How Does The Ordinary Stay So Affordable?
I've worked in the Marketing Team at Adore Beauty for almost a year now and love love love skincare! I'm all about vegan products and 5 plus step skincare routines. Recently I've been growing out my coloured hair and focusing on strength/length with hair masks and treatments.
The Ordinary keeps prices low by stripping packaging, marketing and unnecessary fillers, and as a result you can buy high‑strength actives like 10% niacinamide and single‑ingredient marula oil for just under a tenner. The article explains how streamlined formulas, low marketing spend and Deciem's backing make affordable, effective skincare and the downsides to consider before you buy.
Top Insights From This Guide
- Buy high‑strength actives like niacinamide 10% for great value, often under a tenner.
- Choose single‑ingredient oils or short formulas to avoid paying for fillers or scents.
- Avoid The Ordinary if you prefer scented, luxurious textures or simple product names.
- Factor Deciem ownership and low marketing spend into steady pricing and product development.
The Ordinary are, without a doubt, one of those companies that has come along and revolutionised an entire industry.
Never before have we seen such an innovative skincare brand which delivers high quality products for a fraction of the normal market cost.
With serums and facial oils, which you'd expect to cost an absolute fortune, coming in at just under a tenner, it may seem confusing as to how they can charge so little yet still exist as a successful company.
Find out just how The Ordinary manage to create such affordable skincare.
There's Nothing Unnecessary
With The Ordinary, there are no frills attached. Everything from their simplistic packaging to the lack of scents, there is nothing extra involved.
You only have to look at the ingredients lists to see how much shorter they are than normal skincare products.
Fancy ingredients are forgone for high concentrations of good quality ingredients.
The Ordinary base their products around active ingredients. For example the The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% - 30ml contains very little else, other than the niacinamide and zinc it mentions in the name. The The Ordinary 100% Cold-Pressed Virgin Marula Oil is exactly what it says, there is only one ingredient on that list and it's the seed oil.
By focusing simply on the ingredients which work, The Ordinary are able to keep their costs massively down and sell their products for a smaller price.
There Are No Marketing Ploys
Most cosmetics brands spend a lot of money on marketing their products, with everyone from designing the packaging and coming up with the initial campaigns, to actually getting it out there on magazines and billboards.
The Ordinary don't have collections of products they deem "anti-aging miracles", in fact The Ordinary simply explain what their products do with no misleading claims.
The marketing costs from The Ordinary is much less than other cosmetics companies. Their costs simply go on testing and producing the products.
The Ordinary Is A DECIEM Brand
Whilst it might seem like it did, The Ordinary didn't come out of nowhere, it is a brand from parent company Deciem. Deciem has various other cosmetics brands such as Hylamide and NIOD which all explore innovative and functional skincare.
You can't start a new brand with no funds, and luckily Deciem has been a massive success, so the initial funds were there to not only explore the idea of The Ordinary but also make it happen. The success, experience and knowledge of Deciem has allowed The Ordinary to come to life.
What Are The Downsides Of The Ordinary?
The Ordinary is not really a mass-market brand as it only really caters to people who are interested in the science behind skincare and are prepared to take the time to heavily research the ingredients they use. For the average person, their confusing naming system may be completely off-putting.
The Ordinary also lack the luxury that other brands can deliver. Whilst we always want skincare that is actually going to improve our skin, sometimes it's nice to use your skincare as a pampering session too.
We love The Ordinary, and we definitely love how affordable it is!
The Ordinary: Best Products For Each Skin Type
Brand and product inclusions are at the sole discretion of Adore Beauty’s highly trained Customer Service team. We do not seek or accept payment from brands or individuals listed in our guides.
