As ingredient transparency and digital compliance take centre stage in the beauty industry, e-commerce retailers and brands face mounting pressure to meet increasingly stringent cosmetic labelling regulations. New and existing laws, including FDA regulations in the United States and EU Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009, now require full INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) disclosures for all cosmetic products sold online. Skin Match Technology, a leading SaaS platform for ingredient transparency and personalisation, is empowering beauty retailers with the tools to comply—efficiently, accurately, and at scale.
Navigating regulatory complexity with smart ingredient solutions
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) mandates that all cosmetics marketed directly to consumers—whether in-store or online—must provide a complete and visible list of ingredients. These regulations, codified under 21 CFR parts 701 and 740 and enforced by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA), are designed to protect consumers from deceptive practices and health risks.
Additionally, European oversight bodies such as France’s DGCCRF are increasing enforcement of digital labeling obligations. The DGCCRF has noted that online retailers frequently fail to provide proper INCI lists, disadvantaging e-commerce shoppers compared to those buying in physical stores. Non-compliance is legally considered a misleading practice and may incur administrative fines.
Skin match technology: transforming compliance into conversion
Sourcing and maintaining up-to-date ingredient data for thousands of SKUs is an enormous undertaking for beauty Retailers selling 1’000+ Brands. Skin Match Technology measured an industry average of 10 minutes per product to manually retrieve INCI data—equating to 312 working days for a catalog of 15,000 products.
To solve this, Skin Match Technology has built the world’s largest ingredient database, decoding over 60,000 ingredients and automating compliance for more than 100,000 products. Brands can upload product data directly to the platform, while retailers can integrate via a simple plug-and-play code.
“Our platform eliminates the heavy lifting of adding ingredient lists in INCI Format to each Product Detail Page,” says Estella Benz, CEO and Founder of Skin Match Technology. “From full INCI lists to clean beauty icons and explainer tools, we ensure both legal transparency and consumer-friendly clarity in one scalable solution.”
Consumer trust starts with ingredient clarity
With growing consumer demand for ingredient awareness and ethical sourcing, transparent labelling isn’t just a legal requirement—it’s a strategic advantage. Whether you’re a DTC brand or a large retailer, failing to provide clear ingredient information risks not only non-compliance but also consumer trust and conversion rates.
