Ugly 'truth' of cosmetic industry

The cosmetic industry is thriving like never before, and reason is the need to look presentable and photo-ready all the time. This increase in demand for make-up products leads to surge pricing, as a result of which beauty addicts look for 'discounts' and 'sales'… and that's where counterfeit products come into play.

A threat to established brands

Counterfeits have become a headache for authentic brands, says Dr Bharti Taneja, Founder of ALPS Beauty group. "They not only steal our sales but also pose a serious threat to the brand image. The most shocking thing for me is the heavy and unbelievable discounts they offer. The cost of these fakes is lower than the actual manufacturing costs of original products," she adds.

Explaining how these counterfeits destroy the brand's reputation in the market, Taneja says, "When the customer buys a fake product and fails to get desired results, the unaware starts blaming the brand. One negative review from them is enough to damage the reputation of any reputed brand."

For the Founder and CEO of Plum Goodness Shankar Prasad, a great product is something 'more than just the ingredients'. It's the overall experience of the customer vis-a-vis pack feel, graphics, fragrance, sensory feel and product efficacy that establishes the consumer's relationship with the brand. "But counterfeit products damage the very core of this relationship, and thus are extremely damaging to brands," he believes.

Adding to it, Shankar says that marketing and brand-building expenses are among the largest expense items for any beauty company. By piggy-backing on an existing brand and depriving the legitimate brand of their sales, counterfeiters are financially damaging brands.

Digital markets

Digital markets have made it easier for counterfeit sellers to befool customers. In the online world, the lines between real and fake are so blurred that counterfeits operate easily. They hack the real brand logo and product pictures to appear real. A couple of fake reviews to add a dash of authenticity, and it becomes extremely difficult for the customers to separate fake from the real one.

But Shankar Prasad holds a slightly different opinion in this regard. According to him, most of the reputed online marketplaces go to great lengths to keep out counterfeits; so much so that "sometimes it becomes a tedious process even for us as brands to meet all their requirements to establish authenticity."

Having said that, he feels that online space is largely unregulated (as much as physical retail is unregulated), and so, one cannot prevent smaller e-commerce marketplaces from cropping up all the time with questionable business practices. "If it is too good to be true, it perhaps is – customers should realise this before falling for unbelievable offers," he advises.

Toxic truth about counterfeits

The business of making counterfeit cosmetics is unethical, to begin with, and has only one objective - maximise profits. The cheap products, therefore, are made with zero safety norms and contain everything from aluminum and lead to poor quality ingredients and dangerous level of bacteria. The consequences can be as serious as consuming spurious drugs – for the simple reason that the skin absorbs 60% of whatever is put on it, into the bloodstream.

Understanding the severity of the situation, Neeleshwari Basak, Owner of WorldWide Institute of Grooming and Peagents, has listed a few tips to differentiate between original and fake products.

Foundation: To check the product for its originality just swirl your finger around the pigment and if you get a consistent creamy powder on your fingertip, then the product is original. (The fake one gives powdery pigment)

Eye shadow palette: The original palette comes in good packaging, the quality of the brush is visibly good and will give you a good pigment when applied. The fake palette, on the other hand, has a similar packaging, but the quality of brush is not good. Also, you have to apply really hard to get some pigment.

Lipbalm: On applying the original lip balm you will get a light tint of the specific color on your lips. The fake lip balms will give a chemically ladned bubble gum flavor.

Final results: The original products blend nicely and evenly. On the other hand, fake products give a patchy look and do not look good.

Be a smart customer

Rochelle Chhabra, Professional Division Head (Streax Professional), Hygienic Research Institute says, the key to avoiding counterfeit products is to be vigilant while making online purchases. "Consumers should not only rely on big discounts but should check other factors while buying."

She has listed a few points that will help you avoid sub-standard products.

• Customers must avoid searching for cheap, low cost, on sale products. When you put these keywords in your search box, the chances are that you would get a list of fakes first.

• The customer can compare the images of the product on the brand's website and the e-commerce site. This will help identify the difference, if any.

• If there is a substantial difference in the original price and that of online sellers, it is essential to not blindly buy the product but check the details that are mentioned in features of the product.

• Customers should buy products with fulfillment tag to ensure original products are delivered to them.

• Buy products from authorised sellers like Cloudtail, Appario in Amazon, Supercom and Retailnet in Flipkart.