The Blush of Success: Amazon and Cosmetic Sales
By: Kemal Sidar
Tags: Amazon, Retail, Sales, Ecommerce, Marketing

Selling cosmetics is fun!

Photo by michela ampolo on Unsplash

Cosmetics are part of our everyday lives and we use at all stages of life — from deodorants, fragrances, makeup, soaps, suntan lotions, shampoos and toothpastes.

This means that we are continually using them and buying them, and with us purchasing more and more everyday items online, this sector is expending.

The European cosmetic and personal care market is the largest in the world valued at €78.6 billion (based on retail sales prices in 2018).

The UK has a significant share of this at €10.9 billion following Germany and France.

In 2018 there was also a significant increase of 13% in the sale of beauty products with it accounting for approximately 20% of the online market.

Currently, the consumer demand for beauty products is at an all-time high, luxury beauty sales grew 47% in 2017.

The business of beauty seems to be booming, consumer spend in this sector is growing very quickly.

This particularly applies to the online sales of beauty products. As a sector it is one that is attracting customers and is also attracting sellers.

Amazon in particular stands out for the cosmetic industry as it has the ability to provide quick, free delivery which is something that beauty customers look for when they purchase products.

It is an especially interesting category to monitor since the e-commerce giant Amazon has gone into it themselves.

Amazon recently launched its own skin care brand with 12 products based on what customers searched for the most and those that were mentioned in reviews.

It also has collection of makeup products under its own private label. In addition, Amazon has invested in creating new online experiences for beauty customers through new technologies.

It already has a significant presence in this sector with three different sales categories for sellers; luxury beauty, professional beauty and indie beauty.

Luxury beauty is the arena where prestige brands such as the ones you would find in a department store are sold, professional beauty is the where the brands sold by salons and spas are listed and indie beauty where independently owned brands sell their products.

The fact that Amazon is going into this category is a clear sign that there are opportunities within beauty.

When the e-commerce platform has gone into other sectors it has generally transformed each sector it has entered.

Sellers who want to cash in on the demand for cosmetics need to note that it is not sufficient to just offer their products, but customers also expect a very quick delivery service which is becoming much more the norm.

In order to really take advantage of the potential of this market it may be necessary to consult a company that can provide Amazon sales support.

Listing products on Amazon provides sellers with a wider reach as well as an easy way to manage shipping and logistics. In the beauty world there are many examples of counterfeit products being sold which undermines consumer confidence, but Amazon provides mechanism to combat this, so it provides an added positive of building trust between the seller and the customer which is vital for selling beauty products.

[1]https://beautybusinessjournal.com/uk-cosmetic-industry-is-embracing-life-after-brexit/