Supply Chain Management: Stila Cosmetics

3.4 Supply Chain Management

One retailer wants everything to be tamper-labeled. Another requires small counter displays. A third requests the development and assembly of 100,000 pieces into eight-piece kits. Through it all, the focus has to be on the core consumers—educated, youthful-spirited young women.

These are the challenges facing Stila Cosmetics, a relatively small but growing company in Glendale, CA. If that weren’t enough, Stila has the daily challenges of achieving the right mix of product formulas in fashion-forward, eco-friendly packaging.

Hereinafter, Stila Cosmetics accomplishes all of these objectives and has forged a close personal bond with its consumers by using guerilla-marketing tactics in which packaging plays a vital role. Its packaging supply chain, which includes a host of contract manufacturers, fillers, packagers, and assemblers, in the U.S. and around the world, plays a huge role in the company’s success.

Thereunto, an important factor in Stila’s approach to its supply chain is the focus on developing strategic relationships with vendors, in which departments inside the company plan carefully to optimize production efficiencies and produce cost savings and manufacturing process stability over time, so long-term relationships are preferred. Price is just one measurement when Stila qualifies contract packagers, for example, as opposed to a more tactical use of vendors, in which a brand owner increases capacity and capability as needed and bases