A simple guidence about MOQ

MOQ is an issue that no 2B company can avoid and sometimes even determines whether an order will be closed or not. Both buyers and sellers can sometimes get discouraged by it.

What is MOQ

MOQ is the minimum order quantity for a supplier is defined by the smallest number of units they are willing to produce (or sell) at a time. MOQs are usually defined by the number of units in the manufacturing process, such as 100 units or 10,000 units, but sometimes MOQs can also be defined by currency, such as $1,000 or $10,000 of order.

Each supplier calculates MOQs independently, depending on how much it costs them to produce each unit, but it’s similar for each supplier. MOQs cover the cost, effort, and energy required to run production and ensure that suppliers can also earn a profit.

Why supplier set up a MOQ

The first thing is that the supplier has to make sure that the production costs are compensated and that a certain profit is made. If you don’t meet the MOQ, they may not be able to cover the costs and make a profit. As you can see, the supplier may charge you $100 for a few samples, which is much higher than the price of bulk production.

Next is the limitation of raw materials, your supplier will also buy raw materials in bulk, especially for customized items, and downstream suppliers will also require a MOQ. For example, the MOQ of colored PET bottles is usually 5000.

Finally, there is a limit on production equipment. Some machines and equipment must reach a certain quantity before they can start working, for example, the minimum mixing pot for lotion production is currently 200kg, if this quantity is not reached, the machine can not start at all.

Pros and Cons

The main advantage of MOQs is that it provides you with the means to get the best price per product unit. Of course, the more products you order from the supplier, the cheaper price will be.

Of course, if you are just starting a new business, MOQ can be frustrating, you may not have the capacity to sell so many products or you just want to do a trial order to test the market, and MOQ becomes a very high threshold that prevents you from placing an order.

How to meet the MOQ

There are many accessories involved in the bath&body care products, so MOQ is limited by the accessory which is the highest.

• Choose the most common items: If an item is used by many people and is a regular must-have model for manufacturers, which means that this product is easily available in stock, then you will easily have a higher chance of getting a lower MOQ. For example, ordinary clear PET bottles, a few hundred will suffice.
• Look for items that are in stock: If you want a more special thing and this item does not involve a patent, then you can only look for the existing stock. So, timing is important because this item can be bought by someone else at any time. If you are sure that this is what you want, then you’d better place your order first, rather than wait until the whole product is finalized.
• Ordering together: If the supplier is producing the item that you happen to want, then you can just add the quantity you want. The premise is that the entire product is free of patents and copyrights. This is what we call “ordering together”.
• Ordering stock: You can order the quantity of MOQ, but only half send off first, and when this half is almost consumed, the other half is on the way. So that you can also save the unit cost.

Finally, no doubt that some suppliers will try their best to meet your MOQ because the potential of this item is huge, they are very bullish and very confident of future sales, so they can sacrifice the existing profit to get future orders.

MOQ analysis for items

MOQ is not fixed and there is no standard formula to calculate it. It varies for each product in each industry and depends on the unit production cost of each supplier.

• Moisturizer: These products require emulsification and mixing, the MOQ depends on the production equipment, for example, the emulsifying tank for Lotion requires a minimum of 100kg to start, if you want to make 100ml of body lotion, then the MOQ is 1,000pcs.
• Cleaner: Consistent with skincare, these products also need emulsification, MOQ also depends on the production equipment.
• Bath bomb: Since it is a handmade product, it can be said to have no MOQ, but the supplier will charge a higher fee for small orders under the consideration of cost.
• Candle: Depends on the package. Candles can be made by hand, not limited to the equipment, we can make small quantities by hand for you. But if you need the printed glass jar, then MOQ depends may reach 3,000 units.
• Soap: Mechanical soaps depend on the production equipment since the grinder must reach a certain amount before it can be started, which is why it is difficult for suppliers to provide samples of scented and colored soap. Handmade soap is more flexible, the melt-boiler doesn’t require the amount, you can ask for producing 500 units, but there is no doubt that the price will be higher.
• Package: Depends on the color and style. For example, there is no MOQ requirement for common style clear PET bottles, but 10,000pcs is required for colored ones. Similarly, for some special processes, such as aluminum, and plating, MOQ may reach 10,000.
• Components: Depends on the color and style. The normal sponge does not ask for MOQ, but if you want to spray color, then MOQ is 3,000.
• Printing: The price of printing is most affected by the quantity, you can get a relatively low MOQ, if you have a close relationship with the factory, then a few hundred can be done, but the price will definitely be higher.

In summary

MOQs can seem complex, but at the same time, they can be very flexible, especially for bath&body care products, where the situation is very variable, it needs to be considered all packages and components.

Here we prepared a list for your convenience to check the MOQ of all items, just a reference.