How to open an online cosmetics shop

If you are interested in the topic of how to open an online cosmetics store, congratulations, you have chosen one of the most popular and almost win-win directions in e-commerce.

Pros: a huge target audience, a large selection of suppliers, a high-demand product, a wide topic for the implementation of content marketing

Cons: high competition, the need for certificates, the need to comply with expiration dates

Niche for an online cosmetics store

To create an online cosmetics store that could compete with such giants as Makeup and Eva, you must either provide lower prices or specialize in one or more areas. For example, it can be niche perfumery, eco cosmetics, products for professional hairdressers and makeup artists. You can also choose several specific brands, having previously studied the demand for them. Let's see what Google Trends tells us.

It is not necessary to focus only on Google Trends, as interest can be generated by ads from a blogger or on TV and can be short-lived. Write down all requests from the service in a table and analyze them again through Serpstat or Google Key Planner. If the search queries contain the word “buy”, and the frequency of such queries is at least 10-100, then it makes sense to deal with this cosmetic brand or direction.

Recently, Korean and Chinese cosmetics have gained popularity. Almost every girl wants to open an online Korean cosmetics store today, as the demand is constantly growing.

The differences between Korean and Chinese cosmetics are the same as those of a Korean and Chinese car 😊 The female half is quite capable of distinguishing Chinese characters from Korean ones, so we do not confuse but clearly distinguish between manufacturers. In South Korea, the quality of raw materials and production are approached with great responsibility, many brands are cosmeceutical (they include cosmetic and pharmaceutical components). Chinese cosmetics are good for their affordability, there are also buyers for it. In order to obtain high quality products, it is best to partner with large suppliers or manufacturers. One of the largest brands is Bioaqua cosmetics.

American brands Mac, Nyx are also very popular. At the peak of popularity, decorative cosmetics Kylie Jenner, but the price segment is quite high and original products can be imported or ordered only from the United States.

Please note that popular searches also include cosmetics that are not tested on animals. It can also be adopted. Among Korean brands, such cosmetics include Purito, Wishtrend, Aromatica, Dear, Klairs. The beautiful half of humanity has a special love for the Canadian brand Ordinary. In a word, there are many options to get into the hearts of consumers, it is necessary to first analyze the demand.

Choosing a sales model

Before you open your online cosmetics store, you must also decide on a sales model. There are quite a few of them: b2c, d2c, b2b, h2h, etc. According to the d2c model, the manufacturer sells products direct to the consumer, bypassing intermediaries. This model is suitable if you are a manufacturer and want to control the prices of your products. The disadvantages of this model are the need to search for sales channels and sell goods at retail.

When choosing a b2b (business to business) model, sales are aimed at other suppliers or masters of the beauty industry. B2b sales are usually done in large or small batches. The target audience, in this case, is other companies, beauty salons, hairdressers, etc., but not the consumer. The entire marketing campaign and strategy, SEO promotion, and site structure are built for b2b, so it is very important to determine at the beginning what model you will be working on.

b2c is the most common sales model in which a business sells to the consumer. There can be two options for sales: purchasing goods for a warehouse or selling goods via dropshipping. The latter option is very popular today as it is ideal for small businesses and the least risky.

Search for cosmetics suppliers

You can start searching for suppliers when you open an online cosmetics store from the websites of aggregators (marketplaces). These resources are convenient because you can immediately sort the products by price, as well as view the reviews about the supplier.

The second source for finding suppliers can be the Google search engine. To the main keyword you need to add the word "wholesale", "dropshipping", "suppliers". To find an official distributor, you can add to the main query "official site", "official distributor". You can also try your luck on electronic message boards and even on social networks. For example, if on Instagram you search for suppliers of cosmetics for the above key queries, targeted offers will automatically appear in the feed, since the Instagram target will include you in its list.

After you enter all possible suppliers in your table, it will be necessary to make a selection and leave the most reliable. First of all, request certificates, since the sale of cosmetics and hygiene products under the law can only be carried out with certificates.

Next, you need to make a test purchase and check the expiration dates of the goods, the compliance of the real design with the design in the photographs from the supplier. You can do without this if you initially immediately read the reviews about the supplier. The creation of an online cosmetics store should be approached with great responsibility, since these are products that, in case of poor quality, can harm not only the client's appearance, but also his health, and this is fraught with serious consequences.

When choosing a supplier, pay attention to the following:

 • How quickly the goods are dispatched after payment, ideally on the same day;

 • How well the supplier contacts you, whether willingly answers questions about products (your customers will ask questions and you need to quickly respond to them);

 • Whether the availability of the goods on the site of the supplier corresponds to reality.

The last point, especially from suppliers who work for dropshipping, the most "painful". In most cases, suppliers are interested in a fast turnover and spend little time on service. As a rule, they do not have time to update the assortment, and you, in turn, will have to refuse customers and cancel orders due to a lack of commodity items. This will negatively affect the reputation, so this issue should also be resolved at the very beginning of cooperation.

Online cosmetics store from scratch: target audience

Selling cosmetics on the Internet is beneficial because its target audience is women of any age. Emotions often influence buying decisions, so your sales strategy needs to be backed up by powerful visual and textual content.

If you segment your target audience by income level, it would be good to include inexpensive cosmetics in the assortment. These may include Chinese brands, as we have already said, as well as Ukrainian and Belarusian cosmetic brands.

Opening an online cosmetics store will also require you to study such characteristics of the target audience as age and psychographic signs, demography. This can be done using the example of competitors in your niche. SEO specialists will help you with this.

As for age, your main buyers will be women aged 20 to 55 (direct target audience) who purchase cosmetics for themselves and their loved ones. It is in this age category that the female audience is the most solvent, the average check can be quite high. However, it should be borne in mind that girls and women also purchase cosmetics for their child, husband, brother, friend (secondary or indirect target audience), therefore, the range can include care and hygiene products for the listed group of consumers.

To psychographic signs include the following criteria:

 • values ​​in life (environmental protection, participation in charity, desire to contribute to the development of the domestic economy, etc.);

 • lifestyle, hobbies;

• factors that influence the purchase decision (opinion or review of a blogger, recommendation of friends, review of a product, video review, emotional uplift);

 • attitude to the price of a product;

 • attitude to product design;

 • attitude to product composition

Studying demographics is more useful when launching targeted ads or Facebook Pixel. First of all, you can set a target for the cities of Ukraine with a population of over 1 million people. In cities with a population of over one million, the income level is higher, which means the probability of conversion will be higher, but advertising will also cost more. The targetologist will tell you about all the nuances in more detail.

Part 2: How to choose an engine (CMS) for an online cosmetics store

Selling cosmetics on the Internet can be carried out on business pages on social networks, but over time you will want to automate processes, rather than constantly answering customer questions. Then, the first question will be which engine to choose for an online cosmetics store. Basic requirements for the engine:

1. CMS should be characterized by high page loading speed with a huge range of products, categories, images, and other content.

2. The engine must be originally intended for e-commerce. The need to constantly "finish" something and think out something requires constant time and money investments.

3. In any case, an online store selling cosmetics should be promoted due to high competition, which means that the CMS should be prepared for SEO (the ability to create detailed filters, meta tags, clean engine code, etc.)

4. Your online store must have a mobile version with adapted content for it.

An important criterion when choosing a CMS for an online cosmetics store is the quick answers of the technical support service. The success of your business will depend on how quickly certain solutions are implemented, functionality is added, errors are eliminated.

What modules will be useful when creating an online cosmetics store

Each engine has a basic and additional set of modules and plugins that will help expand the functionality of your site. What modules you can connect to your online store oSc SoloMono:

 • Filters - help to simplify the search for a product for the client, and also contribute to SEO promotion (SEO text is prescribed for each filter)

 • Import / Export CSV - allows you to quickly load the goods of suppliers into your IM or unload goods for partners / marketplaces / clients

 • Multilanguage - according to the new law, all online resources operating in Ukraine must be in Ukrainian, the module allows you to create several language versions of the site (also helps in promotion);

 • Reviews - using the module, customer reviews are connected

 • Wishlist - allows customers to add products to the wishlist

You can learn more about all the modules on the page Marketplace.

Accounting for expenses when opening an online cosmetics store

Opening an online cosmetics store will entail the following costs: buying a domain and hosting, purchasing an SSL certificate, buying a CMS and setting up functionality, developing a website design and brand identity (if not available), developing a structure, categories and filters (SEO specialist), filling out a website goods (content manager), filling the online store with texts (copywriter), SEO promotion.

Within the framework of this article, we will not talk about creating a logo and identity for a brand. As a note, you can take advice from the article "How to choose a font and color for a logo."

Choice of design

In 2021, minimalist design is welcomed in web projects, especially in online stores, which does not distract attention from the product, does not tire. You can choose from six SoloMono templates for your project.

Basic principles that should be followed when developing a design:

1. When creating an online cosmetics store, choose for the background pale pastel colors, white or light gray

2. Special attention should be paid to web banners that are placed in the slider. The web banner should be of high quality and represent the product well. Also, a button with a CTA should be highlighted on the banner, which, when clicked, will lead to a section of the site.

3. Product photos are best taken against a white background to give a neat design

4. A rating should be visible next to the products, as well as labels: "Promotion", "Bestseller", "Discount"

5. Use simple fonts that are easy to read. For the name of the product, use a larger font.

All these usability and design features affect conversions and, in general, the interaction of the user with the site.

Development of structure and filters

When developing an online cosmetics store, it is important to think over the structure correctly: categories and subcategories, sections of the site. Already at this stage, you can contact an SEO specialist, in the future it will help to promote the resource.

To understand which categories should be included, it is enough to conduct search query analytics. Putting together the semantic core of the site. Next, we look at the requests. Most often, categories are prescribed depending on the purpose of cosmetics:

 • For face

 • For body

 • For hair

 • For hands and nails

 • For feet

 • Decorative cosmetics

 • Perfumes

 • Accessories and appliances

Each category may include several more subcategories. For example, facial cosmetics can be divided into sheet masks, regular masks, night masks, day / night creams, SPF creams, serums, boosters, toners, etc. Such detailed subcategories will be convenient for users and understandable by search engines.

Key queries also often include specific brands. To cover these queries, it is necessary to make an inference of products by brand. The sections of the site should also include the following pages: Promotions / Discounts (according to statistics, these pages are the most visited), News, Terms of Return, Delivery, Payment. Certificates can be placed on a separate page, but if you do not want to overflow the already cumbersome menu, this page can be placed in the site footer.

Filters

Detailed filters simplify the search for products and bring the user closer to the purchase. This is especially important when there are several thousand products in the catalog. Sorting can be done by price (ascending / decreasing / within the specified limits), as well as by the purpose of the cosmetics (for oily skin, problem skin, etc.).

SoloMono online stores have a separate Filters module for this purpose. You can create unique attributes for products yourself. Depending on the selected filter values, the user will be redirected to the landing page, where the targeted products will be collected. By optimizing such pages for search engines, you can achieve a good ranking. Filter design is part of internal SEO optimization. Complex SEO promotion of online stores can be ordered from our specialists in the section with services.

How to quickly collect a subscriber base

In addition to the fact that you will have customer data, there is another good way to collect leads already when you first visit the site. This is how they do it in the online store Mask shop

This pop-up window with a survey allows you not only to collect email addresses but also to understand what problems site visitors most often encounter. In the administrative panel of SoloMono, you can also connect a survey on the main page of the site.

Blog

Where you can really "roam" in topics, so it is in the blog of the project with cosmetics. This is a real aerodrome for content marketing. It is necessary to write articles in a blog with the same keywords that are included in the semantic core of the site. Topics for articles should be original. Make a research of the most trending topics. Google Trends, Serpstat, Popsters tools will help. You can also surf on resources like Pinterest and Twitter. Add video content to your blog (remember that the placement should be negotiated with the author of the video clip if this is not your video, otherwise you can fall under copyright infringement) and infographics. If you run out of ideas, you can always contact a content plan development specialist.

Promotion

We have considered how to open an online cosmetics store, and now let's move on to promoting it. What you can do without the help of SEO specialists:

1. Place an additional store on marketplaces with a link to your main site

2. Periodically place announcements on the most visited electronic boards

3. Create business accounts on social networks

4. Register your company in Google Business

5. If there is an offline point of delivery of goods or an offline store, then register the company in Google Maps

6. Periodically send an e-mail newsletter

7. Post links to authoritative resources

8. Write blog articles

9. Agree with a blogger about advertising for a cash reward. You can also offer products for free for review.

10. Advertise offline

The volume of work is quite large, so at first, you should think about hiring an assistant or such specialists as a content manager, copywriter, SMM specialist.

Promotion with SEO specialists will give results faster and better, but it is immediately necessary to allocate a part of the budget.

You can advertise using contextual advertising and targeting by registering an online store through the Google Merchant Center and setting up Facebook Pixel. All these tools will also require a fairly serious budget, but they can be called business accelerators. In addition, using these tools will help you advance to the TOP of Google.

Final thoughts

Summing up, you can make the following checklist of actions to open an online cosmetics store from scratch:

1. Defining your business niche

2. Selecting a sales model

3. Search for suppliers

4. Determination of the target audience (TA)

5. Selecting an engine (CMS) for an online cosmetics store

6. Connecting the required functionality

7. Development of the site structure

8. Developing filters

9. Blog

10. Promotion of an online cosmetics store

If you do not want to deal with these organizational issues, you can always contact our specialists. We will help you open an online cosmetics store from scratch. Good luck. We wish your business prosperity.