“The powder does not lather”: what buyers of imported household chemicals complain about

News headlines sound joyful and bravura: they say that every month more and more people choose Russian cosmetics and household chemicals, soon we will get rid of reverence for French perfumes and German hairsprays. However, in practice, everything is not at all so joyful.

From Germany or from an urban-type settlement?

When your favorite hand cream or shampoo disappears from the shelves, choosing a new one is not so easy. Yes, and there are problems with the choice of household chemicals: the range of washing powders or dishwashing detergents has noticeably thinned out. Stores are fighting this by ordering goods with parallel imports: as if from Germany, but in a roundabout way, through Kazakhstan. Thanks to this, we continue to receive products from Europe, but through other countries and at a higher price. Such goods are also called “grey market” goods.

Here is one of the well-known mass-market stores selling inexpensive cosmetics and household chemicals. It seems that the wrong audience is shopping here, for which the disappearance of Chanel and Dior would be a problem, but they also feel discomfort. From prices, reduction in assortment, unpredictability – from anything.

The first thing we noticed was the prices. We had to work at night, about ten thousand price tags were updated every day, while usually a maximum of one hundred. In the morning, grandmothers scolded us, as if it was our whim to overprice,” said the store consultant, who introduced herself as Veronica. — After some time, the goods in the warehouse began to run out. Previously, they brought in five times more boxes, the shelves were bursting with an abundance of products. Now we constantly hear the question: “Are you closing?..” No, there are simply fewer goods. You won’t look at goods for men without tears: if well-known brands of cosmetics were replaced by other companies in a short time, then they simply decided not to remember men’s razors and shower gels.

Indeed, the shelves are empty, for the most part only domestic producers are represented. However, goods with the inscription “Made in Germany” (and not only) remain, only their quality has become much worse. For example, blades for machine tools, according to men, do not hold water.

– It used to be better. The quality has changed dramatically, it is not clear why we pay so much money, – one of the buyers shared. – You know, as if they were specially blunted to make it difficult for us to shave. Written: “Made in Europe”! Yes, where is it, rather an urban-type settlement somewhere in the North …

Shampoos and hair care products occupy the largest space in the store. I took the first balm that came across and looked at the back to find out where it was made. All information on the packaging is written in French, only a label with a translation is stuck on top. Immediately behind this balm was exactly the same, but with the usual packaging for us: everything was translated into Russian.

– Tell me, is this company often bought? I ask the seller a question.

– Yes, it is quite popular, many people praise it.

What is the difference between these two packages?

– If earlier the supplies of cosmetics to Russia were official and firms produced bottles specially for us in Russian, now we get them by roundabout ways. Suppliers have to stick a translation on the packaging. Many are afraid to buy because of this, they do not trust, they doubt that the goods correspond to the previous quality. Mostly these are people of the older generation. We are trying to explain that only the language in which the text is written has changed, while the functionality has remained the same. However, if there are old and new packages on the shelf, people take the more familiar.

I approached a customer who had been in the store for a long time, she had already picked up a whole cart of various products, looked at the shampoos with me and took exactly the one to which I had questions.

Have you tried this balm yet?

Yes, of course, why do you ask?

– Doesn’t it bother you that all the text on the package is written in French?

Why should I care? It still softens the hair and improves its quality – what difference does it make what language the composition is written in? The same situation was with cola, when they brought papers in Russian from the nearest countries, pasted them on top. It did not differ in taste from the one that we had before. I looked for it in all the stores, because Russian analogues are too sweet …

STM – what is it?

Stores often promote their own private labels (PL). They existed before, and not only in Russia, but over the past year and a half their number has increased by 20%. The task of private labels is to offer customers new products from the store and at least visually compensate for the shortage. Moreover, the requirements for them are even greater than for other brands. They must be not only competitive and of high quality, but also affordable. Among private label products, you can most often find creams, shower gels, and everyday products (pads, toothbrushes, cotton pads, etc.).

Choosing a face care product is a very delicate and painstaking procedure. You need to make a mistake in choosing a cream many times to find the right one. I spoke to a customer who walked from rack to rack for ten minutes.

– I noticed that you have been here for quite a long time – are you looking for something specific?

– Yes, I have very sensitive skin, for about a year I can not find the right cream for myself. I used to use French cosmetics, but they disappeared from the Russian market. A friend advised me to try the Belarusian one, but it makes my face redden, although the remedy seems to be declared as hypoallergenic. I can’t understand everything: are the manufacturers lying or do I have such special skin?

— Has import substitution affected your life?

– In life – not much, you can always find a replacement, I’m sure that I’ll pick up a face cream. It strongly affected the profession: I am a hairdresser. All the brands I used to work with are gone. For a long time, when clients asked for advice on hair care, out of habit I named those companies whose products are no longer available in our country. It was necessary to drastically rebuild and study new brands that would have a good effect on the quality of hair. There are good firms that can be recommended, but those that were before, as a hairdresser, I liked more.

Behind the cheapness is a fake?

Opposite the facial skin care products are three racks of perfumes, and a very pungent smell comes from there. I turn around and see two women inspiredly spraying something from a bright bottle. From a snippet of conversation, I understand: they are looking for a gift for a man.

– I saw this perfume in another store, where it cost ten thousand, and here it’s only six hundred rubles, can you imagine? one of them said and put the tester back on the shelf. – We must take it!

Eh, recklessly! Unpleasant surprises can await here – a Muscovite named Zhanna told MK about one such episode. According to the girl, she also bought perfume as a gift, but in this situation the recipient wanted certain ones. It was not possible to buy in the store, so she ordered from another city with delivery and took the order from the post office (so there was no one to make a claim on the spot). When I brought it home, it turned out that even the packaging was already suspicious: the inscriptions had “moved out”, the integrity was broken … Zhanna decided to open it and realized that the smell was not at all the same as the original, or rather, no smell at all, just water with a light fragrance. Then she understood why the site said “SALE”, and instead of 30 thousand rubles she gave only 12 (although also a lot!).

With a complaint, the customer decided to contact the retail store of the same chain. However, managers and consultants denied it, saying that it should be so.

– The manager brought the tester – it smelled like “nothing” in the same way. She told me that this perfume smells like that. As if he had a rebrand, a molecule was introduced there that enhances the smell of the body. In short, if you do not like this smell, then keep in mind that you smell like that. That’s where to complain if they claim that this is how it should be? We do not know what the last rebranding was, Europe does not report to us. But I remember exactly that a couple of years ago the scent was completely different!

Yes, the price of a fake is clearly more pleasant, but this does not mean that the product will match its quality. In Zhanna’s situation, it turned out that the bottle unrolls easily – therefore, there can be any liquid inside, it is easier to change it. From this we can conclude that it is better to overpay than to be disappointed in the product and spend money again.

The same problem may lie in wait for buyers of decorative cosmetics. There are about sixteen firms on the trading floor, but one immediately catches the eye, insanely similar to the Maybelline that left the Russian market. The packages are almost identical: color, shape, design. The price tag is much lower than that of a well-known company, which is most likely due not only to the markup on the brand, but also to the quality. I didn’t see anything bad in the composition, I decided to ask the consultant why this company is so similar to Maybelline and how people treat it.

We were also surprised at first by this similarity. Read the reviews – basically they say that this is a miserable fake. People are hard to fool: although the packaging looks like Maybelline, this company is not particularly favored. They come, they look, and they don’t take it. You can count on your fingers how many times it was bought, although the price tag does not bite.

– Did many new cosmetics brands appear after the proven ones left?

– Yes, of course, you need to fill the shelves with something. A lot of Chinese cosmetics appeared. Some like it, some don’t, but you have to get out. We began to buy goods of Belarusian production more often, their lipsticks are really good. True, many people complain about the smell.

What other departed firms are often sought after by buyers?

– For some time, the popular Polish hair dye was gone. Questions about it arose so often that I began to think that there were no other firms at all. Once a woman came in and asked absolutely all the consultants why she was not available – everyone had the same answer: “Sanctions”. Now deliveries, fortunately, have been resumed, but during their absence, three more new hair dye companies have appeared – I would not say that they are worse.

At the opposite end of the hall, a woman was cursing loudly: she was holding washing powder in a small box and talking to a consultant. Buyers kept paying attention to them.

– What does it mean?! I always bought this particular powder, it cost seventy rubles, now it is already more than a hundred. Despite the fact that he stopped washing even weak stains, the clothes smell terrible, so this muck has also risen in price! Why?!

– We are not responsible for the price of the goods, do you want to try to buy another powder? We have cheaper ones.

– No, I always bought this one, I don’t want to try anything else! I have been using it for ten years now, I have tried many, but only he was satisfied. In the past time! My daughter also says that the price of fabric softener has risen by 100 rubles! How is that possible? These are ordinary household items, soon we will give half of the salary for toilet paper. When I was young, they didn’t change the price tags every day! The price was printed on the product, and no one had questions about where to find it cheaper …

The woman put a box of powder into the consultant’s hands and hurried out of the shop. Sellers are already accustomed to this attitude of buyers. The girl put down the box, looked at me tiredly, and went off to do her own thing. Indeed, it is very difficult to find a product that fully satisfies your needs. Prices are rising, and quality is changing, and not always for the better.