COSMETICS have been known as beauty tool since ancient times. It includes many types ranging from makeup, skincare, body care, hair care, and nail care. As the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, cosmetic brands today are not only concerned with good quality, but also prioritize the halal ingredients used, so that they can be readily accepted in the Indonesian market.

For the time being, halal cosmetics have a promising market in Indonesia. The technological era is one of the factors that contribute to its market development.In recent years, nearly everyone has used social media in their daily lives.The rapidity of informationflows makes people use social media as a tool to do business.Halal cosmetics companies are one of the businesses that take advantages from this era.

Halal cosmetics are widely promoted by a number of celebrities and other public figures, not only by the universally well-known one, but also by the one who only famous among certain people. Brands generally engage influencers and experts to spread the knowledge of the products.Influencers are people who established a large network of followers and are considered as trusted trendsetters in one or more niches.Celebrities or other public figures likewise can be classified as influencers.Manycustomers value an endorsed product on social media because the influencer has a large following, which count as popular, whereas others dislike the product for the same reason. Thus, what factors influencing Muslims’ intention to purchase halal cosmetics?

Perceived Expertise

Perceived expertise can be referred as influencers’ knowledge, skills, and experiences about halal cosmetics perceived by Muslims in Indonesia. Perceived expertise has a positive influence on customers’ attitude towards halal cosmetics and their purchase intention. It means that when consumers’ perceived expertise is high, the tendency to impact their attitude and intention to purchase is high as well. Otherwise, perceived expertise has a negative influence on perceived risk.

Attitude towards halal cosmetics

Attitude in this context is the Muslim’s evaluation about halal cosmetics that are endorsed by influencers. Attitude has positive influence on purchase intention, which means, the higher the attitude of customers toward halal cosmetics, the higher the intention to purchase the product.

Perceived risk

Perceived risk is referred as an expectation of losses and opposing outcomes perceived by Muslims in Indonesia about halal cosmetics. Perceived risk has insignificant influence on customers’attitude towards halal cosmetics, and their purchase intention. It means that their perception on risk does not affect their attitude and purchase intention.

An interesting insight has raised. Logically, if a person is aware of the potential risks associated with a product, they will generally try to avoid purchasing it in order to prevent the risk. However, it was noticed that when a person admires a famous person, like celebrity, they usually show their support in certain way, such as by purchasing the product that the celebrity endorses.  Nevertheless, when the celebrity is extremely well-known and shining, their fame has a tendency to overshadow an essential aspect, namely risks.  People will tend to go crazy buying things and ignore any risks that may exist in those products.Regardless of the person’s background or gender. For instance, when a Korean boybandendorsed localhalal cosmetics. Despite the fact that fans of the boyband were unaware of the brand—what kind of products this brand sold, or the benefits and hazards of the products—they assumed that that products were good as the brand was endorsed by the Korean boyband. Therefore, they still buy the product. As a result, this observation implies that there is no connection between perceived risk on attitude, and on purchase intention.

The findings of the relationship between these factors wereobtained through a survey of 128 respondents who are Muslim and follow influencers on social media.From this study, it can be concluded that Muslims perception on risk sometimes overshadowed by their fondness of famous influencer that they admire, such as celebrity. When customers have a positive perception on the influencers, they will have a low perception of the product risk. In which, it has no impact on consumers’ attitude towards the halal cosmetics and their intention to purchase.In relation to implications, halal cosmetics companies should be more selective and segmented in choosing influencers for endorsements since the findings showed how influencers have a strong impact on customers’ attitude and their intention to purchase, especially if the consumers idolize them. The managers of halal cosmetics companies are suggested to choose the influencers who understand the complexities of halal related to the ingredients contained in halal cosmetics and have a good image because they will represent the value of the product or the brand. Furthermore, influencers should have a large number of followers in order to attract potential customers. (*/ila)

*The authors are student and lecturer from management international program department, Universitas Islam Indonesia.

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