Naime Peci: “Indie brands may not compete with global groups on media budgets, but they can compete on clarity, specificity, credibility, and the ability to make genuine product knowledge available to the people who want it.”

Like so many other entrepreneurs before her, Naime Peci founded Ecofer out of a personal experience. A few years ago, she developed a severe skin reaction, causing her skin to burn, itch intensely, and break out in red blisters.

– That pushed me to study skincare far more closely than I ever had: ingredients, formulations, claims, the whole story behind a product. The more I looked, the more small, genuinely good brands I found — brands making conscious, honest products without the marketing budgets of the big groups. They were almost impossible to find, drowned out by whoever could spend the most on ads.

At the same time, she saw the same problem from the brand side. Good brands often have real documentation—claims, ingredients, lab reports, and certifications—but it’s scattered across teams, systems, and folders.

– So, it has to be re-explained and re-translated every time it’s needed for a product page, a retailer, a creator, or a customer question. Founding Ecofer, the broader question that interests me is: what happens when product knowledge becomes part of the infrastructure for how products are discovered, evaluated, communicated and sold?

– Consumers are asking for clearer information. Regulation is moving towards more specific and substantiated communication. QR codes and connected experiences are linking physical products to digital information. Search and AI are changing how products are discovered and compared. Digital Product Passports signal a longer-term move towards connected, accessible, and traceable product data.

– For brands, this means that product information is no longer simply an internal document or a marketing asset. It is becoming shared infrastructure across the product journey, from development and compliance to marketing, retail, creators, ecommerce, search, AI and the person making the purchase.

More specifically, how would you describe Ecofer?

– It’s a SaaS platform and product-information infrastructure for consumer brands, initially focused on skincare and with relevance for adjacent categories such as supplements.

– It turns the product information brands already have—including formulations, ingredients, benefits, claims, evidence, certifications, laboratory reports and supporting documents—into one connected and traceable product record.

– Ecofer links the product to the information behind it, including which claim is supported by which evidence, which version is current, and where that information is used. Brands can then use the same product foundation across regulatory work, internal teams, marketing, ecommerce, retailers, creators, QR-based product experiences, search, AI, and customer-facing product pages.

– People often compare us to a DAM (Digital Asset Management) or a PIM (Product Information Management), and I understand why; we also deal with structured product data. But a DAM is built to store and distribute files, and a PIM is built to distribute market-ready product content across channels. Neither is built to hold the actual chain behind a product: which claim is backed by which lab report, on which version of the formula, and what needs to be checked again the moment an ingredient or supplier changes. That connected chain—not just the structured data on its own—is what our service is really built around.

How big of an issue is it for brands that the required information is so scattered? And what are their biggest issues?

– The problem is not necessarily access to raw product data. Beauty brands generally already have much of it because formulations, ingredients, safety documentation, supplier information and product specifications are part of normal development and compliance processes, Peci shares. She continues:

– The deeper challenge is making that information work throughout the organisation and across the wider product ecosystem.

– Ingredients may sit in one system, supplier documentation and laboratory reports in another, claims and supporting evidence elsewhere, and marketing or ecommerce content in yet another place. Product development, R&D, regulatory, quality, marketing, ecommerce, sales, retailers, creators, and customer support may all need the same product knowledge, but in different formats and at different stages.

– That means brands are paying not only for several separate tools, but also for the people and teams who manage the gaps between those tools. They repeatedly search for information, verify which version is current, request approvals, adapt content, answer the same questions and publish similar information across multiple channels.

– The biggest issue is therefore not whether information exists. It is whether the product, formula, ingredients, claims, evidence, documents, versions, and communication channels are connected.

– This is particularly important for claims. In the EU, cosmetic claims must, of course, comply with common criteria including legal compliance, truthfulness, evidential support, honesty, fairness, and informed decision-making. Evidence must be adequate, verifiable, and relevant to the specific product and claim. That makes it important for brands to understand not only what they communicate, but also what supports it.

– Ecofer is built for the layer between raw information and public communication. It helps brands create a clearer relationship between what they know about a product, what they can responsibly say about it and where that information is being used.

You aim to work both B2B and B2C. How?

– Our direct customers are B2B consumer brands, initially in skincare and later, as I touched upon, in adjacent categories such as supplements.

– The B2B value is in helping brands collect, structure, connect, govern, and reuse product information across their internal teams and external partners.

– The B2C value is created through the customer-facing product experience. Brands can make product knowledge available through public product pages and QR codes, allowing consumers to access clear and relevant information about a product, including ingredients, intended benefits, claims, certifications, evidence status and supporting documentation.

– I do not believe consumers necessarily want to read lengthy technical reports. Through my own interviews and research, a recurring need is for information that is quick to find, easy to understand and useful at the moment of choice. Consumers want to know what a product contains, what it is intended to do, whether it is relevant to their needs and whether the claims being made are supported.

– Ecofer can present the essentials in a concise product card, while making deeper evidence, certificates, laboratory reports and supporting material available for those who want to explore further.

– Creators, influencers, and UGC producers are also an important part of this chain. They need creative freedom, but they also need a reliable product basis. A structured product card can help them understand what the product is, what it contains, which claims are documented and what can responsibly be communicated.

What is a typical use case for a brand and an end consumer?

– A skincare brand preparing to launch a new product, update a formulation, enter a new market or expand into retail. The brand may already have product data, ingredient lists, supplier information, claims, certificates, laboratory reports, and other supporting documents. But the information is often spread across several places, handled by different teams and adapted repeatedly for different uses.

– We bring this into a connected product record. It can link a product to its formula, ingredients, intended benefits, claims, evidence, documents, status and versions. This gives the brand a clearer foundation for regulatory review, product pages, ecommerce, retailer materials, FAQs, customer support, creator briefs, and QR-based product experiences.

– For example: Product, Formula or ingredient, Intended benefit, Claim, Supporting evidence, Laboratory report, certificate or document, Status and approved version, and finally Product page, retailer material, creator brief or other channel.

– The same structure becomes particularly valuable when something changes. If an ingredient, supplier, concentration, test, certificate or formulation changes, the brand can identify which product information, claims and downstream materials may need to be reviewed.

– For a consumer, the experience is much simpler. Someone may discover a product via a retailer, a creator, social media, search, an AI tool or a QR code on packaging. Instead of encountering only a short marketing statement, they can access a product-specific page that helps them understand the product quickly: what it contains, what it is intended to do, which claims are made and whether supporting information exists.

– The goal is not more information for its own sake. It is, for the point of decision, to get better access to the right information.

These days, AI is changing discovery from simple keyword searches towards more conversational and contextual questions. Instead of searching only for a product category, people can ask questions such as: Which product may suit sensitive skin? Which products contain or avoid a particular ingredient? Or what is the difference between two serums?

– For brands, this means that product information needs to be understandable not only to the person who built the product page, but also to search engines, ecommerce platforms, retailers, and AI-driven discovery systems.

– A product may have strong ingredients, credible claims and genuine documentation, but if the information is fragmented, inconsistent or difficult to interpret, it becomes harder to discover, compare and communicate accurately.

– We work to make product information more structured, connected, and reusable. It does not guarantee that an AI system will recommend a particular brand or product. But it provides a clearer product-information foundation for search, AI, retailers, creators and consumers to understand what a product is, what it contains, what it is intended to do and what supports the communication around it.

– The product page is therefore becoming more than a transactional destination. It can become a source of product knowledge that supports discovery, evaluation, trust and conversion.

Are you market-ready? What’s the timeline?

– Ecofer is built and in early release, with pilot work involving real product information and real brand workflows.

– The platform has been developed through research, interviews, evidence, customer discovery and market validation, alongside the broader shifts taking place in beauty around claims, transparency, regulation, ecommerce, retail and AI-driven discovery.

– The core product-information flow is already in place: brands can collect and structure product information, manage products and ingredients, connect claims to evidence and supporting documentation, track information status and versions, and create customer-facing product pages and QR-based experiences.

– Ecofer is not positioned as a finished, static product. The current phase is about commercial expansion and learning from real use: onboarding more paying brands, deepening pilot work, refining workflows, and expanding the platform for more products, markets, channels and integrations.

– The focus during the autumn is to grow the commercial customer base while continuing to develop Ecofer alongside the needs of skincare and supplement brands.

DPPs are already affecting fashion and textiles. Beauty not so much, yet, although some brands have started their work. How do you follow the current development with DPPs in beauty? And how could your solution help there?

– I see them as part of a broader move toward product information that is structured, traceable, digitally accessible, and connected to the physical product.

– The EU’s Digital Product Passport development is gradual and product-specific. Batteries are one of the first major use cases, while textiles and other product groups are being addressed through separate measures under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. I would not claim to predict the exact order or timeline for skincare and supplements, and there is not currently a general mandatory DPP requirement for all cosmetics.

– However, the direction is clear. Product information is increasingly expected to be more specific, traceable, accessible, and usable across the value chain.

– Beauty is highly relevant to that direction. Skincare and supplements involve extensive information about ingredients, formulations, suppliers, laboratory reports, claims, evidence, certifications, usage and, in some cases, sourcing and sustainability. Much of this already needs to be documented and connected for safety, compliance and responsible communication, independently of whether a formal DPP requirement applies.

– The need to connect claims with supporting information is already real today. It does not depend on a future DPP. For example, cosmetic claims need appropriate and verifiable evidence that is relevant to the product and benefit being claimed.

– Ecofer is not presented as a complete mandatory DPP-compliance system for cosmetics. It is a product-information foundation that helps brands organise and connect the types of information that DPP-style development makes increasingly important.

– The QR code itself is only the entry point. The value lies in the structured information behind it: product identity, ingredients, formula-related knowledge, claims, evidence, laboratory reports, certificates, supporting documents, versions, and relevant product characteristics.

– We can make this available through a concise product card and a public product page, while allowing deeper documentation to be accessed when needed. That gives brands a practical way to work with transparency and traceability today, while becoming better prepared for future requirements and expectations.

Naime Peci’s extra industry insights

– One major shift is that beauty is moving from promise-led communication towards a more proof-led one.

– Consumers are increasingly informed and selective. They want to understand products more quickly, compare options more easily and feel confident that the claims being made are meaningful and supported. This does not mean that every consumer wants full technical documentation. It means that brands need to make the right information available in a clear and credible way.

– A second shift is that transparency is no longer only a brand value or a marketing message. It is becoming an operational capability. To communicate transparently, brands need their formulation, supplier data, claims, evidence, certificates, documents, versions and approved content to be connected internally before they can communicate consistently externally.

– A third shift is the growing cost of fragmentation. Many brands still work across spreadsheets, email threads, supplier folders, technical PDFs, regulatory workflows, creative assets, ecommerce platforms and retailer portals. The hidden cost is often not only the software stack; it is the time people spend repeatedly finding, checking, approving, adapting and republishing the same information.

– A fourth shift is that creators and UGC are part of the product-information chain. The quality of product communication can no longer be assessed only on a brand’s own website or packaging. Claims and impressions are also created through social media, videos, creator briefs, retailer listings, and digital conversations.

– A fifth shift is that product information is becoming part of commercial distribution. As search, ecommerce and AI become more conversational, a product needs to be understandable through its characteristics, ingredients, benefits, claims and limitations — not only through a polished campaign image or a short description.

– For Nordic beauty brands, this can be a competitive opportunity. Indie brands may not compete with global groups on media budgets, but they can compete on clarity, specificity, credibility and the ability to make genuine product knowledge available to the people who want it.