In this guide 6 sections
A beauty brand needs a store that treats shade, skin type and batch as data, not as photo captions. Look for variant filters, batch and expiry tracking, subscriptions with a refill date, bundle stock for gift sets and samples, and review requests timed to the usage cycle. Test each one with your own catalogue.
Shade and skin type belong in fields, not captions
A shopper who wants a foundation with neutral undertones and medium depth should not have to read forty product names. Captions cannot be filtered. Shade, undertone, finish and skin type must sit in fields on each variant, so the category page can offer every one of them as a filter.
Skin type needs more care than shade. Oily, dry, combination and sensitive overlap, so one moisturiser may carry three tags, and a fixed list stops a free text box from collecting “normal-ish”. A missing tag hides the product.
- Depth and undertone on every base product
- Finish values such as matte, satin or dewy
- Skin type and concern tags, several allowed per item
- Swatch image attached to each shade variant
- Free-from flags such as fragrance-free, only where verified
Batch and expiry tracking decide what you can ship
Cosmetics age. Every unit carries a batch code and either an expiry date or a period-after-opening symbol, and the store should hold both against the stock line. Otherwise the oldest jar sits at the back.
Now take a complaint. A customer reports a split emulsion in one serum, and you need every order that shipped from the same batch within minutes, not after an afternoon scrolling a spreadsheet. Ask the vendor to run that search live on your sample data, then watch whether a customer notice can be built straight from the result list.
Near-expiry stock needs a route too. Some brands move it into sample pouches or a clearance bundle, but only while the remaining shelf life still covers a full usage cycle.
- Batch code and manufacture date recorded at goods receipt
- Expiry date or period-after-opening shown on each stock line
- Picking rule: earliest expiry goes out first
- Minimum shelf life left before a unit may ship
- Search from a batch code to every order that carried it
Subscriptions, samples and gift sets need their own stock logic
A gift set is a kit. The store should deduct one cleanser, one serum and one mini cream when the set sells, and mark the set unavailable the moment any single part runs out.
Samples work differently. A sachet is a zero-price line carrying a separate SKU, a limit of one per order and a rule for which baskets qualify. Without the rule, staff add sachets by hand. The count then drifts away from the shelf.
Subscriptions should follow the bottle. A refill date calculated from the pack size lets the shopper skip, swap or pause a delivery before the parcel is packed, instead of cancelling the whole plan.
Reviews arrive late, so time the request to the product
Nobody judges a night cream on delivery day. Ask for the review after the first weeks of use, and for a lipstick a few days after the parcel lands. Count from the delivered date.
Store the reviewer’s skin type, hair type or shade beside each review, so a buyer with dry skin can read dry-skin opinions first. Daylight photos help most on base products. Staff also need a way to hide a review that makes a medical claim, such as one that says a serum cured eczema.
Pause the request while a return is open. A shopper still waiting on a refund for a leaking pump is the wrong person to ask for five stars, and the message reads as careless.
Questions to put to a vendor before you sign
Ask for a demo built from your own catalogue, not the vendor’s sample store, and load your widest foundation range, one kit and one product with batch codes. Watch each step happen on screen.
Then press on the awkward cases. Vague answers mean the feature is missing. Put the same questions to every vendor, record the answers on one sheet, and compare only after all the demos are done.
- Show a batch recall search on my data
- How is kit stock deducted when one component is short?
- Can a shade variant carry its own barcode, image and stock count?
- Which events trigger a review request, and can I change the delay?
- What export do I receive if I leave?
Beauty platform vendor scorecard
A one-page scorecard with a row for each feature: shade filters, batch recall search, expiry-first picking, kit stock, sample rules, subscription skips and review timing. Columns hold the test to run, what the vendor showed, a pass or fail mark and a notes box, so two people can score the same demo. Use the same sheet for every vendor.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Do we need batch tracking if we only sell skincare?
Yes, and skincare needs it more than most. Creams and serums expire, and an ingredient complaint is far easier to contain when you can list every order from one batch. A spreadsheet works at first. It breaks the day a second warehouse or a marketplace channel joins.
Can a general store platform handle shade filters?
Most can show variants. Filtering by undertone or depth often needs extra fields or an add-on, and the add-on’s own limits decide how many tags a shade may carry. Test with your largest range. If shades must be tagged by hand, ask who will keep them current.
How should samples be handled in stock?
Give each sample its own SKU and count it as stock. Set a rule for which orders get one. Then the number you reorder from the filler matches what left the shelf.
Is a subscription worth offering on every product?
No. It suits items that run out at a regular pace, such as a cleanser, a body wash or a shampoo, and it fits poorly anywhere else. A palette or a limited gift set rarely repeats. A subscription option there only clutters the page.