If you grew up in the '90s, then you can’t have escaped the hype surrounding Gwen Stefani and her L.A.M.B. brand. However, beauty e-commerce has undergone dramatic changes in the last two decades, with social media playing a major role in breaking down barriers by giving budding makeup artists, models, and more the platform to gain popularity and recognition. Without social media, these people would have to turn to offline advertisements to make themselves well known to the general public. Now, with a small electronic device at hand, everybody can promote themselves to millions of users only if they know the right ways.
Today, we see beauty eCommerce brands move from no-name to household names and traditional brands fighting to stay relevant. What happened? The beauty industry moved from being dominated by drugstore products to having the most successful brands being digitally native.
Beauty eCommerce is a segment that has seen a significant increase in sales over the past few years. The global beauty market is expected to surpass $750 billion by 2024, accounting for almost half of all retail sales. Makeup and skincare products are among the most popular items purchased online, with Americans spending between $244 and $313 on cosmetics monthly.
As eCommerce store owners wonder how to create an eCommerce website for the cosmetics business, instead of knowing the cost to build an online store, it’s essential to know what beauty products will attract customers in 2022 and how they intend to buy them. By understanding that, you can optimize your eCommerce store and make better business decisions.
Here are some beauty eCommerce statistics that highlighted 2021 and still apply in 2022:
- The global beauty eCommerce market grew from $75.1 billion to $77.8 billion in 2022, a $2.7 billion growth.
- The natural and organic makeup industry is projected to hit $54 billion by 2027 as more women prefer healthy makeup.
- The Asian Pacific region holds at least a 46% industry share in beauty eCommerce.
- 96% of brands are active on social media.
- 40% of makeup users are more willing to try new beauty products since the coronavirus pandemic.
Beauty eCommerce is one of the fastest-growing and most profitable eCommerce industries. Every single year, thousands of new brands come into the market, trying to take a share. With so much competition in the market, it is vital to understand how your brand will fit into that landscape.
Top Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Beauty Brands to Follow
Since eCommerce is a customer-oriented industry, it is essential for brands to sell the products with customer-induced demand. On that note, these two DTC brands are making waves in the beauty eCommerce space and have items that should be on your catalog:
1. Perfect Diary
Perfect Diary has become one of the top cosmetic brands in China. This brand is dedicated to providing natural skincare and makeup for those who perfer clear beauty without wearing heavy makeup products. With over 200 stores in China, the brand has achieved remarkable growth. Perfect Diary was founded in 2017 but already has a $4 billion valuation. Perfect Diary has built a unique brand image by honing in on its content creation and social media presence with:
1. Beautiful, high-quality product image
2. Better product lines
3. Frequently updates on official blogs and beauty tutorials of various product lines, so as to gain followers and brand messages through social media
2. Florasis
Florasis is another online cosmetic brand that has overtaken the beauty market. In just a few years, Florasis has grown significantly with an evaluation of $470 million and a strong customer following. Florasis's selling point is a product line of all-natural components; the products are also affordable, high-quality, and appeal to sensitive skin. Some of the reasons why Florasis is trending amongst makeup lovers and beauty bloggers are:
1. Florasis stands for natural ingredients plus is highly customer-oriented and focuses on skin nutrition than customers do. Remember that customers are now more interested in what they put on their skin.
2. The affordability of the products for the quality they deliver. Yes, customers would pay for their trustworthy products, only when the products are within their expense range. By offering an affordable price, Florasis actually exposed itself to a larger group of customers.
3. Products' inspiring feel, style, and design are all captured in their content.
Beauty eCommerce Growth Strategies
Growing an eCommerce brand requires purposeful and actionable frameworks in both the short and long term. Some of these strategies can help propel your business growth:
1. Market Your Brand On Social Media
80% of its 150 million customers interested in beauty eCommerce utilize Pinterest for beauty inspiration. Pinterest makes it effective to reach new customers with visual content that links back to your eCommerce store. You can also use different social media channels to test marketing strategies for cosmetic companies.
2. Encourage User-Generated Content
Engagements of repost, share, like, and comment on posts can build customer interaction and loyalty. It is important to let the customers know the brand actually cares about them, not just their money.
3. Optimize Your Product Descriptions
A good product description can significantly sell faster. Every product has a unique feature that can be leveraged in its description to generate more sales. A product description should highlight both the features and benefits of using it. Only in this way can the customers realize how effective and suitable the products are for themselves among all those products.
4. Create Video Content
When it comes to beauty products, visual matters. For example, makeup tutorials that combine product recommendations with expert tips are a massive hit on YouTube and other Livestreaming sites.
5. Don't Ignore the Importance of Mobile Optimization
As mobile users continue to increase, more consumers turn to their phones to search for and purchase beauty products online. You must make sure that your website loads fast on mobile devices, has a responsive design, and offers a convenient checkout experience. If these factors aren't optimized enough, you risk losing potential clients.
The Future of the Beauty eCommerce Industry
The rise in social media use and digitally active brands have led us to accept that the beauty eCommerce industry is going nowhere. This presence is partly due to new product launches and innovative marketing campaigns by beauty brands and increased consumer acceptance of shopping for beauty products online. The following are more of what we can expect to see in the future:
1. Smaller brands make big gains due to stronger customer relationships.
2. More people are turning to their mobile devices for an optimized shopping experience.
3. An increasing presence of beauty-focused apps.
4. Sustainable, environmentally friendly and clear products emerge in the beauty eCommerce industry.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking to establish your beauty brand or already have an existing store, here at AllValue, we help add value to your eCommerce operation across all aspects. From offering eCommerce web design services to optimizing your marketing and sales efforts, AllValue has all the features needed to help take your business to the next level.
At AllValue, we're passionate about helping beauty brands achieve their growth ambitions. We'd love to explore a deeper partnership with you and your team to create more value for your business. Visit our website and let us help you create a successful beauty brand eCommerce store.