Buying Guides
Coming to a Cosmetics Trade Show: What to Bring and What to Ask
A buyer-side checklist for cosmetics fairs - the documents and samples worth carrying, and the twelve questions that separate a capable supplier from a catalogue.
Three days on a show floor is a compressed buying season. Buyers who arrive with the right samples and the right questions leave with a shortlist. Buyers who arrive empty leave with a bag of catalogues and no decision.
What to Bring
Your own reference. One product you like, one you want to beat, and — if you have it — one of your current packages. Showing a component on the table gets a faster answer than describing it.
Your numbers. Target retail price, target landed cost, and the quantity range you actually plan to order. Suppliers price differently for 5,000 and 50,000 pcs; without a number the conversation stays theoretical.
Your calendar. Launch date, shelf date, and whether you need goods for a specific season. It tells the supplier immediately whether their lead time fits.
Compliance basics. A short list of what your market requires — for the US: FDA facility registration for the fillers, and for children's lines CPSIA plus a CPC. Asking "can you support the documents?" is a better test than asking "are you FDA approved?"
Practical kit. Business cards, a marker and small bags for samples, a power bank, the catalogue PDFs saved offline, and your courier account number so samples can ship without a week of email.
What to Ask
1. Are you the factory or a trading company? Ask to see the filling line, then ask which components are made in-house and which are bought in. Both answers are legitimate; what matters later is whether one of them is being hidden.
2. What is the MOQ per SKU, and per color? The per-color number is the one that breaks budgets.
3. Sample lead time and sample cost — refundable on order?
4. Production lead time after deposit, and what usually delays it.
5. Which port do you ship from? This affects your freight more than the unit price does.
6. Payment terms. Many suppliers ask for 30% deposit and 70% before shipment; ask what changes for a first trial order.
7. Formula flexibility. Can you adjust texture, finish, fragrance, and drop parabens? Ask what triggers a new sample round and what does not.
8. Packaging. Which caps, tubes and applicators are stock, which need a mould, and who pays the mould. Ask for the tooling cost in writing.
9. Artwork and print. Do they supply a die-cut template, do they print in-house, and what are the plate or setup charges?
10. Testing and documents. Stability and microbiological reports, MSDS, heavy-metal and microbial testing — who arranges them and who pays.
11. Carton specification. Pcs per carton, carton dimensions and gross weight. You cannot estimate freight without these three numbers.
12. What happens on a reorder. Ask how fast a repeat order ships. That answer tells you more about their capacity than any brochure.
How to Leave the Booth
Write on the back of every card you collect: product, quantity, price quoted, and the one thing you still need. Then ask the supplier to email the quotation with an item code, so you can compare quotes side by side instead of from memory.
Ten booths later, the handwritten note is what saves you.
If you are sourcing lip, eye or gift-set cosmetics and want a quotation to compare before the show, send your product type and quantity — you will get a sample plan and pricing to bring with you.
