Industry Discussion ~ Brand Loyalty, Dupes, & Raising My (On Fleek) Eyebrows at Karity
I read an interesting article this AM that had me thinking while I did my usual morning makeup routine, happily donning my Anastasia Beverly Hills Master Palette by Mario (which is awesome by the way).
The article, posted on Huffington Post, discusses how a company called Karity is disrupting the cosmetics industry which is an untapped market lacking a direct consumer approach. Their aim is to offer smooth transactions that will eventually enable consumers to try their makeup on at home free of charge--a pretty ambitious goal but it peaks my interest. However, I’ve had my eye on this company for a couple months now, slowly watching their sponsored post on my Facebook feed go from 0 to 3 to 6 “likes”, and eventually hitting double digits. I’ve seen one YouTuber I’m subscribed to and watch on a regular basis demo the products, which were sent to her. Now, this is all pretty standard for a startup trying to get its foot in the door in an arena full of mighty players. But what annoys me about the company is their absolute blatancy when it comes to creating dupes. I was watching a YouTube video last night (the night before I read this HP article), where a company (Coastal Scents) has a blush and bronzer palette that so similarly mirrors Too Faced’s Little Black Book of Bronzers (right down to the pink and brown leopard print bronzer).
Now, I understand that dupes exist. I understand that there are only so many colors and finishes and formulas that can be created that dupes do pop up. But to have an actual list of your products alongside a list of products made by another company (see below) that you are using to create and market your own products, to me, is disrespectful and bothersome. I work in a corporate environment. We make products to sell and we all work hard to come up with marketing approaches and campaigns that our consumers will react to. It would bother me greatly if another company, even subtly, suggested that markups happen simply because of corporate greed, that they will create the same product (or remarkably similar) mark it down, and use this as their marketing tactic to, wait for it, make money.
The name, Karity, even sounds like Charity, as if they are launching this great “for the people” movement where they are the Good Guys creating lower priced items to make the Bad Guys look like Fat Cats. No, I am sorry to say that that is not how it works: they are marking down prices because they don’t want to share the profit; they don’t want to pay a middleman retailer any portion of the gold. They also don’t want to pay for fancy packaging, which doesn’t bother me in the slightest but I feel I need to state as that’s part of manufacturing costs.
The article also says they offer free shipping and returns, which isn’t entirely true (grey areas here). You only get free shipping on orders over $29, you have to pay for shipping to return items AND a 15% restocking fee may apply on orders over $40. Is this 2016? Is this aligned with modern day online shopping trends? No, it is not. I can’t remember the last time I had to pay for a restocking fee, but I can assure you I don’t shop there anymore.
The article also says they offer free shipping and returns, which isn’t entirely true (grey areas here). You only get free shipping on orders over $29, you have to pay for shipping to return items AND a 15% restocking fee may apply on orders over $40. Is this 2016? Is this aligned with modern day online shopping trends? No, it is not. I can’t remember the last time I had to pay for a restocking fee, but I can assure you I don’t shop there anymore.
And that’s what this all comes down to: business mindset and ethics and what we as consumers value in the businesses we buy from. Now, many people (myself included) are brand loyalists. We all want to have our opinion and share it, and many go so far as to reject brands if their business practice and values don’t align with the consumers ethics. So when I look at Karity, I see a company that is blatantly advertising knock off versions of products that someone else created, and then subtly trying to make those companies look like villains in a Disney movie but without the epic song and dance. Not exactly winning me over with your business ethics at first glance Karity.
Hell, Karity's black and white packaging with gold lettering is basically a middle finger being waved in Sephora’s direction--the resemblance is way too similar to not make this association.
Hell, Karity's black and white packaging with gold lettering is basically a middle finger being waved in Sephora’s direction--the resemblance is way too similar to not make this association.
The thing is, people LIKE to go into the store to try on and buy products. It’s an experience. Just like paying for packaging is an experience. The quality might be stellar for both high end and drugstore products sure, but the truth is that people want to pay for packaging. They want to pay to go to Sephora and buy things because being surrounded by all the colors and bright, sparkling golds and silvers and glitter and things is worth paying extra for. If you’re deluded enough to think that higher priced items mean that the quality is always better than a lower priced item, well, you may want to read up a bit. Much of those markups are because of the packaging, being cruelty-free, for advertisements, but we WANT to be immersed in that world, and so we pay for it. Buying a product at the drugstore does not provide that same feeling as walking into Sephora and leaving with that nice, crisp, black and white bag. It’s why luxury brands pour money into that part of the business. Ordering online, while exciting as you wait for the package to arrive, is also not the same, which is one reason why shopping for makeup online is hard (sans the actual ability to try on products you may wish to order).
Disrupting is a pretty strong word. It implies that others are affected, and I’m just not sure that other companies are. Brand loyalty, especially in this day and age, is a powerful thing. We are advocates for our favorite brands. We get emotional when they succeed and it stings a little when they fail us. To me, I feel like this company is literally creating knockoffs of products of other brands and then putting those knockoff products in the knockoff packaging of the retailer that sells those original products. That’s pretty insulting.
Sure, I think we are open to change, we love having options, and we feel empowered at having multiple choices. But we also like reliability and convenience. We like free shipping, we like easy returns, we like our Amazon Prime and our Netflix with fast 2-day delivery and instant access content. We don’t like waiting, delays, or having to contact Customer Service. If these things are offered by retailers we like, you can bet we shop there on the regular (I know I do). I find it hard to believe that companies are finding Karity to be disrupting the business of brands like Too Faced and M.A.C. (who Karity is blatantly creating knock offs of). We like the M.A.C. partnerships, we like all that pretty packaging. If anything, Karity will offer a new place for makeup to be bought, but I don’t think it will disrupt the business of the big players like it clearly wants to. Also, the eye shadows are only $1.50 less than many Makeup Geek shadows, you get less product in the Karity singles (0.064oz versus 0.054oz), and at least MUG is original in their marketing and doesn’t just copy/paste what other brands have done.
Now there is nothing wrong with shopping at Karity. This blog post is not meant to beat up on the quality of their products as I will clearly state here that I have not tried any of their products. They may be absolutely remarkable and blow every single other company's products out of the water. But these are the days of putting your money where your mouth is, of voting with your wallet because you agree with what a company is doing or not. Where we have tons of choices and can easily find alternatives. If you can’t afford a M.A.C. eye shadow at $16 (or $10 if you buy the single without the case), this might be a good alternative for you. But these are the days of Brand Loyalty, of buying products from brands we support because we WANT to support them. And there are tons of other options out there.
You might say this is a small thing to write an entire blog post on that's roughly the size of a novella, but we all have those little things we see and go, does anyone else see this? Is it just me? Maybe it is. But overall, it bothers me, because the people who started any of the companies we shop with regularly are just that, people. People who had creative ideas that took off and now they are entitled, yes, I said it, they deserve to reap the rewards. But unless they did it by creating direct knockoffs of other brands, I respect their business mindset and ethics (though if they aren’t cruelty free they do lose a few points from me). There are so many cosmetic options out there, the choices are limitless. I was intrigued by this company at first but I’m now turned off by their lack of creativity, blatant copying of the work of others, lack of understanding of modern day online shopping needs, and subtle, indirect attempts to bash other companies that I'm a fan of, who do bring a smooth online experience (without restocking fees), quality products that I can easily return and for free if I am dissatisfied, who embrace and pour time, resources and originality into creating a holistic marketing experience. And I will pay for that.
You might say this is a small thing to write an entire blog post on that's roughly the size of a novella, but we all have those little things we see and go, does anyone else see this? Is it just me? Maybe it is. But overall, it bothers me, because the people who started any of the companies we shop with regularly are just that, people. People who had creative ideas that took off and now they are entitled, yes, I said it, they deserve to reap the rewards. But unless they did it by creating direct knockoffs of other brands, I respect their business mindset and ethics (though if they aren’t cruelty free they do lose a few points from me). There are so many cosmetic options out there, the choices are limitless. I was intrigued by this company at first but I’m now turned off by their lack of creativity, blatant copying of the work of others, lack of understanding of modern day online shopping needs, and subtle, indirect attempts to bash other companies that I'm a fan of, who do bring a smooth online experience (without restocking fees), quality products that I can easily return and for free if I am dissatisfied, who embrace and pour time, resources and originality into creating a holistic marketing experience. And I will pay for that.
I do like that they appear to be fully transparent, even if it comes to openly declaring “hey, we create knockoffs of these brands, come buy our stuff for a better price”. At least they are open about it.
What are your thoughts? Has the copying of other brands gone too far? Is it just standard in the industry now?
What are your thoughts? Has the copying of other brands gone too far? Is it just standard in the industry now?
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