Reading a K-beauty label with your team

Imported packs carry a lot of small print, and clients expect your staff to read it for them. A 15-minute team session with one real box makes everyone faster and more confident at the counter. Use the EGF Blue Youth Activating Drop 50 mL box as your example and work through it in this order.

Step 1: Net contents

The Drop's box reads Net 50 mL / 1.69 fl oz. Teach two anchors. First, 30 mL is about 1 fl oz. Second, liquids are sold by volume in mL, while creams are often sold by weight in grams. There is also a 10 mL trial size (about 0.34 fl oz). The 50 mL is $39.99 MSRP and the 10 mL is $12.99 MSRP.

Step 2: The open-jar symbol

A small open-jar icon with a number and the letter M is the period-after-opening mark. It tells a client how many months to use the product after opening. For example, an icon reading 12M would mean twelve months. That is only an example. Have staff find the icon on the actual box and read the number printed there.

Step 3: Batch and date marks

Look for a printed or embossed code on the box or the bottle. It identifies the production batch. Some packs also show a manufacturing or expiry date, and formats vary, with some printing the year first. Practice reading one out loud as a team.

Two practical uses:

• Note the batch code whenever a client returns a product or asks a question about one.
• Use the codes when you rotate stock, so older batches sell first.

Batch codes also help with a question you may hear about the Drop. Its blue comes from guaiazulene, a naturally derived compound best known from chamomile, and the color can vary slightly batch to batch without affecting quality.

Step 4: The ingredient list

Ingredients are listed from highest to lowest concentration down to 1%. Below that level they may appear in any order. The Drop shows the rule well. Its list opens with Water and Butylene Glycol, then sh-Oligopeptide-1 (EGF) and sh-Polypeptide-1 (FGF), each at 10 ppm, or 0.001%. Their early spot tells your team that once ingredients fall to 1% or less, position no longer tells you the amount. Also point out that guaiazulene sits mid-list and adenosine comes last.

Step 5: Claims on the pack

The Drop's box notes that it is for sensitive skin and non-comedogenic tested. At the desk we phrase it this way: tested for primary irritation on sensitive skin and for non-comedogenicity. Teach staff to repeat claims exactly as written. "Tested" describes what was checked. It is a fact about the formula, so staff should not stretch it into a promise for every client.

How to run the session

• One box for every two people.
• Give each pair five minutes to find all five items above.
• Quiz the group with a second product from your own shelf.
• Post a one-page cheat sheet in the back room.

At the counter: "This number is the size, this little jar tells you how many months to use it after opening, and the ingredient list runs from most to least."

For more on the Drop's formula, see the EGF Blue Drop webbook. Not stocking it yet? Apply for a wholesale account.