“California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act” Signed
The “California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act” (SB1249) was signed by Governor Jerry Brown on Friday September 28, 2018. The Bill was endorsed by 100 cosmetics companies.
Sponsored by Sen. Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton), the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and the group Social Compassion in Legislation, the bill would make it illegal for cosmetics manufacturers to import or sell any cosmetics in California if the final product or any of its components was tested on animals after January 1, 2020. The legislation also covers personal-hygiene products such as deodorant, shampoo, and conditioner. A violation incurs a fine of $5000 and an additional $1000 for each day that the violation continues. Furthermore, cosmetic inventory in violation may only be sold in California for a period of 180 days thereafter.
There are many non-animal testing alternatives that are cheaper, faster, and actually superior when it comes to predicting human reactions to substances. They include the use of 3-D tissue structures produced from human cells and sophisticated computer models.
If this legislation becomes law, California would join the members of the European Union, India, Israel, and other countries that have enacted similar bans.
6 Tips to Negotiate with Supplier
Audience: New Brands, First Time Sourcing Experience
We get quite a few inquiries from new brands, companies looking to sell on Amazon, or companies looking for products as line extensions to their existing product line. While there are a list of things to watch out for, we’ve come up with some basics to cut costs with suppliers.
Shop Around
These days you wouldn’t walk into a car dealership and just buy the first car that seems nice. Shop the market. If you are using a platform like Alibaba, find multiple manufacturers that can serve your needs. Not only does quality vary between manufacturers, you can use the quotes to negotiate your prices. You’ll want to make sure you’ve outlined all your specifications for the item you are looking for to make sure all the details are comparable.
Order Frequently
Your business understands the value of repeat customers. For manufacturers, it’s even more important because of the setup required to get all your specific details takes time. Placing multiple orders throughout the year shows them your business is consistent and they can count on you for consistent orders. You can use this as a negotiating token after you’ve started this trend.
Build a Relationship
Not all manufacturers will cut there costs right away, especially if you are bordering on their Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ). Think of a friendship with another person. You’re more likely to do a favor or help out a friend when you’ve spent some time together or gone through experiences together. This is no different. A supplier or manufacturer needs to get to know things like, how big are your orders, how fast do you pay, etc. As your sourced products start selling, you’ll be in a better position to negotiate.
Pay Early
For new brands, this is sometimes difficult to manage when cash flow is limited. Paying for products before the very end of your terms limit will give you more negotiating leverage. Some domestic small businesses will offer a percentage discount for early payment. The old saying Cash is King is the reality.
Order Higher Volume
There are always price breaks for larger quantities. For manufacturers, it takes time to switch their manufacturing operation from one customer’s product to the next. Every minute their machines are down for a new customer, they could be running for a customer with a larger run. Machine time is money, therefore your larger run will cut their costs and those costs can be shared with you.
Guarantee Orders
Predicting sales is tough, but one your product gets going you’ll have an idea what kind of volumes you are selling. A manufacturer loves repeat predictable business. From the comment above, if manufacturing equipment isn’t busy, the company doesn’t make money. Their company’s scheduling wants to be able to organize work most efficiently. Not only will this help your inventory control of your business, you can use this as leverage for negotiating price if you seem as you’re delivering your promise.
Amazon Seller’s – Review Policy
Whether it be checking reviews on Yelp before a nice date or glancing at the number of reviews and stars a product has on Amazon before making the purchase, online reviews are critical in e-commerce purchasing decisions. Successful Amazon listings are typically those that have stellar 4.5 to 5 star reviews and lots of them.
If you are currently or and contemplating opening an Amazon Seller account to sell your products on Amazon, there are many ways to get reviews on Amazon. A successful Amazon listing will absolutely need this component. While we always urge our clients to be creative with this, some caution should be taken to avoid issues with Amazon’s Review Policy. A seller cannot directly incentivize a customer to leave a review in exchange for something such as discounts, free product, etc.
Below is Amazon’s reminder of banned actions:
- A seller posts a review of their own product or their competitor’s product.
- A seller offers a third party a financial reward, discount, free products, or other compensation in exchange for a review on their product or their competitor’s product. This includes using services that sell customer reviews, websites, or social media groups.
- A seller offers to provide a refund or reimbursement after the buyer writes a review (including reimbursement via a non-Amazon payment method). This could be done via buyer-seller messaging on Amazon or directly contacting customers or using 3rd party services, websites, or social media groups.
- A seller uses a third-party service that offers free or discounted products tied to a review (for example, a review club that requires customers to register their Amazon public profile so that sellers can monitor their reviews).
- A family member or employee of the seller posts a review of the seller’s product or a competitor’s product.
- A seller asks a reviewer to change or remove their review. They might also offer a refund or other compensation to a reviewer in exchange for doing so.
- A seller diverts negative reviews to be sent to them or to a different feedback mechanism while positive reviews are sent to Amazon.
- A seller creates a variation relationship between products with the aim of manipulating reviews and boosting a product’s star rating via review aggregation.
- A seller inserts a request for a positive Amazon review or an incentive in exchange for a review into product packaging or shipping box.
- A seller uses a customer account to write or change a review on his or his competitor’s product.
While this does ban those quick and dirty tricks to jump your product listing to the top of the category, there are many creative marketing campaigns that are very successful to generate Amazon reviews quickly.
Get our Help
If you are interested in some of our marketing review strategies, contact us at info@talaragroup.com with the e-mail title “RE: Amazon Reviews” and we’ll send you Talara’s Top 10 Review Strategies for Amazon FBA.
Reference: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=GYRKB5RU3FS5TURN&
Aerosol 101
Aerosol packaging is slightly more tricky than filling creams in jars and liquid in mist sprayers. We use aerosol products in everything from household cleaners to cooking sprays. If you’ve ever wondered what’s inside an aerosol can, we’ve put together a quick presentation that outlines some of the fundamentals on how aerosol packaging works.
Tech - Aerosol Basics 101 (1207 downloads)