Savoring the Journey: Tips for starting a private label tea business

Hey there, tea enthusiasts! Are you ready to take your love for tea to the next level and turn it into a profitable business?

Private label tea companies are on the rise, and it’s no wonder why.

As consumers become more health-conscious and eco-friendly, they’re seeking out high-quality, organic teas that are sustainably sourced and packaged.

But how do you get started in the world of private label tea?

In this blog post, we’ll explore the tips and tricks you need to know in order to start your own private label tea business.

From conducting market research to sourcing the best tea blends, creating a brand identity, and marketing your products, we’ll give you the tools and knowledge you need to succeed.

Keep reading for more information.

Research the private-label tea market

The private-label products market is a rapidly growing segment of the tea industry, with many businesses recognizing the value of selling their own brand of tea to consumers.

What is private-label tea?

Private-label tea is a tea product that has been finely processed and packaged.

Tea sellers would sell unique loose-leaf tea under their own brand name.

Firstly, tea merchants would buy tea in bulk at wholesale prices from tea leaf suppliers or large tea importers.

Secondly, they would subdivide the tea again into different quality grades.

And then, the tea will be packaged in the specified weight and packaging style.

Finally, the tea packet would become the star on the shelf.

Potential Customers can be tea shops, restaurants, spas, hotels, and so on.

In addition, they offer great value for money, with prices that are often much lower than those of branded teas.

Private-label tea business trend

In order to understand why the private-label product is becoming so popular, it is essential to analyze the various drivers behind this trend.

• One key factor is cost. Private-label teas are usually much cheaper than other larger brands of tea because they are produced domestically or regionally. This allows retailers to sell their perfect products at a competitive price, while white-label products still make a good profit.
• Consumers today are more interested than ever in trying new teas and exploring herbal blends, which has opened up many opportunities for new brands to gain traction in the market.

Given these factors, it is clear that the private-label tea market will continue to grow in importance in years to come.

Curious yet?

Let’s look at the steps you need to take to achieve success in the private-label tea business goal.

How to start a private-label tea business?

In fact, any investment has its risks. Follow the advice below, your work would be half-done already.

Get a Seller’s Permit

You need to understand the local legal regulations and access conditions for producing and selling tea products.

This is what you need to know before you start any business.

For example, if you’re processing a food product in the United States, it’s essential to follow the strict guidelines set by the Board of Health and FDA.

The investment budget for private-label tea

To start a business, there is always an initial cost.

You have to get tea and packaging materials first, don’t you?

The limited budget determines the bottom line of your private-label tea business.

It will dictate the varieties of tea you will deal in, their amounts, packaging sizes, packaging styles, and the tea sales strategy you adopt.

For instance, a restaurant wants to order a batch of tea under its brand name.

Now, you may need to prepare the tea in advance, design the packaging style as required, and deliver the premium product to them.

In the process, the more your budget, the more resources you have to optimize the product to get the order.

Find your niche

Smart merchants shouldn’t start the tea business without knowing the customer group.

As part of market research, be sure to find your niche market for tea.

• People in different regions often have different tea preferences. For example, China is undoubtedly a big consumer of black tea. But subdivided into various regions. You will find that people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang prefer to drink green tea. While people in Yunnan prefer to drink Pu’er, and people in Fujian like to drink oolong tea.
• Different tea lovers. Every kind of tea has its own fans, right? For instance, those teas with specific effects are good illustrations of this point, such as Weight loss tea, and detox teas.

You can go to Google Trends to see which teas are more popular in your area.

Thus, for startups, a large area often makes tea sales aimless.

You could analyze the local tea consumption market as a reference.

By visiting the best-selling tea shops and tea markets, You will find some useful information.

1. What are the most popular teas in the area? Black tea or green tea?
2. The consumption expectation of tea products. Whether consumers prefer premium products or affordable products.
3. What kind of crowd likes to drink tea? Business hospitality, office man, or leisure crowd?
4. Annual changes in tea sales. Tea sales have off-season and high-season. Take China as an example, tea sells well during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival. Apart from this, The time of the new tea on the market will also lead to fluctuation in sales.

Tailor unique tea products for the target group

After market analysis, you should launch tea products for your target customers.

To keep your business going for a long time, you should first make sure that you supply good quality tea.

1. Use natural organic tea leaves as raw material. Strive to create premium blends for customers. So that augment your private label tea visibility and enhance your reputation.
2. Select at least two tea suppliers to ensure a steady supply of tea. Make sure your product never runs out, especially in peak season sales.
3. You need to stock up on some of the popular off-the-shelf products. Such as Green Tea, Black Tea, Oolong Tea, Puer Tea, and White Tea.
4. People are always passionate about tea and its many flavors and effects. So the more your tea blend, The more potential clients you have.

Tea Brand is a Great Idea

Being a private-label tea seller, you must be responsible for your commercial reputation.

You have an obligation to provide high-quality tea and pack it to attract ideal customers.

After the brand is accepted by customers, it will greatly improve the sales of products.

Another important thing about the brand is unique.

Novel copywriting and unique packaging enable your brands to stand out among similar products.

Packaging is as important as products.

Product Packaging is king!

There is no doubt that the packaging of tea has a great influence on customers’ buying decisions.

Excellent tea package design brings many benefits.

Not only it can protect the aroma and taste of tea, but also bring excellent customer experience to your niche market.

Packaging style

Prepare some ready-made copywriting ideas for customers to use.

Attach the corresponding tea packaging styles.

• Small tea bag: dip tea bag, pyramid tea bag, and other specific tea style types.
• Loosen tea bag: pillow bag, stand-up pouch, zipper bag.
• Outer packing： tin can, or paper box.

Provide customer services

Provide accessories with a customized logo.

Help your tea distributors create their own brands on tea boxes, tea bags, and labels.

That makes actual products stand out in the crowded market.

Choose a reliable Tea packing equipment at affordable prices

As a private-label tea merchant serving small wholesalers and retailers.

A strong packaging partner will do you a big favor.

It can help you accomplish the task of tea packaging efficiently.

You need to consider the following factors.

1. Select suitable packaging consumables. Besides meeting the physical requirements of tea packaging, we should also consider whether the source is enough.
2. packing details: For instance, is the tea packed in bags or boxes? If it is packed in a bag, what is the weight of each bag and what type of sealing the bag is? You need to fully communicate with the packaging machine manufacturer. In short, everything should be considered for the convenience of end consumers.
3. When you plan to invest in a tea packaging machine, this article calculating the ROI of purchasing a packaging machine can help you solve this problem. Once you have decided to move toward an automated tea packaging machine, you will want to partner with a packaging equipment company. Let us help you(click here).

The above is our advice to entrepreneurs who plan to make private-label tea by themself.

If your budget is limited.

You can outsource the task of packaging tea leaves to another tea co-packer company.

Private label done by another company enables you to focus on your branding, sales, and marketing.

You can keep the investment upfront low.

Marketing strategy

It is not easy for your brands to be accepted in the market. Other market players may have occupied most of the market ahead of time.

Don’t back down, the opportunities are endless.

You need workable marketing strategies to sell your variety of products.

1. It is profitable to sell tea to consumers. You can open a tea shop sold offline or cooperate with a local tea distributor. Transfer a portion of our profits in the early stages to promote our products.
2. Branch out your business into tea accessories like teapots, kettles, and other tea-related high-quality product products. Usually, tea-related accessories have a high-profit margin. It can create awareness that customers could find any tea-related products from you.
3. Promotion on social media.
4. You can use TikTok, and Facebook to promote private-label tea by using short videos and live broadcasts. Especially in the current COVID-19 epidemic, people’s shopping activities are restricted. People have more free time on social media. It is a chance that comes once in a blue moon to improve the presentation of the product.
5. Get An online tea business store.
6. Some B2C ecommerce business platforms like Amazon provide an avenue for getting your tea brand noticed. Of course, you have to pay some related fees. Apart from this, dropshipping is a new way to run a tea business online. Dropshipping store owners can start online sales without inventory. You can reach an agreement on the cost and profit-sharing with renowned tea drop shippers. In this way, your tea sales will pick up quickly.
7. Spying on your competitors. Find the TOP market player in the private label tea field. It doesn’t mean copying your competitors. Excellent sellers in the same field are the best teachers. Watching carefully their custom tea blends, packaging style, price, and more, we can find out our shortcomings after comparison.

Conclusion

The ever-changing tea market is a double-edged sword for tea merchants.

Only those tea lovers who are full of passion and a keen sense of the tea business can seize the opportunity.

Strive to become an expert in the tea industry.

Your private-label tea is a part of the local tea business.

If you want to be a leader in own-brand tea, the best way is to acquire as much knowledge about it as possible.

You should learn about how the various types of teas change from leaves on tea trees to fragrant teas(black, green, oolong, herbs, white, etc.).

Moreover, attend tea blending courses, improve tea selling skills, and study how people’s demand for tea changes.