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Beauty shoppers turn to e-commerce for purchasing needs

According to a new report from MikMak, when it comes to shopping for beauty product essentials, consumers are opting to purchase from e-commerce platforms.

When it comes to shopping for their beauty product essentials, consumers are opting to purchase anything and everything from e-commerce platforms, according to the Beauty eCommerce Benchmarks and Insights Report released by MikMak.

Amazon leads as the top retailer with most in-market traffic with 32.1% of purchase intent clicks, Walmart falls into second place with 25.2% purchase intent clicks, Ulta Beauty falls into third, followed by Target and CVS.

When it comes to what products consumers put into their carts, color-correcting primer is the top choice, followed by concealer, nail polish, eyelashes, mascara, gel nail polish, eyeliner, hair dye, press-on nails and liquid foundation.  

[Read more: Mass Appeal: How marketers are winning the skin care game]

In addition, shoppers aren’t placing one or two items in their cart, with the average cart containing 6.3 items, the study notes.

“With eCommerce penetration for beauty at 11%, we are seeing mass retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart rise as consumers’ preferred retailers to shop for beauty products,” said Rachel Tipograph, CEO of MikMak. “Big box retailers have aggressively stepped up their offerings in this category to gain more market share. As shoppers turn to various media channels to discover new products through their favorite influencer, friends or just an algorithm, beauty brands worldwide are leveraging MikMak’s commerce capabilities to ensure those shoppers are able to check out at their preferred retailers, regardless of whether a mass merchant or specialty store.” 

Instagram is the highest-performing social channel for the beauty category by yielding the highest purchase intent rate at 11.2%, which means that beauty shoppers are most likely to purchase from shoppable media running on the social media platform.

Facebook sees most of the top three social channels for in-market traffic, driving 40.8%of purchase intent clicks. Instagram and TikTok follow, driving 23.4% and 21.1%, respectively. 

[Read more: Winning the beauty pageant: Drug stores want more timely, trendy beauty offerings]

What makes effective ads that consumers are more likely to click on include bold and eye-catching creative that visually stands out, showcasing the product first and its value right away, a clear call to action to entice shoppers and flexible checkout.

Consumers are opting to press checkout on their carts on Thursday at 5 PM EST. Weekends trail not far behind, seeing the most in-market traffic from shoppers, with 15.7% of purchase intent clicks on Saturday and 14.9% on Sundays, the study notes.

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