E-commerce and Beauty Industry- The Preferred Combination

The beauty industry has achieved a lot over all these years. It has grown to become a successful market for the latest trends where consumers have a variety of services and products to choose from. E- Commerce industry had helped many businesses to establish themselves online in a world full of brick and mortar businesses.

E-commerce Industry- Going Strong
The E-commerce industry is a huge area to venture into for brands who want to make it big not only through physical businesses but also digitally. The e-commerce industry has given various businesses the required support by getting them online. According to a research by Technavio, the E-commerce industry is set to grow at a CAGR of more than 19% by 2020. The industry is expected to reach $ 28 billion by 2019-20 and will be registering a compound growth rate of 45% over the next four years.

The Amalgamation
The coming together of e-commerce and beauty industry has made the experience of buying beauty easier and very much comfortable. The beauty industry will be worth $ 635.7 billion by 2019. The merger of it with e-commerce will boost up the process of the market growing up at a fast rate. The convenience and good quality products being made available to consumers had made the overall experience of shopping online a pleasant one.

Supporting Factors
There are various factors which have led to the rise of the beauty e-commerce industry. The convenience provided to the consumers is the biggest reason which has attracted such a strong base for it. The availability of a wide range of beauty products and services from brands all over the world has led to the rising popularity of the beauty e-commerce. As a result, people have started to prefer shopping online more over going to physical stores, though the likeness for them as well has not gone away.

Big Names in the Beauty E-commerce
All the major beauty brands have made themselves available online with the help of the growing e-commerce industry. The competition is growing with the industry and various brands in the beauty e-commerce industry are popping up. The key players in the world, according to Euro monitor, are Amazon, Alibaba and eBay.

Expert Speaks
“We are seeing continued strong e-commerce growth in beauty. It used to be about 8% to 10% of total sales two to three years ago, and that’s up now from 10% to 15%.

One of the main reasons why people use e-commerce for shopping in this category was more accessibility and price comparisons. That’s still very important, but a new thing coming is that people enjoy the experience. It’s actually becoming more enjoyable, and people prefer it rather than going in stores, where they feel sensory overload or there is sales team pushing things on them.

Beauty has seen more growth because people enjoy the experience of buying beauty products. Also buying sets and kits have seen a growth, where you buy a whole set or a kit of a well-known brand. Then you have colour cosmetics and fragrance is last, because one cannot smell it online.
E-commerce has been a direct-to-consumer channel that in many ways it is disturbing retail, and in some cases, people are going directly to the brands to buy. I feel the manufacturer and retailer collaboration really has to change. The collaboration has to major consumer targeting and online category management.
The second implication is that the store, which is not dead. We’re talking 10 to 15% e-commerce penetration, which means 85% of sales are still happening in the store. But the store’s role is changing a lot. People actually prefer the experience of shopping online. In some cases, the store becomes kind of a showroom where consumers go and test things out, but then they go back online and buy it. So the store has to figure out how to adapt to the changing landscape.
The third implication is that e-commerce is beyond just a business. It’s not just about the business of selling a product and buying it online—it opens up this whole pipe of the experience for the customer and the brand content that is shown", says Mr Satishh Saraf, Founder and Director of Panache Salon and Academy.

Conclusion
The e-commerce industry is a huge platform to present any business among a wide mass of consumers. It has made getting services and products easier. The beauty industry has been benefited by its collaboration with the e-commerce industry. The consumers have benefited from the quick and easily reachable services and have taken a liking for the concept of beauty industry on e-commerce. The match of both these industries seems perfect since it is profiting the brands and proving itself useful to the consumers.