There are scams going on in any popular industry and the cosmetics industry is no exception. You must always be vigilant but also make sure you don't miss out on legitimate opportunities either.



Note that there is a never ending demand in the lucrative cosmetics market. The shear amount of competition for this demand has created an opportunity for you. Therefore the best cosmetics names in the world are resorting to ever more inventive ways to draw your attention to their products.

OK, giving away promotional products is nothing new in the cosmetics market or any other. What is new is "the way" these free cosmetics offers are being provided to you and perhaps the amount of them too. The new way is all down to the constantly increasing popularity and reach of the Internet and the web all across the world.

It is now more viable for the cosmetics companies to define the demographics and other particulars of the market they wish to reach. That is good news for you because every major cosmetics firm has a range of products specifically designed for pretty much every particular profile, including *you*.

Also intense competition means that there is always some free cosmetics offer or another available from multiple cosmetics firms. These offers for free cosmetics are across many product types too. The result is that if you look around, you will find products offered free or at a very low cost covering many of your cosmetics requirements.

So one question you may think of is why would they offer $100 worth of top class cosmetics for nothing or for a $1?! How does this help the cosmetics firm? Free cosmetics offers for new product launches are quite understandable. But why for established products and why $1?

Well, in the case of established products, there is a natural and slow drop in sales over time. Customers like you are constantly being tempted away by competitors and also people forget the quality of the products they once used. So a little reminder, using a free cosmetics offer, often brings back loyal customers and wins new ones too.

This also makes commercial sense. By the time a product becomes established, the cosmetics firm has long recovered its development costs. The profit margin on a popular product is therefore extremely large.

So a reminder to you, by way of a free cosmetics offer, costs nothing compared to all the extra profits that you will generate for them in the coming months ... but it is good for you too to get some free top quality cosmetics.

So what's with the $1. Ahhh, well that is all about human psychology. Long story short, if you won't spend $1 on a beautiful bag full of top class cosmetics worth $100, then you are not going to spend any money on the same cosmetics on the high street. This is both a test of you as a customer and a test of the product acceptance in the market place.

Now remember, I mentioned the Internet changing the way the offers are made. Much of these offers on the web require some minimal information from you. An email address or zip code are common as are brief details such as gender, age, etc.

The large firms will simply not risk their reputation by sending you unwanted information. The Internet has created *permission based marketing*. If at any time you decide you don't want to be contacted the cosmetics companies promptly remove you from their list.

With that in mind, they truly know they better make their subsequent contacts with you so attractive and so relevant to you that you won't want to unsubscribe from their mailing list. That is where your further opportunities may arise.

You will find that they may ask you and their loyal customers to check out new products, way ahead of other people. These are free cosmetics again.

You may be invited to take part in focus groups to express your opinions. These can be extremely lucrative for you. If you agree before hand, you may get large amounts of free cosmetics in the post and be expected to fill in a simple feedback form.

You may also receive special offers that will help determine the best price structure for new cosmetics offers. The cosmetics firms will value your feedback and use it to shape their product marketing policies. You will benefit from free cosmetics offers or low cost cosmetics until you are no longer interested in participation.