When walking through the aisles of Sephora and considering a new anti-aging cream, we can’t help but take the prices into serious consideration. It comes naturally to us; the more luxurious and expensive, the more likely to work. As you discredit the more affordably priced products, has it ever occurred to you to wonder why?
This natural inclination towards more expensive products lies at the core of our skincare shopping tendencies; we’re programmed that way. Try as we might, it’s impossible to transform how we’ve always seen things ultimately. But perhaps it’s time to understand it better? Why can some skincare brands price their products at a higher point and get away with it?
Why is an anti-aging cream selling successfully for $310? Medical doctors have conducted research that confirms that the ingredients within these luxurious products only amount to a fraction of the price (check this article out for more ). If the quality of the ingredients isn’t the answer to our questions, what is?
The production and distribution of cosmetics are infamously costly. It takes a lot of money to mass-produce a product and to present it to the masses. But does it have to? The truth is that at the very core, the best ingredients don’t need to be that expensive. Therefore the product itself also does not have to be that expensive. It is almost entirely the process that raises the price point to such a ridiculous number.
You may wonder why some online skincare brands are highly affordable and offer the same benefits, whereas Sephora’s aisles carry the same promises for five times the price. How does this make any sense? Comparing and contrasting the ingredients can leave you dumbfounded. The truth is that a huge factor in price differences is a result of the distribution process. It is immensely costly for a brand to get its product to the public.
A brand is faced with several options for its product distribution, but the most frequently chosen is retail distribution channels. With this process, a brand can sell its product to a distributor, and this distributor would then proceed to sell the product to a retailer that would finally sell it to the consumer. This sounds simple enough- it makes sense, right? What we don’t realize is the snowball effect this has. With every single one of those steps, that initial product’s price is increased and increased. This leaves us with the final expensive product.
These costs only further increase if you choose to use a prestigious retailer such as Sephora or Ulta. So essentially, a brand conducts a cost-benefit analysis and finds that while the product will increase in price, it also has a higher chance of succeeding and selling well. Leaving the consumers to reap the price- and we do happily. But what if we could get the quality without the extra charges?
Selling directly to the consumer is one of the easiest ways for a brand to ensure that its customers receive the best quality without paying for extra hurdles. For a brand to opt for e-commerce is often a wise decision, this direct sale to a retailer prevents us from paying for the middle man. A consumer in this situation can be sure that they are paying entirely for the ingredients and the quality of the product. It’s all coming together now.
Suddenly, spending so much doesn’t make sense if you truly realize you aren’t paying for quality. This is no means meant to say that luxurious brands don’t work; simply that there are more affordable options that have the chance of performing the same way if only we rejected the norms we’re accustomed to. E-commerce has taken the world by storm in the past couple of years. More brands are now launching their products online first; this method ensures trust between the brand and the consumer. Both sides have each other’s best interests at heart.
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