One of my favourite journal articles is, 'Service Quality, Trust, Specific Asset Investment, and Expertise: Direct and Indirect Effects in a Satisfaction-Loyalty Framework' by Jyh-Shen Chiou and Droge and published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science in 2006.
I like the article because it takes the concept of specific asset investments, something that is most often applied in the context of business-to-business marketing, and the authors apply in to the context of high-end cosmetics. The following quotations from the article help to explain why they are so relevant:
“Premium cosmetic products are high-involvement, credence products that require a lot of personal service. These luxury cosmetics are typically sold by highly trained beauty consultants at dedicated (rented) counters in high-end department stores. The consultants are usually the employees of the cosmetics company, not the department store. Their job has educational, experiential, and relational aspects and is similar in many respects to the job of B2B salespersons. Many strong interactive relationships develop between consumers and these beauty consultants.
Medicinal-type outcomes are often claimed or implied, such as impacts on the chemistry and structure of the skin. Often, specific products must be used in a specific sequence at specific times of the day (such as prescription drugs); educating consumers about this idiosyncratic product knowledge is the job of the beauty consultants. Outcomes are sometimes demonstrated to consumers using computerized photographs, but many products’ effects on the skin are long-term, and thus trust is important. ”
In the matter of a few short sentences the writers have helped to explain the key characteristics of these goods using relevant marketing concepts. They make clear how these offerings are intangible (despite being goods) and their credence attributes are also highlighted. Even though the marketers are trying to enhance the search attributes of these products (via the computerised photos), it becomes clear that in such a situation trust becomes important because the need to believe the salesperson's promises.
The video below illustrates some of the ideas referred to in the quotation above.
Also worth noting from the perspective of a marketer behaving in an opportunistic manner when dealing with consumers who may have limited ability to assess the offering, is this comment from the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) in the United States:
Cosmetics company L’Oréal USA, Inc. has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges of deceptive advertising about its Lancôme Génifique and L’Oréal Paris Youth Code skincare products. According to the FTC’s complaint, L’Oréal made false and unsubstantiated claims that its Génifique and Youth Code products provided anti-aging benefits by targeting users’ genes.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/06/loreal-settles-ftc-charges-alleging-deceptive-advertising-anti