Before Contacting an OEM: What Beauty Brands Should Prepare
You have a beauty product idea and are ready to approach a manufacturing partner.
What should you prepare first?
You don't need to have every technical detail finalized. However, coming to an OEM manufacturer with a clear brief can make the discussion more productive, help identify potential challenges earlier and shorten the path from concept to development.
Here are the key things beauty brands should consider before starting the conversation.
1. Define Your Product Concept
Start with a simple question:
What exactly do you want to bring to market?
You don't necessarily need a finished formula. But you should be able to explain the basic product concept.
For example:
Facial cleanser for acne-prone skin
Brightening body serum
Daily moisturizing cream
Sunscreen for active consumers
Premium men's facial wash
Kids' personal-care product
Consider the product's intended benefits, texture, positioning and what should make it relevant to your target consumer.
The clearer the concept, the easier it becomes for the development team to translate the idea into a workable product.
2. Know Your Target Consumer
A product designed for teenagers entering skincare for the first time will probably require a different proposition from a premium anti-aging product.
Before contacting a manufacturer, define at least the basics:
Who will buy the product?
Consider their age group, price expectations, lifestyle, primary concerns and where they are likely to purchase the product.
This doesn't require an extensive market research report.
Even a simple description such as:
"Affordable facial cleanser for Indonesian consumers aged 18–30, primarily sold through e-commerce"
provides useful direction for product development.
3. Determine Your Target Price
One of the most important—and often overlooked—questions is:
How much should the finished product sell for?
A Rp30,000 product and a Rp300,000 product cannot normally be developed with exactly the same assumptions.
Retail price influences decisions around formulation, ingredients, packaging, decoration, filling volume and overall product positioning.
You don't need to know the exact manufacturing cost yet. Instead, provide your expected retail price range and distribution model.
This gives the manufacturer a commercial target to work backwards from.
4. Prepare Product References
Reference products can make development discussions significantly easier.
Perhaps you like:
The texture of one moisturizer
The fragrance of another product
The finish of a particular sunscreen
The packaging style of a Korean beauty brand
The dispensing experience of a specific tube
These references don't mean the product should simply be copied.
They help communicate your expectations in a way that is often clearer than technical terminology.
Whenever possible, explain what you like about each reference rather than simply providing the product name.
5. Think About Packaging Early
Packaging should not be treated as something to decide after the formula is finished.
The formula and packaging need to work together.
For tube-based products, early decisions may include:
Tube type and structure
ABL, PBL or PE/CoEx depending on product and positioning requirements.
Tube diameter and volume
The intended filling volume affects the appropriate tube dimensions.
Closure
Screw cap, flip-top or other available closure configurations.
Decoration
Colors, printing, special finishes and other decorative requirements.
Product protection
Different formulations may require different barrier or compatibility considerations.
Early packaging discussions can help avoid redesigning the product later in development.
6. Estimate Your Initial Order Volume
Manufacturers need an indication of expected volume to evaluate production feasibility and commercial requirements.
Consider two numbers:
Initial launch quantity and expected future volume.
For example:
Initial launch: 10,000–30,000 units
Expected annual volume: 100,000+ units
The numbers don't have to be perfect forecasts.
They simply help determine whether the proposed development and manufacturing approach is appropriate for the scale of the project.
7. Identify Your Target Launch Date
Instead of saying:
"We need it as soon as possible."
Try defining a commercial objective:
"We are targeting a Q2 2027 launch."
The manufacturer can then work backwards through the required development stages.
A beauty product project may involve:
Concept → Formula Development → Packaging Development → Compatibility & Testing → Artwork → Production → Filling & Finishing → Delivery
Some stages can run simultaneously, while others depend on previous approvals.
Starting with a realistic target date makes project planning much easier.
8. Know Where You Plan to Sell
A product intended only for Indonesia may have different requirements from one intended for several ASEAN markets.
Tell your manufacturing partner which markets you are considering from the beginning.
For example:
Indonesia only
or
Indonesia → Malaysia → Philippines → Thailand
Future market expansion can influence decisions made during product development, packaging and regulatory preparation.
Thinking regionally from the beginning may help avoid unnecessary redevelopment later.
You Don't Need to Have Everything Figured Out
Preparing for an OEM discussion doesn't mean arriving with a complete technical specification.
That's one of the reasons manufacturing and development partners exist.
A useful initial brief can be surprisingly simple:
Product: Brightening body serum
Consumer: Women aged 20–35
Positioning: Accessible premium
Retail target: Rp79,000–99,000
Volume: 100 ml
Packaging: Tube preferred
Initial quantity: 20,000 units
Reference: Lightweight, fast-absorbing texture
Market: Indonesia, with future ASEAN expansion
Target launch: Q3 2027
That information already gives a development team a much stronger starting point than simply asking:
"How much does it cost to make a body serum?"
From Product Idea to Market-Ready Solution
Beauty product development involves a series of interconnected decisions.
Formula. Packaging. Decoration. Manufacturing. Filling. Finishing.
When these elements are considered separately, brands may need to coordinate multiple suppliers and manage compatibility between different parts of the project.
Lamipak's direction is to build on our experience in tube packaging manufacturing and progressively connect it with broader product-development and manufacturing support.
Our vision is to help beauty brands simplify the journey:
Idea → Development → Packaging → Manufacturing → Market
Start With a Better Brief
Before approaching an OEM manufacturing partner, you don't need all the answers.
But you should understand the business opportunity you are trying to create.
Start with these eight questions:
What product do we want to create?
Who is it for?
What should it cost at retail?
What products inspire us?
What packaging do we envision?
How many units do we expect to produce?
When do we want to launch?
Where do we plan to sell?
Once these fundamentals are clear, your OEM partner can help turn the commercial idea into a more concrete development plan.
Have a Beauty Product Idea?
Bring us your concept—even if it isn't fully developed yet.
Share your product idea, target market, expected volume and packaging direction, and start exploring the path from concept to market with Lamipak.
Talk to Lamipak about your next beauty project.