In recent years, cosmetics and skincare (“beauty”) as an industry has blossomed and become a ubiquitous presence throughout social media, communities, and commerce platforms. The global cosmetics market has been registering steady annual growth of 3%, and in developing countries, (including China) the growth rate has been at 5% annually1; however, within the market, hundreds of cosmetics companies have entered a zero-sum game with nearly identical product lines, brand, and sales channels. Simply speaking, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find players that provide differentiated and personalized services or products catering to individuals with tastes and qualities that are outside of the “average” user. The focus on the “average” is ironic because beauty products tend to be one of the most polarizing products in terms of user experience between different individuals, yet due to traditional marketing strategies, the overall industry has been forced away from personalization to generalization and mass marketing, effectively functioning in a declining state of innovation. In an attempt to solve this dilemma, cosmetic companies are perpetually seeking ‘innovative’ ideas that will bring creative disruption to the traditional value chain, but in the absence of a marketplace or channels that provide reliable consumer data and actionable data insights, such measures face an uphill battle. At the other end of the market, consumers have to cope with different difficulties. As mentioned above, “cosmetics” is one of the hottest buzzwords and industries regardless of gender, age, and nationality, and among such heated discussions, customers face three major difficulties. First, it is difficult to distinguish real information from fake or manipulated information as companies sponsor and fund most of the current cosmetics content and so-called “studies”. Secondly, only a select few ‘power influencers’ are currently benefiting from pro-rata ownership or enjoying appropriate rewards for their meticulous contribution to various platforms. Thirdly, cyber security has become a dire and pressing issue as the amount of personal information shared throughout social media grows exponentially. Cosmochain is a complementary Company-to-Consumer platform that connects cosmetics product users and content creators to cosmetics product suppliers, including cosmetics companies, OEM/ODM manufacturers, R&D centers, and distributors. Through this platform, the Cosmochain Team aims to solve the aforementioned unmet needs of both companies and customers. All data collected from platform participants are kept confidential in this customer-centered ecosystem. Those who contribute their scarce time and attention toward producing and curating contents for others are compensated with tokens and receive pro-rata ownership of the contents they create. On the other hand, cosmetics product suppliers are able to actualize a wide variety of “on-demand” services on the platform by utilizing API that Cosmochain provides.
