To open a beauty products distribution business you need three things before a warehouse: to know which salons you will sell to, to have someone who visits them, and to choose your first brand well. The brand is the decision that weighs most, because your margin, your territory and how hard the first year will be all depend on it.
Which Channel Will You Sell To?
A beauty distributor can face two very different worlds: shops and the end consumer, or the professional salon. The second means less volume per client, but a steadier relationship: a salon that works well with a colour range does not switch it every month.
If you choose the professional channel, your asset is not the stock but the client portfolio. Before talking to any brand, work out how many salons you can visit regularly, in which area and which brands they use today. That list is the first thing any serious manufacturer will ask you for, and it decides the territory you are offered.
Which Brand Should You Start With?
Many new distributors start with whichever brand offers the best entry price, and find out too late that the product turns up cheaper online, or that another distributor sells it in the same city. From then on, every visit turns into a price negotiation.
That is why the first brand should be chosen by looking beyond the catalogue:
| What to look at | Why it matters when starting out |
|---|---|
| Territorial exclusivity | Nobody else sells the brand in your area |
| Professional-only sales | Salons will not find it discounted online |
| Direct manufacturer | Stable supply and real technical support |
| Training included | Your clients learn to use it and reorder |
| Gradual onboarding | No need to buy the whole catalogue |
Territorial exclusivity deserves a special mention, because it turns your work of opening accounts into an asset: a salon you open for a brand stays your client for as long as the brand is yours alone in that area. What the manufacturer will ask in return is covered in how to distribute a professional hair care brand.
Do You Need Health Permits to Distribute Cosmetics?
In Spain, the responsible declaration to the AEMPS is filed by those who manufacture, fill, pack or label cosmetics on Spanish territory and by those who import them from countries outside the European Union, as the AEMPS explains in its FAQ on the responsible declaration. If you buy from a Spanish manufacturer and resell the product as it is, you carry out none of those activities.
What does fall to you is checking that the labelling is complete, in the required language and within its durability date, and keeping the product in good condition. Outside the European Union each country has its own registrations, and there what you should insist on from the start is that the manufacturer provides the technical documentation those procedures require.
What a Manufacturer's Brand Gives a New Distributor
A small distributor has no marketing department or in-house trainers, and does not need them if the brand provides them. Manufacturer support is what lets you compete from day one with larger distributors:
- Technical training for your team and for the salons you bring on.
- Sales and point-of-sale material to give the brand visibility.
- A selection of the product families with most potential in your area.
- Ongoing sales follow-up during the launch.
In the case of Yanguas Professional, all of that rests on a manufacturer that has formulated and produced in Tudela (Navarre) since 1994, with more than 700 formulations and a presence in more than 20 countries. For other markets it issues the technical documentation and certificates of free sale that registration in the destination country requires, and it does not sell on Amazon or other marketplaces, so the price you defend in the salon does not compete with an online offer.
💡 Before your first meeting with a brand: prepare a list of the salons you can serve, with their area and the brands they use. It is what opens the conversation about exclusivity, and what sets a serious distributor apart from an occasional middleman.
If you are opening a distribution business for hair salons and looking for the brand to start with, you can tell us your area or country, your company type and the volume you expect on the Yanguas Professional distributors page.
