To grab a piece of the $40 billion-a-year personal care products industry, perform your due diligence and stay current on the latest beauty and personal care products news and trends. Never stagnant, the beauty and personal care products industry thrives on new developments, technologies, products, improvements and trends. As a beauty product distributor, formulator, manufacturer or packager, you can't get – or stay – ahead of your competition without staying current on industry topics.

Since the top personal care product manufacturers hail from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, the US, Russia and Brazil, strive for a big-picture understanding of the national and global industry to better grasp the implications on your business. Factors affecting trends and continued growth in the industry include:

1. Increasing health consciousness contributes to the rapid growth of herbal and organic beauty care and personal care products.

2. Both men and women actively search for new and improved personal care products like anti-aging creams, lotions and other concoctions that firm, tone, lift and reduce appearance of wrinkles.

3. Men now want more beauty skin care and personal care products designed for them.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Bookmark websites for the latest beauty skin care products news and trends

You can find just about all the information you need regarding personal care and beauty products brands, trends and successes from online websites devoted to the industry. Utilize the Internet to update your knowledge on the latest cosmetic, soap, moisturizer, toothpaste or hair care product.

I recommend: Visit CosmeticNews, a Cosmedias website for news, trends and events relevant to the global beauty care products industry. Cosmedias, based in France, publishes business information on its website and in several other publications. Stop at the Allured Publishing Corporation website to scope out the websites, magazines, books/media, directories and shows/conferences it puts its name on. Allured magazines reach nearly 100 countries and target the markets of cosmetics/personal care, flavor/fragrance and spa/healthy aging. To read up on the natural personal care products industry, save Soapwire to your list of favorites. Catch up on cosmetic industry news articles featured in the archive at CosmeticIndustry.com. The company's founder researches the cosmetic industry and publishes reports dealing with U.S. sales, activities and trends.

Subscribe to magazines offering the latest in beauty and personal care product news

Personal care and beauty products distributors, suppliers, manufacturers and others involved in the industry can all benefit from getting the latest information from online, digital and print magazines.

I recommend: Global Cosmetic Industry (GCI) serves readers looking for business information about the global beauty industry. Available in digital and print formats, it reports on business/markets/trend news, product launches and upcoming events. HAPPI (acronym for Household and Personal Products Industry) reaches out with its monthly publication to all involved in the industry. You can subscribe to the print version, but also bookmark the website which has news and features a buyer's guide, columnists, supplier's corner, videos, white papers, a blog and more. Book mark CPC Packaging and subscribe to the print magazine that deals with all aspects of cosmetic and personal care product packaging from concept to finished product.

Find meetings, education/training and conferences for the beauty and personal care product industry

Some of the best information on news and trends concerning retail and even wholesale personal care products comes from events you participate in. These events offer the chance for receiving and sharing information and forming networking opportunities that become new sources for future news and trend information.

I recommend: Turn to websites like Biztradeshows.com or professional organizations like the Personal Care Products Council for upcoming conferences, tradeshows, meetings, webinars and other events.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Reach out to industry-related professional organizations like the Professional Beauty Association and Personal Care Products Council that often include the latest industry information on news, trends and events in the forms of articles, press releases, white papers, links and other formats.

Mainstream beauty care and personal care products may be the steady sellers in the personal care product department of your retail business, but niche beauty products brands catch the eye of the customer who's "just shopping" and result in increased sales.

Although niche products appeal to smaller segments of the population than mass market brands, they appeal to customers on the hunt for what's new.

When considering selling niche beauty and personal care products:

1. Determine the market demographics of your company.
2. Decide which types of beauty and personal care products you want to sell.
3. Consider private label and organic products.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Decide which personal care products suit your market demographics

You can learn about your shoppers just by observing who comes into your store and what they buy. However, you may want more concrete data about who lives in your community. Market research can help position your business as the place to shop for the latest in beauty and personal care products.

I recommend: You can look up basic demographic information by zip code at Melissa Data. You can also purchase community data by zip code at ESRI Data.

Find the products you want to sell

Once you decide what type of niche products to stock, you need to find a distributor. Wholesale personal care products distributors provide a wide range of products, but some exclusive personal care products may only be available directly from the manufacturer. If you know a particular brand you want to carry, your best bet is to contact that company directly.

I recommend: For beauty skin care, Burt's Bees is a popular, all natural product that must be purchased wholesale directly from the company. For super funky, unique products ranging from soaps to mineral makeups, try Indigo Wild. If you want to search the globe for a personal care product, visit Alibaba.com.

Consider selling private label products

To establish your retail store as the go-to shop for new and unusual products, consider selling private label beauty care products. You can sell just a few niche beauty skin care products, or expand into an entire line of personal care products that consumers must come to you to purchase.

I recommend: Lady Burd is a leading private label manufacturer of color cosmetics, including eye shadows, foundations and nail polishes. For organic products, consider working with Essential Wholesale.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Don't overlook niche personal care products marketed by large companies. The sales reps who handle your orders for traditional personal care products may be able to point you to niche products from their companies.
• •  Consider stocking regional and local products. You may find a small local business selling custom soaps or other products that you could stock. Just be sure they can handle the volume of sales your store can generate.
• •  Examine samples of the beauty and personal care products before buying stock for your store shelves. You want to avoid ending up with poor quality product that you can't sell.

As a beauty products distributor, manufacturer or other related business owner, you work in an industry experiencing continued growth/expansion throughout the country and overseas. The personal care product industry boasts roughly 750 companies that produce a combined annual revenue of more than $40 billion. The 50 largest companies generate almost 70% of the entire revenue. Still, the market will bear competition from small companies that can offer a specialized product or cater to a particular niche market.

Industry leaders include companies like Kimberly-Clark, Johnson & Johnson, Estee Lauder, Alberto-Culver, Avon, Colgate-Palmolive, L'Oreal, Parlux Fragrances, Proctor & Gamble and Revlon. Companies within the industry formulate, manufacture, market and sells a huge array of beauty and personal care products:

1. Makeup, deodorant and nail products comprise 33% of health and beauty care industry revenue.

2. Hair care products generate 25% of personal care product revenue, while and creams/lotions create 21%.

3. Perfumes, mouthwashes, shaving preparations and other products make up the remaining revenue for beauty skin care product revenues.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Get more information on government regulations concerning beauty skin care products

Considered by many as one of the most unregulated industries, the cosmetics industry's products don't require FDA approval before going to market, with the exception of color additives. The FDA classifies cosmetics but doesn't regulate them, and many personal care products never undergo safety testing. The burden of validation falls to the companies themselves, who don't always accomplish the task.

I recommend: Learn more about FDA authority over cosmetics and find links to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act at the FDA website. Also visit the FDA website to examine Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations Cosmetic Products.

Join professional associations for the health and beauty skin care products industry

Within the industry, you'll run across several associations you may find beneficial to join. Not only will they provide valuable information on industry news, technology, trends and events, they present priceless opportunities for professional growth and networking.

I recommend: Whether you formulate, manufacture, market, retail or wholesale personal care products, consider joining the Personal Care Products Council. The leading trade association for the cosmetics and personal care products industry boasts more than 600 member companies and asserts its voice on scientific, legal, regulatory, legislative and international issues. The Professional Beauty Association aims itself at distributors, manufacturers and salons/spas and makes business tools, education and government advocacy available to members. Cosmetic entrepreneurs should take a look at the Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers & Distributors organization. The ICMAD reaches out to cosmetics/cosmetic-related product manufacturers, distributors, marketers, importers/exporters, testing labs and other businesses earning most of their revenues from the cosmetic and personal care industries.

Learn about different roles of manufacturing in the health and beauty care industry

Industry manufacturers prepare, blend, compound and package products. Beauty and personal care products don't always come to fruition by a manufacturer alone. It often takes a concerted effort from outside companies with compatible technology to improve the way a product works. Other companies handle all aspects of manufacturing, formulating, logistics and packaging for companies that want to outsource any segment of their beauty and health care product business.

I recommend: Dow Corning can work with companies to further enhance product performance by helping shampoos generate more lather, making creams/lotions even creamier and more absorbent and making hair sprays hold better. Learn more about the outsourcing capabilities companies like Mansfield-King, that can help you increase capability, productivity and sales.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  As part of a beauty and personal care products industry overview, remember that the beauty care products industry remains one focused on and obsessed with quality-of-life enhancing products. Additionally, men represent a growing market for personal care and cosmetics. To ensure success, align yourself with companies that keep their fingers on the pulse of current trends and technological developments.

The beauty and personal care products industry, one of the largest in the world, is littered with familiar and unfamiliar key terms. To make the most out of your business in this huge industry, become fluent in the basic key terms used to describe beauty and personal care products: fragrance, exfoliant, organic, cosmetic, anti-aging and palette. Knowing these terms will help you on your way to becoming a knowledgeable source of information for your customers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Fragrance

Almost every product in the beauty and personal care industry has a fragrance version, not to mention the perfume industry. Simply speaking, fragrance refers to any substance that is added to a product solely to give it an odor. Fragrance also refers to perfumes.

I recommend: Salon Web offers a detailed definition of fragrance in its extensive beauty glossary.

Exfoliant

Many personal care products say they help to exfoliate your skin. Exfoliants work to remove dead skin cells from your skin either through chemical means (such as alpha hydroxy acids) or by physical means (such as through course granules).

I recommend: Discover the different types of exfoliates, the different ways to exfoliate and how often to use exfoliating products at YGoY.

Organic

It's no surprise that organic beauty and personal care products are increasingly becoming popular in today's climate of environmental concerns. Organic products are made with ingredients that are grown free of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides. Products that claim to be organic must be certified by an independent organization, and there are different levels of organic certification.

I recommend: Sephora USA explains what organic means to the beauty and personal care industry, along with the different levels of certified organic products.

Cosmetic

Cosmetic is a term frequently used in the beauty and personal care industry, but do you know what is actually defined as a cosmetic? A cosmetic is classified as any product used on the body to enhance beauty, alter appearances or add fragrance.

I recommend: The Food and Drug Administration defines the word cosmetic.

Anti-aging

As skin starts to lose elasticity, many people start to search for anti-aging personal care products. Anti-aging products are skin-care products that are made from formulations of ingredients that give the skin extra nutrients to increase blood flow and help firm and reduce wrinkles.

I recommend: To learn more about anti-aging products, visit Your Skin 101.

Palette

Often referred to as a color palette, a palette is a way of grouping colors by tones or function to the skin. Color palettes are made for lipsticks, eye shadows, foundations, powders and more.

I recommend: In its extensive glossary of beauty terms, Lamas explains what a palette is.