The easiest way to private label your AliExpress products is to partner with a supplier who does private labeling. The alternative is to add the logo by yourself.
But before we go into all the juicy details, here’s some context.
The dropshipping market is now $196 billion, a 23.7% increase from 2021. It shows the number of dropshippers has increased and that the competition for customers has gotten fierce.
To stand out in your niche and be an expert, you must private label the products you sell. Private labeling is adding your logo and custom packaging products. It promotes your brand and increases your customer base.
So, here is the ultimate step-by-step guide on how to contact AliExpress suppliers for private labeling. We’ll also discuss how to private label products yourself.
目录
Method 1: Work With a Supplier Who Provides Private Label Service
The easiest way is to work directly with a supplier who does private labeling. Here are the steps to successfully partner with a manufacturer.
Step 1: Design Your Branding, Logo, and Packaging
The very first step is to design your branding and logo.
1. Research the Competition
You cannot pull a winning brand out of thin air.
You must know your ideal customer and who they are buying from. You should know how other sellers are packaging and marketing their products. In other words, you must carry out an in-depth eCommerce competitor analysis.
Find your competitors on selling platforms like Shopify, Amazon, and even AliExpress. Also, look for them on Facebook and Instagram. Remember, your competitors are the more successful sellers in your niche.
Carefully look through their websites and social media pages. What is their logo like? What are the color themes? Are there common similarities? Check out their packaging. Read customer reviews. Look at the brand voice of your competitors. Do they sound fun?
Then, make a detailed list of what you’ve found. Build a brand that merges with what customers already like, and yet makes you stand out.
2. Start With the Logo
When building your brand, start with the logo. Your logo sets the theme of your online store and, sometimes, the brand voice. If you get the logo right, it becomes easy to design a store and social media page that speaks to your business.
There’s no need to hire a graphic designer. At least, not yet.
Use logo generators, especially free tools like Canva Logo Maker, Looka, and NameCheap Logo Maker.
Logo makers provide several templates that you can easily customize to suit your brand. If you have the extra cash, purchase premium logo templates. They usually cost only a few dollars.
Once you’ve created a logo, export it in different image sizes to popular formats like JPEG, JPG, and PNG.
3. Keep Your Package Simple
Now you’ve created a logo, go ahead and design product packaging.
One cardinal rule to remember: keep it simple.
Don’t overwhelm your customers with crowded designs that look cheap and tacky.
However, simple doesn’t mean sparse. It does not mean just your logo and a lot of white space. Even though that can successfully be the case, simple also means well-laid-out elements. They include your brand name, logo, and components info.
Make sure to follow basic graphic design laws.
4. Maintain Package Consistency
Your entire product packaging should speak to your brand. Every element must point to your brand voice and business.
Elements like the logo, the business name, and product info should have commonalities tying them together. They may share the same color palette. You may use the same brand voice when writing the product name and description and even use the same font for all the elements.
It’s all about eCommerce brand consistency – presenting an image and story that customers easily remember.
Step 2: Make a List of Potential Suppliers to Work With
Now that your logo and package designs are ready, the next step is to find AliExpress suppliers willing to private label products for dropshipping.
Make sure you have a list of criteria for qualifying suppliers. It makes you reach out to the right people.
1. Log Into AliExpress and Search for Suppliers in Your Niche
Go to the AliExpress website and log in to your account. Then, search for the type of products that you sell.
If your brand sells women’s jewelry, search for “jewelry for women.” As you type the search terms, AliExpress will suggest other similar terms that people are also looking for. See the screenshot below.
Feel free to use other search terms closely related to your business’ main keyword. You’ll have a larger pool of suppliers to go through.
2. Make a List of the Suppliers Based on Your Criteria
Supplier Type
Sometimes, suppliers state whether they work with drop shippers or if they’re wholly in the retail business. Carefully look through their profile.
Product Type
Products like nail polish, make-up brushes, or jewelry are commonly private-labeled. For these types of products, there’s still a high chance that the supplier does private labeling even if they don’t mention it.
Supplier Country/Region
Ensure that the supplier is located in a country that you can do business with. Common problems that may arise are AliExpress shipping times and fees.
Certifications
Certifications are important in determining who to work with. Some certify the quality of products, for instance, ISO 9001. Some certifications show that the supplier is licensed to private label products – OEM and ODM.
Step 3: Contact Suppliers for Private Label Service
AliExpress makes it super easy to send suppliers messages. Click on Send Message to communicate with the supplier.
Be brief and straight to the point. Tell the seller that you want to dropship products, and ask him if it’s possible. Suppliers usually reply within an hour.
Once they say yes, discuss the details and then go ahead with a contract.
Step 4: Confirm Details Before Placing an Order
Before you decide you want to work with a supplier, think about your business goals. Consider your budget, customers’ location, and how much customers are willing to spend on a product.
You have a lot of thinking before selecting a supplier to work with. And why not? 84% of dropshippers say that finding the right supplier has kept their business from taking off.
Take these factors into consideration before you close the deal.
Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)
The minimum order quantity is the minimum number of products you must buy for private labeling. Depending on the product niche, the standards and supplier requirements are different.
For instance, in the nail polish niche, the standard MOQ is 12,000 products. However, I found suppliers with MOQs as low as 500 and many between 1000 and 3000.
Discuss the MOQ with your supplier. Many times, it all comes down to the logo and packaging designs. The more complex it is, the higher the MOQ may be.
Don’t buy more than you can sell off quickly. For products like jewelry and fashion, trends change often. If you order too many items and don’t sell them out fast, you are in danger of being stuck with products nobody wants.
If you’re a new drop shipper, stick with a low MOQ to avoid a cash flow problem.
Shipping and Delivery Details
Also, think about the shipping of your private-labeled products. Ask questions like:
- Do they ship to your target countries?
- What will it cost to ship goods in bulk and overseas?
- Will you be able to save on shipping if you place a bulk overseas order?
- What is the turnaround time on any order, local and international?
As you know, shipping methods affect fees. If possible, stick with the AliExpress Standard Shipping. You often get free shipping with this method, and the average costs are low. It is the slowest and sometimes takes a month or two to deliver a product. So, make sure your customers are okay with waiting.
Be Aware of Intellectual Property Rights
Dropshippers can run into trouble due to infringement of property rights. Some of the sanctions are payment gateway freezing and blockage of your online store.
Make sure that the products you’re trying to dropship are not illegal. Ensure that you’re not selling replicas of an existing brand and that the supplier you work with has OEM/ODM certifications.
Ask For Samples From the Supplier
The products you sell must be high-quality. You can make sure by asking the supplier to send product samples.
The private label a few products and send them to you to check out. Some suppliers offer free samples; others require a deposit.
You can even “unofficially receive samples” by placing an order for a product from their store anonymously.
Step 5: Send Your Branding Info and Designs
When you’ve spoken with the supplier and have determined that working with them is a match made in heaven, the last step is to send them your branding info.
Send images of logo design and product packaging. There are many formats – PNGs and JPGs. It is best to send them as one ZIP file.
Step 6: Market Your Private Label Business
Ask Clients For Testimonials
People are more willing to buy from eCommerce stores that have client testimonials. Reach out to past buyers and ask them to write a brief review or a testimonial. Offer them a discount to encourage them.
When you’ve gathered some testimonials, put them up on your website and social media pages. Seeing proof that your products work well drives more people to buy.
Email Marketing
Marketers can’t stop raving about email marketing because it makes, on average, $44 per $1 spent. The best thing you can do as a new dropshipper is to begin to grow your email list.
Encourage customers to join your list for extra discount codes and vouchers. Send regular weekly emails to update them about your products and brand.
Facebook and Google Ads
The easiest way to generate instant sales is to publish ads on Facebook and Google. With this method, you don’t have to wait for SEO to kick in and for your customers to find you.
You are finding them at the moment they are ready to purchase.
Social Media
Social Media is the best way for dropshipping brands to remain in front of their customers.
Create accounts on Instagram and Facebook. Regularly release content like new discounts, a client testimonial, and new products added to your store. If you’re constantly in front of your customers, they’ll buy from you when they’re ready.
Method 2: Private Label AliExpress Products by Yourself
Sometimes, you find a supplier you want to work with, but they don’t do private labeling. There’s no need to panic and settle for other suppliers. Here’s what to do.
Go ahead to design your branding, logo, and packaging yourself, as we discussed in Step 1.
Order products from your supplier and ship them directly to your address or a warehouse. Add your logo to the products and repackage them.
We recommend that you let the supplier know your plans so that they send you unbranded products.
There are several methods used to add logos to products. They include:
Heat Transfer
Heat transfer places your logo on a material by the process of heat. First, the design is made on wax paper with special print. Then, it’s transferred to the material.
Heat transfer is a cheap method and allows you to place any logo in various colors. However, heat transfer logos wash out in a few months.
Silkscreen
The silkscreen method is placing a logo on a material or product through a fine screen or mesh. It is a cheap process if you’re working with large amounts of products, but it becomes expensive for small product amounts.
However, Silkscreen lasts longer than heat transfer, works with many colors, and can be printed on many materials. If your logo has many colors, the process becomes expensive.
Etch or Laser Engraving
Engraving makes marks on your product. Laser engraving goes deeper than etching which stays at the material’s surface.
Engraving is great because it is extremely fast and lasts long. However, it is very expensive and doesn’t work for all materials.
Embroidery
Embroidery isn’t printing as such. It means stitching your logo on the product. This isn’t going to work for all materials.
The pros of embroidery are that it lasts longer than print and costs the same for many colors. However, it is more expensive than printing and doesn’t work for very complex and small designs.
Debossing
Debossing is a printing method that applies pressure on the surface of a material to create depth. It is done several times to form the shape of a logo or brand name.
Depending on the product packaging material, debossing can be expensive. However, it lasts a long time.
Pad Print
Pad printing is somewhat like heat transfer. However, the transfer of the design uses a silicone pad.
Pad print is popular because it is fast and can print on irregular product shapes and sizes. However, it’s expensive for small product amounts.
Digital Laminate Panel
Digital Laminate Panel uses high-quality digital images to transfer logo designs onto materials. This process has become very popular because it is fast, does not need ink, and is cheap, even for small product amounts. However, it can be difficult to get the exact color wanted.
Once you’ve added your logo on your products and packaged them, you can begin to ship them to customers. Remember to market your products like we already discussed in Step 6 of Method 1.
Wrapping Up
If you find a supplier who does private labeling, everything’s great. You only have to worry about marketing your business and attracting new customers.
If you have to do the private label yourself, there are several disadvantages. You have to worry about inventory, logo printing, and product packaging.
That’s why we’re here. BestFulfill is a dropshipping agent that sources dropshippers suppliers and does private labeling. We also take product photos, custom package products, and fulfill your customer orders as they come in.
Are you interested in getting started and putting your dropshipping business on autopilot? Reach out to BestFulfill today for a free quote.
