The threats of reselling: Why consider your own product?

If your business consists only of selling products from other producer, this could represent a fundamental threat for you.

Imagine that one day your supplier simply “cuts you off”. This can happen for a variety of reasons – from the sale of the company to a change in business terms to inheritance proceedings.

In the worst case scenario, if you’ve built up a market for a supplier’s brand and then the supplier drops you, you’ll find yourself without the products that formed the foundation of your business. Therefore, it is important to be prepared and think about developing your own product portfolio in advance.

Having your own product offers several advantages

1. Differentiability from the competition

The first and key advantage of developing your own product is the ability to differentiate yourself. With your own product, you’ll have something that no one else on the market has. Your competition won’t be able to simply copy you, which gives you a strategic advantage. Customers will perceive you as a unique brand and that will strengthen your position in the market.

2. Increased value of the business

Your own product increases the value of your company, especially if you plan to bring in investors or sell your business in the future. If you own your products, the value of your company will be higher, since it no longer involves just distributing the products of other brands, but also your own unique brand.

OpiTip: At Opinest, we are open to the possibility of co-financing ambitious projects. In connection with our know-how, we offer co-founding and co-participation for small to medium-sized e-commerce projects with great potential.

3. Higher margin

With your own product, you don't have to use supply chains, which means you can maintain a higher margin. This leads to higher profitability, since you have direct control over costs and can better regulate the price of the product.

4. Control over quality and innovation

Control over your own product enables you to manage quality and innovation. You can regularly add new features or improve the product according to customer feedback and thereby maintain a competitive advantage.

How to start with development of a product?

Starting the development of your own product can be difficult, but if you already have experience with reselling, then you have a strong foundation. It is important to stick to the segment where you have the most knowledge and experience. There are two main possibilities for getting started:

1. Create your own version of an existing product: You can take products that you already sell and start producing them under your own brand. This step is relatively easy and allows you to take advantage of a higher margin thanks to your own production.
2. Add value to existing products: Try to improve a product you already know and add something new to it. Although this process is more demanding, it brings a long-term advantage because the product will be unique and different from others.

Don’t be afraid to innovate

Innovations are essential if you want to succeed on the market. Let’s demonstrate it with some practical examples.

Let’s begin with a simple, at first glance “unattractive” segment – power banks.

If you want to start developing your own power banks, start with models that are proven on the market, but not fully common. You can observe the current trends in this field – for example, battery size, charging speed, compatibility with different devices, or the presence of special functions, such as solar charging or the possibility of multiple charging ports.

After starting to sell these basic models, focus on obtaining customer feedback. Pay attention to reviews and comments to identify what they are lacking or what people don’t like about the products.

These may be simple matters, such as battery life, appearance, or an issue with functionality. Based on this information, begin to innovate and add new features, such as an integrated LED light bar to serve as an emergency light, or improved surge protection.

Analysing sales data is also very important – which products sell best; which model is most in demand; what are the trends, etc. This information can help you tailor product development and determine which innovations will have the greatest impact on customers.

When you begin to collect experience and successfully implement improvements to the product itself, you can then begin to develop exclusive models with features that no one else offers, making the product unique. Your aim should be not only to respond to market needs, but also to create a product that will be truly different and that will offer value to your customers.

And don’t forget the overall impression

Product development not only involves the technical side, however. It is also about aesthetics and the packaging itself. That is, about impression the product makes on the customer.

Let’s move on to a segment where not only efficiency is important, but also visuals – the cosmetics industry.

Development of a product, such as a women’s shampoo, is not only about the technical side, but also about its appearance, the feeling it leaves on the customer and the overall experience of its use.

Begin with a product that has a clearly defined purpose—for example, an anti-hair loss shampoo. This product should have demonstrable effects, and not only based on advertising promises, but also from real results of testing and feedback from the first customers.

After creating a basic product, it is important to focus on its further improvement. Among the most important aspects is the aroma – this can significantly affect the overall impression the product makes. While efficiency is fundamental, a pleasant and subtle scent can engage users and create a positive feeling with each use. Focus on natural essential oils which not only smell nice, but also have other benefits for hair and skin.

You should then focus on the packaging and the design of the product itself. The first thing a customer sees is a product’s packaging, which is why it must be both attractive and functional.

While the design should reflect your brand and engage your target customers, it should also be practical. For example, choose packaging that is easily opened and that also saves space for storage. Another possibility is the use of recyclable materials, which can be a strong selling point for environmentally minded customers.

Other improvements may include different variants to suit specific customer needs, such as a shampoo for sensitive skin, or with added vitamins and natural substances for hair health and shine.

In this phase, you can also try different types of packaging – from larger family packs to smaller, travel versions that customers can carry with them.

When you get to the point where you have a shampoo that is not only effective, but also pleasant to use and visually attractive, then the market testing phase follows. Again, it is important to use feedback – what people like, what they don’t like, and adjust products accordingly. It may turn out that a certain type of fragrance or packaging is not attractive to your target group, and you’ll be able to tailor future products to their preferences.

This process of ongoing improvement and innovation is the key to creating a product that will differentiate itself in the market and that customers will remember.

What about production: China or Europe?

The manufacturing of the product is another point that you should truly think over.

Manufacturers most often decide between two options about where to manufacture products – China or Europe.

Even though production in Europe has its advantages – shorter delivery times or more control over production quality, for example – China offers significantly lower production costs, though its delivery times can often be much longer.

Don’t rely on a single supplier

We recommend that you work with several suppliers so that you do not become dependent on one and suddenly lose it.

You want to have flexibility in production, after all, and to minimise the risks associated with capacity restrictions or political problems in individual countries. Consider what happened when the war in Ukraine started.

If you need to produce a large quantity of products at once and the manufacturer informs you that it will have free capacity for a few weeks, you risk stock depletion and a loss of sales. Several manufacturers give you flexibility – one can deliver products sooner, the other cheaper, allowing you to better adjust time and cost.

In addition, having multiple partners allows you to better negotiate prices. Competition between suppliers gives you the opportunity to push for lower production costs, which offers you more space to adjust your margin. What’s more, having several suppliers helps you handle unpredictable situations like political unrest or natural disasters that could disrupt production in one region

OpiTip: If you plan to expand to other countries in the future, be sure to study all the pros and cons. Our extensive blogs on expansion into several European countries will help you with this.

Product promotion

How, then, do you promote a new product? First of all, focus on your existing customer base. Inform them that you are coming up with something new and prioritise it over existing products.

In this way you will become known not only to your regular customers, but also to new ones.

Prepare the e-shop

Before launching campaigns and a new product, make sure that the new product is visible on the web, for example, by using banners on the home page.

If you have a series of products, create a separate subcategory, so that it is easily accessible directly from the home page. On the product page itself, you can use various additional and related sections to highlight the product even more. Adding it as a recommended product in the shopping basket, where it can attract the attention of loyal customers, is also a good step.

OpiTip: Don’t forget filters and product sorting on the web. Using them, you can move the product to higher positions and ensure that customers find it. You can also add various UX elements, such as labels or badges, that attract customers, showing that this is something new.

Use the power of performance for promotion

Classic PPC campaigns, social networks and newsletters are ideal tools for this. These tools are great for reaching out to loyal customers or attracting new ones.

What about the product name?

With the brand you have a choice: you can keep the name the same as the e-shop (which you already have) or choose a new brand.

In both cases, it is essential to invest in brand campaigns. If it is a new brand, you’ll require more investment to create awareness. Using influencers can be one effective way of bringing the product closer to your target customers.

Development of your own product as a complex process with sweet fruit at the end

Developing your own product is a complex process, but in the end it can bring huge benefits. From higher margins to control over quality and innovation, your own product will help you stand out from the competition and increase the value of your business.

At Opinest, we often deal with the issue of creating our own product. We offer our partners a comprehensive OpiStarter workshop, in which in most cases we also address questions aimed at the production of one’s own product.

If you are interested in anything, you have an idea for an interesting product in your head, but you don’t yet know how to get it right, do not hesitate to contact us. Our senior consultants will be happy to advise you on this topic.