Cult Beauty pioneers transparency in beauty with the Provenance blockchain platform

We’ve partnered with fast-growth online beauty retailer Cult Beauty, to disrupt the beauty industry with a new norm: transparency with integrity on products.

“We are always looking for ways to empower our customers by providing the information they need, without them feeling overwhelmed with facts and stats that make decision-making more bewildering. Provenance provides next-generation proof point-transparency, allowing consumers to do their due diligence around brand claims. It’s yet one more reason to count on Cult Beauty for all of your beauty needs.” – Alexia Inge, Co-founder of Cult Beauty

As a disruptor to the traditional industry model, Cult Beauty is once again putting their flag in the sand – signally a new force in this space.They are bringing proven information into their retail ecosystem, leveraging the Provenance platform to bring honest product details to their shoppers. We are starting with social and environmental impact as well as efficacy, with the intention to build out more around the origin and specific ingredients.Together, we are enabling the brands to surface and prove information in a consistent way – bringing a level of integrity that doesn’t exist with the typical “marketing speak” that dominates beauty.

WHY THIS IS GAME-CHANGING

• It’s never been done in retail: This is a network of brands sharing information in an entirely different way from the traditional e-commerce style – it’s a whole new approach to (truthful) information rather than a retailer curating facts from the brand.
• Beauty isn’t using blockchain yet: This is the first use-case of blockchain for a beauty retailer and the first of its kind to verify information in the beauty industry.
• Brands have to prove what they say: It isn’t just a claim that the producer is independent, small and using a nice ingredient – you’ve actually got to put the data behind those claims. There aren’t any other beauty retailers requiring this level of integrity now.
• A consistent experience across brands and product information: The landscape is complex out there, this program is not defining the criteria for “clean beauty” or the qualifications for any other type, but what we are able to provide is transparency for shoppers who want to know more. This is done through a simple design and a digital path consistent with shopper’s behaviour.

OUR SHARED VISION

Transparency | Integrity | Consistency

Provenance, Cult Beauty and the wider Cult Beauty community are striving to make transparency with integrity the baseline in beauty. 23,000 Cult Beauty shoppers told us about the importance of transparency in how they trust and purchase brands, so we’re responding and challenging the entire industry to go further.Flying in the face of greenwashing, the Provenance platform is working with select Cult Beauty brands to gather information about the origin, ingredients, process and claims of their products – and then prove this with evidence. The brands are backing this up with integrity and then integrating that into the retail experience, allowing shoppers to see truthful information at a glance.

The future:

Lead the beauty revolution with transparency, integrity-backed products – inspiring brands across the Cult Beauty network to disrupt their supply chains for more positive impact.

HOW THIS WORKS

Getting more technical, Provenance has created a blockchain-based software solution called “Proof Points.” This allows businesses to prove the impact behind their business and products in a way that has integrity and can easily be shared to communicate information to shoppers. Information is presented with robust, multi-layered evidence that’s easy to validate and is designed to be as clear as possible for shoppers.This proven impact, or Proof Points, is integrated into the Cult Beauty shop and accessible to everyone. Proof Points come in two flavours: stated, and verified. Each proof point is backed up with evidence provided by the brand making the claim, but those that are verified (marked with a green tick) have further been confirmed by an independent third-party. This is is the case for certifications – such as the Cruelty-Free mark, but can also involve laboratories sharing chemical analyses, consumer research bodies and NGOs. In each case, the data provided reveals more about the process and people behind the product, bringing them out of the shadows for the end-customer to see.Blockchain is used because the technology itself is open, incorruptible and decentralised – allowing the most honest and trustworthy way to verify the information from the brand and its supply chain to pass to the end-customer. Verified Proof Points are tamperproof, meaning once a claim has been made – it can’t be erased or changed.🔎See how Sana Jardin are proving that they support their local community, how Lumity are sharing their clinical test or how De Mamiel are coral-reef safe with their sunscreen.

THE NEXT PHASE

Starting with a select group of brands, and with plans to expand, they’re building a consistent, simple model that makes it easy for the Cult Beauty community to look beyond the labels and marketing claims for confident purchases from accountable brands. If you’re a brand who would like to get involved to prove your values across e-commerce – get in touch. Do you work for a retailer or brand looking to bring more transparency into your e-commerce? Learn about our platform. Want to know more about the things you buy? Join our conscious community with the latest transparency news across fashion, food, drink, wellness and more.