Introduction

Muslim women value beauty, just like other women, but are also concerned about modesty.
Simultaneously, Muslim women require the choice of beauty products being in line with halal
requirement in the ingredients. This emerging trend accentuates the market for halal and
shariah compliant beauty products a high-growth segment with tremendous potential
(Temporal, 2011).
The objective of this essay is to achieve halal cosmetics brand awareness in the global
market. This essay explores the concept of halal cosmetics through the affiliation of the
halal and tayyiban. It also highlights the market opportunities for halal cosmetics. Going
further, issues and challenges to penetrate into the global market are raised in this essay.
Finally, it entails the strategies to curb the barriers through the development of emotional
Islamic appeal.
The Concept of Halal Cosmetics
Halal means permissible to consume and the product has been prepared according to the
Shariah principles using Shariah-compliant ingredients and processes (Alserhan, 2010).
Therefore, the concept of Halal cosmetics cannot be encapsulated within its non-harmful
ingredients only. In Islam, products are associated with values and ethics. Alserhan (2010)
further explains that the uniqueness of Islamic branding lies in the emotion relationships
between the producers and consumers. Toyyiban is a wider concept than halal where a
Toyyiban product is wholesome, purity, physical and spiritual cleanliness and attractiveness
(Alserhan, 2010).
An example of Halal cosmetic which brings the Toyyiban concept into its product offerings is
One Pure Beauty Cosmetics. This halal certified beauty product has met the challenges in
delivering not only through its product offerings but its promise of being pure by following the
Islamic teachings in its value chain. This comprises of using financial products and services
from Emirates Islamic Bank, the products are using raw materials that are conform to halal
requirements and ensuring the products do not come in contact with non-halal products or
processes such as machinery cleaned with substances containing alcohol (Temporal, 2011).
Thus, it is an obligation for Muslims to practice the concept of Toyyiban in the making of the
product (Alserhan, 2010).
The Halal Cosmetics Market and its Opportunities
According to Ogilvynoor, the halal market is worth at US$2.1 trillion and with the growing
muslim population, it is expected to increase for US$500bn a year. Meanwhile, the halal
cosmetics market is estimated between $5bn to $14bn a year. This contributes to growing
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The Opportunities and Challenges of Halal Cosmetics

sales at 20 per cent a year (Kerr, 2013). Therefore, the growing market for halal cosmetics
has created opportunities for marketers to develop innovative product.

For instance,

Indonesian brand Wardah Cosmetic has developed a range of make-up that is permeable to
water.

Other than its halal ingredients, the product is formulised to generate a thin

breathable barrier between water and skin upon application. This new formulation has meet
the needs of modern women lifestyle to look beautiful and pure without prohibit the teachings
of Islam. As at the end of day, it is all about pleasing the Creator (Rasol, 2013).
Issues and Challenges
Despite the expansion of halal cosmetics market, Islamic brands are facing challenges in
positioning their brand into the market. Furthermore, more barriers are encountered in a
market which is dominant by the Western brands. Temporal (2011) stressed that the most
fundamental obstacles to the growth of Islamic brands is how to achieve brand awareness
and how to switch consumer preferences and loyalty.
The barriers to penetrate the global market are recognised as follows:
Gaining trust and customer loyalty
Temporal (2011) explains that the decisive image of an international brand is affinity
which lead to trust and the creation of customer loyalty. Furthermore, consumers are
risk-averse towards the absence of powerful branding (Temporal, 2011). For
instance, The Body Shop offers through its product from naturally-derived ingredients
and against animal testing.

The engagement of The Body Shop towards the

environment and good business ethics has gain trust amongst its customers and
build to customer retention.

This is supported from an informal interview which

claimed that consuming non-halal certified but organic cosmetics is suffice as

individual should be clean and make-up free during performing shalat (pray).
The availability of established organic cosmetics brand
Most cosmetics brands are dominated by established Western brands. Furthermore,
the availability of organic cosmetics with powerful positioning restricts new halal
cosmetics to entering the global market.

Big brands such as The Body Shop,

Eccobella, Naturismo and 100% Pure are seen as an alternative chemical-free option
brands for Muslims.

Educating Consumers
Hunter (2012) with reference to a research claimed that 20% of Muslims ignore halal
certification when purchasing a product.

Muslim marketers should educate

consumers on the benefits of following the Islamic teachings. As Alserhan (2010)

explains that it is double rewarding for Muslims to consume halal products because it
will count towards his good deeds.
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The Opportunities and Challenges of Halal Cosmetics

The above-mentioned challenges contribute to the issues of consumers acceptance towards

the new halal cosmetics brands. This is followed by the question of halal accreditation and
the consistency of halal standard.
The strategies to aspiring Halal Cosmetics
In light to the issues and challenges, it is believe that Halal Cosmetics that practice Shariah
Compliant principles and engaging in good value will be able to position themselves into the
global market. However, it is crucial to highlight that using the name Islam is not a tool, it is
a resource (Jafari, 2012). Jafari (2012) further elaborates that religion is one of the many
resources that shape market practices and market-making activities such as marketing. The
strategies to penetrate into the global market are identified as follows:
Segmentation
Islam has no boundaries. Therefore, diversity is the key (Hunter, 2012). Consumer
profiling is crucial in order to understand the market clearly. The consumers differ
based on several factors such as size, location, motives, buying behaviour and
consumption patterns (Alserhan, 2011). The target market for halal cosmetics
marketers may comprises of:
a/ The Muslim Consumer
The Muslim Consumer is categorize into first the culture-compliant muslims and
secondly the shariah-compliant Muslims. The latter serves as the main target market
of halal cosmetics brands. They represent the vast majority of Muslims worldwide,
both in Islamic countries and non-Islamic countries (Alserhan, 2011).
b/ The Non-Muslim Consumer
This comprises of non-Muslim patrons who live in the Muslim communities, or work
or study with Muslim colleagues.

Building Emotional Islamic Appeal

Halal cosmetics brand should capture the imagination of the consumer and how halal
their products offering by building emotional appeal and the use of powerful values.
The strategy may include the adoption of tagline such as purity, natural and
wholesomeness. Furthermore, Temporal (2011) claimed that building brands based
on Islamic values represents a huge opportunity. This is supported by Alserhan
(2010) that Islamic branding manufactures righteousness, invite into a righteous life
and buyers engage in worship. Additionally, the use of Islamic symbol in the brand
logo, packaging and green colour reflects the beauty of Islam.

Attributes
In addition to the strategy in building emotional appeal, halal cosmetics brands may
positions its products based on the attributes. This relate to the concept of Tayyiban.
Halal cosmetics benefit its consumers through pure, natural and safe ingredients as

The Opportunities and Challenges of Halal Cosmetics

well as the adoption of shariah compliant production process.

Subsequently, all

actions are judged by the underlying motive or the intention behind them. Therefore,
all actions if motivated by a pure intention become good deeds regardless of their
outcomes (Alserhan, 2010). Hence, the use of halal cosmetics is considered as
good deeds that please Allah and warrant his satisfaction (Alserhan, 2010).

The establishment for a Niche Market

The formation of new and innovative niche market is considered as a good strategy.
This is due to the tendency to less competition such as in Muslim-minority markets
where the target audience is much smaller (Temporal, 2011). An example of a niche
halal cosmetics brand in the United Kingdom is Saaf Pure Skincare.

Conclusion
The growing Muslim market has created opportunities in Islamic brandings including halal
cosmetics. Muslim consumers realised the strengths of halal cosmetics through its halal and
Tayyiban concept.

However, issues such as gaining trust and loyalty challenged the

marketers to successfully penetrate into the market. Therefore, a number of strategies have
been identified to overcome the barriers to enter the market. The first method is by carefully
understanding the market. This is followed by building emotional Islamic appeal which plays
a crucial role in attracting the consumers. It is the marketers responsibility to help the
product to look good and feel good.

Therefore, the emphasis of right strategies and

marketing tools is aimed to achieve halal cosmetics brand awareness and gain competitive
advantage in the global market.

References
Alserhan, B.A. (2010). On Islamic Branding: brands as good deeds. Journal of Islamic
Marketing, 1(2), pp. 101-106
Alserhan, B. A. (2011). The Principles of Islamic Marketing. United Kingdom: Gower
Publishing Limited.
Gulzar, A. (2010). Halal certified make-up launched in UK. BBC. Retrieved from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-10712868
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The Opportunities and Challenges of Halal Cosmetics

Hunter, M. (2012). The Emerging Halal Cosmetics. Retrieved from:

http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1021&context=murray_hunter&seiredir=1&referer=http%3A%2F
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Jafari, A (2012). Islamic Marketing: Insights from a critical perspective. Journal of Islamic
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Kerr, S (2013). Halal cosmetics allow Muslim women to enjoy beauty and duty.
Halalfocus.net. Retrieved from: http://halalfocus.net/halal-cosmetics-allow-muslimwomen-to-enjoy-beauty-and-duty/
Ogilvy Noor (n.d) Retrieved from: http://www.ogilvynoor.com/index.php/adcritique/more-thanskin-deep-pure-halal-beauty/#.UoHhXeLuxkI
One Pure Halal Beauty (n.d). Retrieved from: http://www.onepurehalalbeauty.com/
Rasol, S. (2013). Wudhu-able Makeup. Aquila Style. Retrieved from: http://www.aquilastyle.com/fashionbeauty/wudhu-able-makeup/
Saaf Skin Care (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.saafskincare.com/about/accreditations/
Temporal, P. (2011). Islamic Branding and Marketing: Creating a Global Islamic Business.
Singapore: John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte.Ltd.
The Body Shop (2011). The Body Shop: Striving to be a force for good. Values Report 2011.
Retrieved from: http://www.thebodyshop.com

The Opportunities and Challenges of Halal Cosmetics