The Top 5 Shopify Beauty Stores & Some of Their Tactics You Should Borrow

From GRWM videos on TikTok running rampant to celeb beauty brands getting canceled left and right—there’s a lot happening in the beauty ecommerce industry.

In such a vibrant (and saturated) industry, cosmetics brands often struggle with striking a balance between being on-trend and unique.

So, what’s a beauty brand to do?

A big part of making your brand stand out is through channels like social media, brick-and-mortar, email marketing.

But having a top-tier ecommerce site—one that customers enjoy using and continue to come back to—is a steady ship in the unpredictable seas of the beauty industry.

Today, we’re sharing a round-up of our top Shopify beauty stores, what they get right about their site design, best practices, and more.

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What makes the best beauty stores stand out online?

With the beauty and personal care industry clocking in nearly 54 billion US dollars in 2021—11% of which is attributed to ecommerce sales—it’s safe to say there are a lot of players in this game.

Let’s look at a few ways you can help your direct-to-consumer beauty brand stand out.

Visual features that add context and impress

It’s table stakes for beauty brands to have high-quality imagery throughout their site.

However, ‌brands that use visual features that take things a step further get noticed.

For example, Dior may be a well-known beauty brand, but they stand out with their virtual try-on feature on their Backstage Face & Body Foundation product page.

Shoppers can virtually test different foundation shades to find their perfect match—something that’s tricky to do online.

Diversity in product visuals

More brands are showing models with different skin tones in their product page visuals to supply more context.

A great example of this in action is from Kylie Cosmetics.

After selecting a shade, shoppers can scroll through product imagery to see how the shade looks on different skin tones.

Features like this help customers find the exact shade on their radar.

Site features that help with product discovery

It can be a bit overwhelming to shop for beauty products online—especially if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for or if you’re trying a new brand.

Beauty brand Exponent understands this and built a skin concern tool that helps customers find the right product(s) for their needs.

After you select up to three skin concerns, Exponent shows you which terms and ingredients to note.

Lastly, shoppers will view recommended products from Exponent to jumpstart their journey to better skin.

Features like this, while straightforward, make it easy for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for every time.

Supplemental educational content that adds value

Whether you want to inspire shoppers to become their own certified makeup artists or create space where brand fans can learn more about hair and skin health, educational content is your best bet.

This kind of content turns your brand from “just another beauty brand” to a go-to, trusted source for all things beauty.

Take makeup brand P.Louise, for example.

The brand offers online and in-person courses for customers who was to learn from some of the best in the business.

Not only does P.Louise sell a variety of cosmetics wrapped in their signature bubblegum pink packaging, but they cement themselves as a leader in the industry with certifications.

Alternatively, haircare brand Function of Beauty offers customers value in a different way.

The brand’s blog, F.Y.I., includes a variety of helpful blog content ranging from how to determine your hair type to how to revive damaged hair.

Both brands provide value in different yet impactful ways with educational content.

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5 Best Shopify beauty stores that are a joy to shop

There are troves of stunning Shopify stores in existence. But some stand out more than others.

Let’s look at our top five Shopify beauty stores, what they get right, and what you can implement on your own site.

1. Beardbrand – Exciting branding and a strong community

Beardbrand isn’t afraid to step outside the traditional approach to selling men’s grooming products.

Not only do they have a no discount policy, but they’ve built a strong online community that they leverage as a value-add.

They also prioritize product bundling, which incentivizes shoppers to try more products at a lesser price.

Best practices you can implement:

• Beardbrand uses vibrant, bold colors, typography, and product imagery that help it stand out from similar brands
• Product pages include videos of Beardbrand founder, Eric Bandholz, demonstrating how to use each product and why it’s so awesome
• Use a landing page builder for Shopify—like Shogun Page Builder—to enrich default product pages.

2. BondiBoost – Simplified shopping and consistent branding across global sites

Australian beauty brand BondiBoost has rapidly become a household name offering products like their Thickening Therapy Shampoo and iconic Wave Wand.

BondiBoost makes it easy for shoppers to discover what they’re looking for—whether they choose to shop by system or check out their collection of best sellers.

BondiBoost uses Shogun Page Builder Advanced to manage their three international storefronts (UK, US, AUS).

With Shogun’s content syncing feature, BondiBoost can make updates to one site and deploy those changes automatically to the other two instances.

This saves their small but nimble team time, resources, and money.

Best practices you can implement:

• A hair quiz that helps shoppers discover which BondiBoost products will work best for their needs
• A well-organized main navigation menu allows shoppers to quickly jump to a product page or find a product that meets their needs
• The power to keep all three BondiBoost international locales consistent and aligned to market needs with Shogun Page Builder Advanced

3. Oui the People – Visuals that educate and intrigue

Oui the People is an award-winning beauty brand offering a variety of products for shaving, exfoliating, and self-care.

Their use of moody, branded visuals and crisp product images, Oui the People conveys their brand aesthetic well throughout the site.

A robust Sustainability page that speaks to their commitment to eco-friendly packaging—could be something that resonates with their target customers.

Best practices you can implement:

• GIFs on product pages that demonstrate product use and provide context
• Blurbs included with best-selling products featured on the homepage provide additional context for shoppers new to Oui the People

4. Briogeo – Communicate the value of product bundling with visuals

Briogeo is a high-quality haircare brand known for their award-winning products.

Similar to Beardbrand, Briogeo doubles down on product bundling and jumbo sizes at a discounted price.

Briogeo conveys quality (brand and product) with high-resolution, zoomed-in images of products so customers can best understand texture, consistency, and the feel of their hair care products.

Best practices you can implement:

• Offer discounts when shoppers sign up for subscriptions and show the price difference clearly on the product page
• Imagery that shows the size difference between packaging, which adds further context for shoppers on the price and size relationship
• Micro-animations throughout the site that call attention to important details, like award-winning products

5. Cloud Nine Hair – Interactive product page features that convey results

Cloud Nine Hair’s award-winning hairstyling tools have made their way into homes and salons all over the world since the brand’s launch in 2009.

Their ecommerce experience is also buzzworthy.

For example, shoppers can move a slider over an image on their Hot Brush product page to reveal what a model’s hair looks like before and after using the tool.

A great way to demonstrate effectiveness visually!

Cloud Nine Hair takes their product bundles to the next level by offering more than just hairstyling tools.

For example, the Wide Iron Pro bundle includes other “getting ready” accessories like a set of luxury pajamas, a case for your iron, and even earbuds so you can play your favorite music as you style your hair.

Best practices you can implement:

• Big, bold imagery that emphasized the powerful tech behind their styling tools
• Personalization options for select products
• Detailed product page descriptions that highlight the benefits and features of each product

How to strategically improve your Shopify beauty website design

When thinking about how you might improve your Shopify beauty brand site, there’s likely a laundry list of things you want to try.

But where should you start?

Below are a few tried-and-true ways you can approach improving your site design.

Survey your customers often and implement feedback

You know how fast the beauty industry changes. The catch is that customer expectations change just as quickly.

Having a continuous pulse on your customers and how they’re experiencing your ecommerce site (and brand as a whole) will help you stay ahead of the game—and keep customers happy.

Don’t: Guess how customers feel about your site and make updates based on that.

Do: Roll out a quarterly or bi-annual survey (and incentivize customers to take it with some free/discounted product!) to collect helpful feedback that could inform your next page design or campaign idea.

Invest in trends, but don’t skip the foundations

To stay competitive, it’s important to keep up with trends. But it’s easy to get lost in adding site features to your site.

Don’t: Add so much to your site that shoppers get distracted and aren’t sure what to do next.

Do: Keep your main objective at the forefront. Do you want customers to purchase? Sign up for SMS messages? Make that call-to-action crystal clear, otherwise you risk losing shoppers.

Add tools that save you time to your ecommerce tech stack

Your time is limited on an ecommerce team, especially when your headcount is small. It can be tough to keep your site updated as a result.

Don’t: Spin your wheels recreating the same site pages over and over from scratch.

Do: Invest in an ecommerce landing page builder that saves you time (and money).

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Tools like Shogun Page Builder help your team accomplish more in less time using no-code, drag-and-drop functionality.

Create landing pages in minutes instead of weeks—that way, you can keep up with ever-changing beauty trends.

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When in doubt, keep offering value

Beauty trends are constantly evolving.

It can be overwhelming to try to keep up across each digital channel (and as new ones have come onto the scene, like TikTok).

When it comes to your ecommerce site design, focus on what your unique customers are looking for from your brand and adjust your sails accordingly.

For example, are customers having trouble understanding the quality of your products? Try experimenting with different imagery or incorporating video into your site design.

Want to make your product bundles more enticing?

Demonstrate savings for customers with clear copy and size-orienting product imagery that illustrates value.

#cta-visual-pb#<cta-title>Design a Shopify beauty store that impresses<cta-title>Take your ecommerce store design further with Shogun Page Builder.Start designing today