White and Private Label Sake

Beyond the classical reselling of existing Japanese sake, white or private label sake might be a viable option to consider going forward. One can expect higher profit margins when promoted correctly. It can be a cost-effective way of owning your sake brand and testing before eventually making higher investments.

Private and White Label Products

Private Label vs. White Label - What is the difference between white and private labels?

Private label and white label products are often used interchangeably. But there is an unremarkable difference in the product creation responsibility.

In the case of private label products the specifications or recipe are defined by the buyer (i.e. marketing company) and the manufacturer produces the product just according to the pre-defined specifications.

The white label products are specified and manufactured by the manufacturer, who sells the product to the buyer with no product labeling (i.e. white label). The buyer then designs the product label and sells it as their product.

How does private or white labeling work?

After doing the market research and you are confident that you have a product that works for your target audience, you first need to decide whether a private or white label scheme works for you. Points to consider for your decision are: 

• White labels might be more cost-effective, but there is the risk that the manufacturer sells the same product to other marketers under a different label.

• Private labels might be a viable option if you know what to give out for contract manufacturing. The economy of scale usually makes private label products slightly more expensive as compared to white label products.

The first step might be to get in contact with possible manufacturers to get an overview of the possibilities. To better select the right manufacturer, you might want to compare the different options along with your requirements. After selecting a possible manufacturer, based on the actual negotiated economics like volume and cost per unit, make sure to calculate the business case including marketing and other operational costs. For both the private label and the white label, the label design and the branding around it is important. A product label that is unique to your brand and matches your brand strategy needs to be designed.

Private and White Label Sake

For Japanese sake, what white or private label options are out there?

In the case of sake there are different options out there:

• Private label sake: contract brewing of a recipe or specific sake

• White label sake: reselling sake bottles with one’s label

• Order-made sake batch: buying and reselling a certain batch from the brewery

• Order-made sake cask: purchasing your sake cask for festivities etc.

Most commonly in the sake industry custom orders are mostly white label products where the buyers only define the design of the label and resell the sake under their brand. As sake is a knowledge-intensive product, without the specific know-how on how to make a certain style of sake, private label products might be more challenging to realize, but not impossible.

Also for special events or occasions, there is the possibility to get your order-made sake tank or sake cask from some sake breweries. For example, in Japanese weddings, there is the tradition to break in a sake cask made out of cedarwood and then drink it together with the guests.

What are the requirements for a white label sake?

Depending on the required label quality and target bottle price, the minimum order volume for a white (or private label) sake starts around 500 720ml bottles. Most likely the minimum is somewhere between 1000-1500 720ml sake bottles. In some cases, trial sake products can be made as white label products from a few cases onwards.

Other than a certain minimum order volume, the sake label design is most likely to be designed. Both front and back labels have to be adjusted to the local requirements. Depending on the local labeling regulations and product designation rules, the label design might vary from region to region.

What are the benefits of white label sake?

First of all, you can expect higher profit margins, when you can build a brand around your sake, which in the end allows you to set a higher price tag according to the demand. This might especially be true in the scenario where you export your own white label sake in a country where you have exclusivity over the product.

Another advantage of the white label sake is that it is hard to track down the actual price on the internet. In the world of connectedness and the internet, it is rather simple to check on prices before buying a product. By having a white label sake, it might be harder for the end customer to check for similar comparable products to confirm whether your sake is expensive or not.

Without the heavy investment and knowledge for making your own sake, white-label sake (also private label sake) is an opportunity to get a sake product out as quickly as possible and test a product hypothesis.

What are the considerations for making white label sake?

It is essential to find the correct sake brewery to provide you with the sake your audience will love. It might take quite a while to find your partner brewery. Depending on the sake brewery, the conditions and requirements are vastly different.

The designed white label can be printed and applied in different ways. For trial runs it might be best if the sake brewery prints out the labels based on your data and sticks them on the bottles at the brewery. Another option is that the brewery just covers the bottle with the basic back label needed for the export procedure and at the export destination the actual front label is applied. For more sophisticated applications, contract professional printing companies (for example in China or Taiwan) to print your label, which is then sent to Japan and applied to the bottle by the brewery.

Conclusion

Private label sake might be an attractive option to better market your sake product achieving higher margins by dictating the product value. This is especially true for foreign sake export markets, where exclusivity and uniqueness for the private label sake can be guaranteed.

An essential step to your white label sake is finding the correct sake brewery, where the deal terms heavily vary from brewery to brewery. The owned labels can be applied in different ways so that some facilitation with the sake brewery becomes necessary.

If you are interested in selling your own Japanese sake, get in touch with us right away and we will facilitate the process as best as possible.