Follow the incentive and the strange decisions stop being strange
Where the price of a jar actually goes, how affiliate commission shapes what you are shown, what seeding is designed to produce, how the retail calendar runs the industry, and what a sale price signals.
The economics of a moisturiser, from formulation to shelf
The price of a jar of cream is built from a stack of costs, most of which have nothing to do with what is inside it. What the stack contains, and why no reliable public figures exist.
9 minHow affiliate commission shapes what you are shown
Most skincare recommendations you encounter online pay somebody when you buy. What that changes about which products get covered, and what the disclosure rules actually require.
9 minSampling, seeding and the PR list: how products reach the people who talk about them
Free product is the oldest currency in beauty. How sampling and seeding programmes work, what they are designed to produce, and what the disclosure rules require.
8 minHow launch calendars and shade ranges are decided
Retail range reviews, seasonal windows and component lead times set the rhythm of the entire industry. What decides when a product appears, and how wide its range is.
8 minHow discounting works, and what a sale price actually signals
A price cut can mean six different things, only one of which is generosity. Reference prices, promotional calendars, stock age and the rules on price comparison.
8 minThis article contains no commercial links. No affiliate links, no sponsored placements and no paid mentions appear anywhere on this site. No brand, manufacturer, retailer or agency is named in our editorial, and no company that pays us can appear in it. Published by Northbank Media.
The dispatch
One email a fortnight. A new translation, a mechanism explained, and what changed in the rules. No product recommendations, because we do not make any. No affiliate links, because we do not take commission. Unsubscribe in one click.
We use your address to send the dispatch and nothing else. See privacy. Sponsorship rates and limits are published on the newsletter page.