Modern technology has done a lot to streamline the relationship between companies and customers, but the world of cosmetics product development can often still be complicated and disjointed. CosmeticsDesign will look at three companies working to make the process easier from supplier to retailer.
Goldn, a digital product development platform which launched in the US in September this year, is rolling out tools to carry cosmetics product producers and suppliers from an idea to a sellable good.
Arianna Andrews, head of sales and marketing for Goldn, told CosmeticsDesign the concept was first developed as a project by a large corperation, which was ended by the pandemic. Seeing need for a cross-phase platform, Goldn developed a new software stack aimed at solving the same problem and launched a space for creators to ideate a product, create a comprehensive brief and reach out to suppliers.
“There are platforms in the cosmetics industry that are helping creators address very specific and certain kinds of niche needs to the development,” she said. “What Goldn is doing is bringing all of those phases, spanning the value chain from the brand perspective, and later from the supplier perspective, in helping creators go through that process all in one place.”
Ease of use of developers
Having worked in cosmetics manufacturing, Andrews said product creators usually have access to two kinds of platforms.
First, creators have very generic tools like email or office suites which, while useful in their own right, don’t address specific needs and challenges in cosmetics. Second, they may have access to very technical platforms, developed specifically for formulators or certain materials.
Additionally, while digital sales platforms for ecommerce have been heavily explored in personal care, those products only address a portion of the whole process.
Andrews said Goldn fills out those niche, disjointed and lacking existing systems and puts them in one place with actionable steps so not only large companies but indie brands and even businesses in other sectors, like airlines and hotels looking to add branded personal care products, can navigate development.
“Our primary goal is to help creators really understand how to manage the process, how to organize the process and how to get products to market faster,” she said. “That’s the cornerstone of our current technology.”
With new software to come out in early 2022, she said the platform is also looking to ease the burden on suppliers as a growing and fragmented sector creates mounting demand. As it becomes more difficult for suppliers to know which brands to pursue, the new software would bring them the right brands using data.
Decreasing time-to-market
Bringing a product fully to market can take as long at 18-24 months, and with more retailer interest in freshly-made products, and rapid and quickly changing consumer attentions, Andrews said that amount of time is under pressure.
“There’s retail pressure, but there is consumer pressure as well,” she said. “Things can happen within a span of very few months which can change consumer desires and whole new produces come out on the market to meet that demand.”
By creating a more streamlined product development platform, she said Goldn can effectively bring that development period down. Spokesperson for the brand Jake White said research has shown the platform can decrease development time by as much as 50%.
Andrews said the industry has seen the need for shorted development times with trends like hand sanitizers during the pandemic and increased consumer interest in CBD.
Based on Goldn’s rollout so far, she said the software could easily be transferred to other international markets, and, with development for specific challenges, could be moved over into other industries as well.
