You wouldn’t pay $435 for an avocado – why would you for a face cream?
by Lauren Sams · Australian Financial ReviewLauren SamsFin editor, deputy editor AFR Magazine and fashion editor
May 8, 2026 – 3.47pm
Amy Bi knows you wouldn’t pay $385 for a banana. She gets that $250 is an insane price for a coconut. And, obviously, she wouldn’t shell out $435 for an avocado.
“Using grocery store items as the analogy was key,” says Bi, the global vice president of brand at Deciem, the parent company of The Ordinary. The beauty brand is hosting a pop-up in Melbourne from May 8 called the Markup Marché, using common supermarket products with hyperbolic names to show that when it comes to beauty, consumers are often paying for additive features like marketing, packaging and celebrity endorsements, rather than the product itself. “Everyone knows what a roll of toilet paper or a banana is meant to cost.” The idea is to show that marketing often entices customers to pay more than necessary for products.
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Lauren SamsFin editor, deputy editor AFR Magazine and fashion editorLauren Sams is the editor of Fin Magazine, The Australian Financial Review’s luxury quarterly edition. She is also the deputy editor at The Australian Financial Review Magazine and the fashion editor. She writes about the business of fashion and beauty. Email Lauren at lauren.sams@afr.com
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