Shopify for beauty and cosmetics

What makes beauty ecommerce different

Beauty brands face specific challenges that require thoughtful solutions:

Product discovery is complex. Customers often do not know which products suit them. Shade matching for color cosmetics, skin type analysis for skincare, and routine building for multi-step regimens all require guided selling tools rather than simple catalog browsing.

Repeat purchase is the business model. Most beauty products are consumables. Brands that convert one-time buyers into subscribers or loyal repeaters build significantly higher lifetime value. But subscription programs need to be easy to manage, flexible, and integrated with the rest of the customer experience.

Sampling drives conversion. Beauty customers often want to try before committing to full-size purchases. Sampling programs, gift-with-purchase offers, and discovery sets help reduce risk and increase conversion.

Compliance varies by market. Ingredient disclosure, claims substantiation, and labeling requirements differ between the US, EU and other regions. Brands selling internationally need to display different information to different customers.

Starcodia understands these challenges and implements Shopify solutions that address them directly.

How Shopify handles beauty requirements

Shopify supports beauty brands from indie startups to established cosmetics houses. The platform's flexibility allows Starcodia to implement the specific functionality beauty brands need:

Product finders and shade matching. Starcodia builds quiz-based tools that collect customer preferences, whether for shade, skin type, concerns or routine goals, and recommend products accordingly. These can be built with apps like Octane AI or with custom development for more complex logic. The goal is to replicate the advice a beauty advisor would give in-store.

Subscriptions and replenishment. Subscription programs on Shopify let customers subscribe to regular deliveries of their core products. Starcodia implements flexible subscription management so customers can skip, swap or adjust frequency without friction. For curated subscription boxes, we build the selection and fulfillment workflows.

Sampling and GWP. Sampling programs can be configured at checkout, allowing customers to choose samples based on their preferences. Gift-with-purchase promotions are handled through Shopify's discount system or specialized apps, with rules based on cart value, products or customer segment.

Ingredient and compliance information. Starcodia implements ingredient listings using Shopify metafields, with the flexibility to show different information for different markets. Batch tracking can be added for products that require lot-level traceability.

Beauty scenarios Starcodia has implemented

Beauty requirements vary by product category, market position and growth stage. Here are patterns Starcodia has delivered:

Skincare brand launching subscriptions. An emerging skincare brand wanted to increase customer lifetime value through subscriptions. Starcodia implemented Recharge with a custom customer portal, subscription-specific discounts, and integration with Klaviyo for subscription lifecycle emails. Subscriber retention improved 25% compared to their previous setup.

Color cosmetics with shade matching. A makeup brand struggled with returns from customers ordering the wrong shade. Starcodia built a shade-finding quiz that collected skin tone, undertone and preferences, then recommended foundation matches. Returns on foundation products dropped by 30%.

Clean beauty with compliance requirements. A clean beauty brand selling in the US and EU needed to display different ingredient information and claims by region. Starcodia configured Shopify Markets with market-specific metafield content, ensuring compliance with EU cosmetics regulations while maintaining a single product catalog.

Prestige beauty migrating from legacy. A prestige cosmetics brand migrated from a custom platform to Shopify Plus. Starcodia handled migration of their product data including variant structures, implemented their loyalty program integration, and set up sampling functionality at checkout.

Shopify services for beauty brands

Starcodia provides a range of services tailored to beauty and cosmetics businesses on Shopify:

• Subscriptions and membership for replenishment and curated box programs
• Product finder and quiz development for guided selling
• Shopify migration from legacy platforms, preserving product data and customer history
• International expansion with regional compliance and localized content
• CRM integration for loyalty programs and personalized marketing
• CRO and performance optimization to improve conversion and reduce returns

Beauty brands on Shopify with Starcodia

Starcodia has worked with beauty brands across skincare, color cosmetics, haircare and fragrance segments.

In the beauty brand Shopify Plus launch case study, a prestige skincare brand launched on Shopify Plus with subscription functionality, a product recommendation quiz, and integration with their existing loyalty platform. The launch delivered a 35% improvement in conversion rate compared to their previous platform.

Further examples are available in the Work hub.

Speak with Starcodia about beauty ecommerce

If you are a beauty or cosmetics brand evaluating Shopify, planning a migration, or looking to add subscriptions or product discovery tools, Starcodia can discuss your requirements and share relevant experience.

Share your brand, product categories, current platform and key challenges, and the team will outline how Shopify can address them.