How to create you cosmetics E-commerce?
- Decide where you want to sell your cosmetics.
- As a distributor: make sure the products are compliant with local regulations (where the product will be shipped).
- As a brand: If you’re selling your own cosmetics, make sure your products are compliant with the expedition country regulations.
- E-commerce is also bound by legal rules; make sure you comply with them!
- Enjoy your business
1- Decide where you want to sell your cosmetics
First of all, you have to decide where you want to sell your cosmetics! Nowadays, it may be odd to restrain your business to a certain country when the Internet is everywhere and shipping becomes easy and affordable. Nevertheless, if you decide to have a worldwide e-commerce, you need to comply with all national regulation and make sure you’ll ship a compliant product! As you can imagine if you decide to ship worldwide, the workload will be huge…
The best way to make things easy is to select regional parts of the world where you want to ship your products. You can decide for example to sell your cosmetics in North America and Europe; you’ll then need to comply with the US, Canadian, and European Regulations.
Also, it’s good to remember that choosing Europe is a great opportunity for your business, there’s only one regulation for 31 countries! You will be able to sell your products to Spain, Latvia, France, Iceland, etc., by going through one compliance process only.
2- Legal obligations for the cosmetic products
As a distributor:
You’ve just signed a new distribution contract, congratulations! You’ll now sell a cosmetic brand through your website. Be careful, as a distributor you’ve got some obligations. We’ll only outline European requirements but if you’re distributing in other countries, please check the national rules of the distribution country.
Note: The list below is based on EU Regulation and is non-exhaustive, please contact us for more information.
The distributor is defined by the EU Regulation (Article 2): “ ‘distributor’ means any natural or legal person in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or the importer, who makes a cosmetic product available on the Community market.”
Article 6 of the Regulation 1223/2009 defines obligations for cosmetic distributors.
- Verify the Responsible Person name and address on the packaging
- Verify if the labeling is compliant, read our article for more info
- Check the ingredients, are they authorized by the Regulation?
- Check the language requirements for each Member State
- Verify the batch number and check that the shelf-life is still valid
Important: if you change anything on the product, e.g. product description or precautions of use, you’ll become the Responsible Person for this product and have to endorse all legal responsibilities, read more.
The regulation provides obligations to the distributors:
Article 26 of EU 1223/2009 states “Competent authorities shall require distributors to take all appropriate measures, including corrective actions bringing the cosmetic product into conformity, the withdrawal of the product from the market or its recall, within a given reasonable time limit commensurate with that nature of the risk, where there is non-compliance with obligations laid down in Article 6.”
As a brand:
You are opening an e-commerce for your cosmetic product. You may have or may not have a physical shop, nevertheless, the rules are the same. You have to keep in mind that E-commerce is comparable to opening a store in each country where you’ll ship your product. If you’re opening a physical store in a country you’ll always check if you comply with local rules, right? So no exceptions for an Internet-based shop!
First, you’ll need to assess the data gap with your manufacturer. The compliance process requires a lot of documents, e.g. the formula , raw material data, a statement showing compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice; etc. If you’re confident that your manufacturer can provide all the necessary data, you can think about the list of products you wish to bring to compliance.
It’s tempting to offer a large portfolio of products online, but it comes with a cost. Depending on how much you want to spend on the cosmetic products compliance process, you’ll have to make choices. It’s always good to assess your portfolio with 3 simple questions:
- How many products do you want to place on the market?
- How many shades do you have for each product (if any)?
- What type of products do you want to sell (color cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, etc.)
Those questions will allow you to quote the timeframe and the budget of your compliance.
Secondly, you’ll have to start the compliance process, and it takes approximately three months when you have all the data and all the tests ready.It can take longer if you start from scratch. The compliance process includes various tests, e.g. stability test, preservative challenge test and sometimes additional clinical testing. All these tests can extend your compliance timeframe if they are not already performed when you start
If you want to learn more about how to sell your cosmetics in Europe, read our article
3- Legal obligations for the E-commerce website
From your own protection to the consumers’ including national taxes rules, the legal framework for an E-commerce website is wide. You’re the only one who can set the rules: it will depend on your localization, the type of business you wish to create, if you’re a distributor or a brand, how your supply chain works, etc. The key advice we can give you, is to protect your business by hiring the services of someone who will assist you on the legal aspects. Terms and conditions must be well written and should cover the extent of all your activities. You’ll find a non-exhaustive list below:
- Delivery terms
- Jurisdiction (the contract sale must be regulated under national law)
- Liability limitation
- Refund policy
- Data protection
We highly recommend to be well-documented before starting to launch an e-commerce website.
4- Enjoy your business
It can be difficult to handle bothcosmetic compliance and business development for your brand, so why don’t you delegate the compliance job to a consulting firm? Acting as Responsible Person comes with a lot of responsibilities and you’ll have to answer to the authorities in case of a control. Also, it’s generally smart to keep business and compliance separate as it can impact the relationship you have (as a distributor) with the brand.
Finally, you’ll save time and you’ll be able to focus on your business without dealing with the compliance part, that’s worth it!
Discover our European Cosmetics Regulation services
EcoMundo acts as Responsible Person for Europe and can provide the following services:
- Regulation 1223/2009 services
- EU cosmetic compliance
- Responsible Person for Europe
- Formula review
- Claim review
- Cosmetic labeling services
- PIF creation
- Safety Assessment
- Cosmetic certification for Europe
Wish to know more about the compliance of cosmetic products ?
For more information, do not hesitate to contact Nataliya Muller or one of our experts!
