Christmas in the beauty industry – does Christmas come in December?

Unique cosmetic lines and stylish Christmas-themed gift boxes are the perfect choice for the nearest and dearest. Advent Calendars are no less popular; opening secret compartments hidden behind flaps for each December day to reveal a different product by a specific brand is a source of joy and excitement. In order to get gifts to intended recipients on time, however, manufacturers have to start working on Christmas plans well ahead of us.

The process of working on Christmas gift boxes is an extended one, and requires consistent planning. Each product needs proper packaging – and in the beauty industry, glass is still king. The lead time to order the resource itself is surprisingly lengthy, a factor few people realise. Orders have to be placed well in advance, an aspect manufacturers have to pay attention to at the production stage already. Manufacturing components, and the cosmetic manufacturing process itself followed by packaging and transport – all stages have to be properly planned, letting finished goods reach warehouses on time.

For many manufacturers, Christmas gift box arranging begins around the summer holidays already. Finished packages reach distribution centres – retail chain and drugstore suppliers – soon thereafter. Such early Christmas preparations on the beauty market tie in with the specificity of the process – and, primarily, with considerable time pressure for earlier seasonal displays. First Christmas products hit the shelves as early as September or October. Such campaigns are designed to extend the Christmas season, and increase offline and online turnover. Customer behaviours are a blatant response to early Christmas decoration displays. Manufacturers freely admit to recording greater sales volumes in October already – a sign that customers are showing greater propensity for distributing their Christmas purchases over time. Statistics, on the other hand, show that November and December trade volumes in the industry may grow by as much as several dozen percent. Surveys commissioned by Amazon.pl with the IBRiSMarket and Social Research Institute
show that 22% of women begin looking for Christmas presents in November. This means that if interested in supplying the market with goods available to customers in late autumn, manufacturers should begin operational planning roughly one year in advance.

While restricted, the role of the logistics operator in the process is extremely significant. Purpose-tailored Christmas gift box packaging is the final link in the supply chain. Having received finished goods from the factory, the logistics centre has to make sure they are properly labelled and assembled into promotional sets or stands, then handle all deliveries to retailers. Any delay at an early manufacturing stage cuts into the time allocated by logistics operators to the respective client operation. One has to prepare for any eventuality, responding swiftly and dynamically, adjusting to the situation at hand. There can be no delay in goods reaching retailers, after all – this would translate into sales losses in the busiest time of the year. Owing to the experience of customers representing the beauty & wellness segment, FM Logistics is fully aware of their business challenges. FM Logistics has been working with the cosmetic industry customers for years, providing them with a broad range of warehousing, transport and co-packing solutions.

FM Logistic’s expert responsible for business development in the beauty industry. “As part of this year’s Christmas campaign, we have prepared over 100,000 cosmetic product-containing advent calendars and nearly 35,000 cosmetic gift boxes for our clients,” Gorzyńska adds. Commissioning a logistics operator to handle Christmas season co-packing processes is not necessarily a solution for major cosmetic corporations only. It is also an opportunity for new brand arrivals to the market, often as not lacking sufficient manufacturing support infrastructure to fully prepare for Christmas frenzy. Logistics services can relieve them of the pressure of major investments in competing for customers during the end-of-year season, one hugely important to beauty business sales. Technology, sustainable development, and new market participants have altered customer expectations, affecting manufacturer planning and operational activities in turn. This is why the beauty industry has been increasingly willing to work with experienced logistic operators. This affords them effectiveness in facing supply chain challenges as well as seasonally inconstant demand.