eCommerce: Marketplaces

Beauty & Personal Care at Amazon: Key Insights

• U.S. Beauty Shoppers Prefer Amazon: Although electronics is the top-selling product category on Amazon overall, U.S. consumers also prefer to purchase their personal care products on Amazon.

• L'Oréal Paris Takes the Lead: An analysis by MetricsCart in February 2023 showed that L'Oréal products accounted for 22% of the best-selling beauty and personal care products on the marketplace.

• Social Media Impact: Beauty sales are closely connected to social media, and relatable content is one of the best ways to effectively promote products.

Selling beauty and personal care products online has many benefits, and consumers are using their favorite eCommerce platforms to purchase the items that make them feel better. Influencer culture is feeding into this trend, as beauty products are promoted through "get ready with me" content and public figures release their own skincare, makeup, and fragrance lines.

In the United States, Amazon is the leading online platform for consumers to purchase beauty and personal care products. Here are the dominant brands.

Amazon: The All-Rounder Excels in Beauty

In the world of eCommerce, particularly online marketplaces, few names resonate as strongly as Amazon. With a staggering 2.1 billion monthly visitors to its top marketplace domain amazon.com in February 2024 and a total GMV of US$729 billion in 2023, Amazon's influence is undeniable.

Historically known for its focus on electronics, which still accounts for 36% of sales, Amazon is seeing other categories on the rise. More precisely, beauty products are among the most popular and most profitable product categories for Amazon sellers.

Amazon: L'Oréal Paris Sells Best

MetricsCart took a closer look at the 122 brands that sold beauty and personal care products on amazon.com in February 2023, and identified a clear frontrunner:

L'Oréal Paris is one of the key companies in the international beauty industry. Its products are synonymous with quality and timelessness. Of all the beauty products on Amazon's best-selling list in February 2023, L'Oreal products made up 22% of the assortment.

Further behind, but still in second place, is Maybelline New York, whose products accounted for 14% of Amazon's bestselling beauty products.

Ranks three through five are Revlon (11%), Wet N Wild (10%) and Neutrogena (9%).

Emerging Beauty Brands: The Influence of Social Media

The impact of apps like TikTok and Instagram on beauty sales is tied to the use of beauty and personal care products for content creation.

This includes unboxing content and "get ready with me" videos, in which creators apply makeup while either discussing the product or talking about an entirely different topic. They have a comforting effect on viewers and serve as inspiration for new makeup styles and products, while also being an ideal promotional strategy for brands due to the relatability of the content and the subtlety of the advertising.

A recent trend has been the emergence of beauty product advertising during the Super Bowl, directly targeting the event's female audience. Beauty brand Nyx (a subsidiary of L'Oréal), is known for targeting younger consumer demographics via social media, but Nyx also advertised its products on this year's Super Bowl, as did skincare brand CeraVe.

Amazon: Convenience and Trendiness

Consumer research shows that Amazon is the leading online platform for U.S. beauty product shoppers. This is largely due to consumers' habit of researching products on Amazon, which makes it easy for them to directly add items to their shopping carts.

Amazon's greater reach makes it easy for users to find products they see on social media, sometimes through affiliate links. The typical benefits of Amazon for online shopping also apply to beauty products: Fast delivery, large selection, easy price comparison.

And the trend is only expected to continue: Our recent Generation Alpha insight found that the hashtag #sephorakids is trending online, with kids and tweens flooding personal care aisles to buy the latest products trending on TikTok and Instagram.

Amazon Beauty Products: Wrap-Up

As the go-to destination for U.S. consumers looking for beauty and personal care products, Amazon provides useful information about consumer preferences and the latest product trends.

Younger demographics on social media are driving online retail trends, so their preferences are of particular interest. Amazon has many advantages in terms of convenience and choice, but will social commerce platforms replace the online marketplace when it comes to beauty shopping? Recent developments suggest that this may be the case.

Sources: eConsultancy – DigiDay – MetricsCart – RevLifter