers, such as Tokopedia, Shopee, Bukalapak, or Lazada.

Social Media

Who doesn't have social media in this day and age? Surely the majority of us already have it. You can consider the opportunity to increase your turnover by selling on social media that has many users, such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube.

3.10. Open the Affiliate, Dropshipper, and Reseller Program

Affiliate, drop shipper, and reseller programs are some of the ways you can increase sales of your perfume business by involving third parties as business partners.

3.11. Establish Good Communication with Customers

Good communication with customers is one of the keys to success in the perfume business. Good communication will help you build good relationships with customers.

In addition, with good communication, you will find it easier to find out customer satisfaction, complaints, suggestions, and needs. So, you can fix things that are still lacking in your business.

There are several ways you can do to establish good communication with customers.

Provide complete and clear information about the perfume products you are selling.
Give a fast and friendly response to questions or requests from customers.
Be sure to provide proper and professional solutions to existing problems or complaints.
Appreciate or thank customers who have bought your product or customer testimonials.
Follow up or follow up on customer satisfaction or loyalty.
Don't hesitate to inform interesting offers related to your perfume products.