The following is a guest post written by Belinda Raji.
In 4 years, I think this only my 3rd guest post but it's an absolute must read and share.
There's so much I want to say n relation to this topic, so read this and I promise I'll be back with my response soon.
Thanks for sharing, Belinda!
Supporting British
brands – let’s get real
By
Belinda Raji of BEUNIQUE Hair Care
There seems to be a tendency in
the UK for British naturalistas to be drawn to US hair care products, why is
this the case? Some just follow the crowd, led by high subscribing YouTube
vloggers whose income is now supplemented through the free products sent their
way, and paid for reviews. Although I would like to add, there are a minority
of YouTube vloggers who still remain scrupulous and real to the cause,
supporting naturals on their journey through unbiased reviews, real advice and
heartfelt support for UK brands. Some say price is a big issue, and so
therefore choose to remain ‘in the pocket’ of big conglomerate hair care companies
failing to understand the economics of the business; ‘big fish’ vs. ‘little
fish’, and why price structures are set as they are.
Why am I writing this article?
Why today do I feel like going on a mini rant? Because, I’m frankly fed up with
small businesses being ignored, today I was witness to yet another US brand
making its way to the UK shore, one who has had humble beginnings and accrued
much deserved success. But it felt like a slap in the face (if this was a
WhatApp message that would be followed by so many emoticons).
I too am a consumer and I love a
bargain, or even better, a freebie but since starting BEUNIQUE Hair Care my
eyes have been opened to how hard small business owners have to work, how hard
it is to go up against big companies. This is made even harder when you produce
a good quality product that not only works, but on an aesthetic level looks
good and could sit on the shelf next to big conglomerate competition. Having
this in my favour has also been my downfall – my projection of product
professionalism and being, on the face of it, the same as the ‘big boys’ is
somehow supposed be reflected in my prices, but it simply can’t.
I’m not going to dress this up
in fancy terms but just explain the reality of it all, the diagram below goes
someway I hope to explaining this ‘big fish’ vs. ‘little fish’ dichotomy:
This example is applied to just
the product made but the same rules apply when purchasing packaging and labels.
Think about this; ‘Big Fish’ can buy packaging for just a penny per jar but ‘Little
Fish’ has to pay 80 pence per jar the same can be said of labels. ‘Big Fish’
can buy big, charge more (which seems like less to the customer) and get more
profit. Everything costs ‘Little Fish’ more, they charge more than ‘Big Fish’ which
seems extortionate to the customer but they earn less profit. The more you spend, or should I say invest in
the ‘Little Fish’ the more they can spend like ‘Big Fish’ and in turn pass that
down to you, the customer. But like all investments it can take a while to get
your pay out.
There are many other things to
consider when placing a product in the market and selling in the EU, which we
have seen in the past many US companies don’t consider. There are EU
regulations that have to be followed and trust me when I say it costs to follow
them and it costs not to follow them. Products on the market in the EU all have
to be safety assessed; the rules in regards to these assessments have changed
in recent years. This has caused considerable cost to small business as all of
their products have had to be retested to acquire new sets of paperwork.
Products that have water in them need more tests and if you are making products
for children these tests can cost even more. Even the way products are labelled
are scrutinised and have to meet certain regulations. Unfortunately, (and I’m
no whistle blower) there are products on the shelf right now in your local hair
shop that shouldn’t be there, and if Trading Standards were doing their job
they wouldn’t be there.
Last year I approached several UK brands in an
attempt to fight back against the US invasion, I knew that there was strength
in numbers and that together we could achieve so much more. I was reading my bible and praying for my business
and God planted a seed “The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters
will himself be watered.” Proverbs 11:25. When I read this I knew that had to
get this idea off the ground, that, and the fact that I had read on Facebook
earlier that
day commenting on the fact that ‘we
need more natural products in the UK’ I wanted to scream ‘I’m here, we’re
here!’.
United Kurls are a collective of
UK brands, all owned and operated by beautiful black business women. We are
wives, mothers, sisters, daughters and friends and we aim to uplift each other
and join together to create a stronger alliance of small businesses. It has
become overtly clear in recent years that it’s hard for small business owners
to compete with the marketing budgets of ‘Big Fish’ US hair companies. The
intention of United Kurls is to be a platform which member brands will use and
cooperatively work together to promote brand awareness of our own individual
businesses.
We hope to educate UK naturals
about the hair care products they have available to them right here in the UK.
We want to help them to see that there is
choice and that choosing to spend your money with a small business such us the
member brands of United Kurls is a real
investment. We invest EVERYTHING in our businesses; we are the manufactures of our
products, the accountants and the marketing department. We do everything
singlehandedly and if that doesn’t warrant some support I’m not sure what does?
Please let’s get real
– support British brands
www.unitedkurls.com
