So you've created a phenomenal beauty product - a serum that rivals the fountain of youth or a face moisturizer that nourishes even the driest skin instantly. Now comes the exciting (and sometimes daunting) task of getting your beauty product into the hands of your target audience. But with countless online platforms vying for your attention, choosing the right one can be overwhelming. 

Choosing the right online sales platform for cosmetics can depend on your overall brand strategy, which includes: 

• Target audience: Who are you trying to reach? Consider where they shop online. 
• Brand image: Does the platform align with your brand's values and aesthetics? 
• Budget: Consider fees, marketing costs, and website development expenses.
• Resources: Do you have the time and resources to manage your own website or prefer a more hands-off approach through marketplaces? 

After considering the points above, let's dive into some possible sales channel for your beauty product. 

1. Large Marketplaces

These large marketplaces are established giants with a massive user base, offering a broad reach but also high competition. Examples include: Amazon, eBay, Shopee, Lazada, Qoo10, Rakuten, Target, Flipkart, Tokopedia, and more. 

Pros: 

• Lower costs and fewer resources required: Marketplaces like Amazon make things easier for you. They handle the platform and fulfillment of orders. All you have to do is create your shop, manage the product catalogs and the prices you offer. 
• Established buyer trust and confidence: This is more apparent especially if the marketplace has a good reputation for using safe, stable payment gateways. These platforms also usually invest a handsome amount of funds in cybersecurity, ensuring their marketplace is protected against any kind of cyber attack. 
• Ability to go international: Marketplaces like Amazon and Shopee are known to have operations in several countries, which makes it easier for you to sell abroad as they tend to offer more affordable shipping costs. They also usually offer multilingual customer support, as well as multilingual interfaces on the platform, making it easier to show your products to a wider pool of audience. 

Cons:

• They are not your customers: You will not be able to export your customer database, or access data such as the buyer's order logs, purchase frequency or average order value. This will make it difficult for in-depth understanding and analysis of the audiences that resonate well with your brand. 
• It is not your shop: You will not able to export visitor data, or access advanced marketing metrics such as total users, bounce rate, average session durations, add to cart conversion rate, and so on. And because it is not your shop, you will not be able to install tracking codes to your store in order to track the effectiveness of your off-platform advertising campaigns. 
• Price and reviews are everything: In such a competitive space, there is bound to be stiff competition with other sellers. Since the marketplace lists a large catalog of products with similar benefits and characteristics, consumers will be comparing each product in terms of price and reviews. It also doesn't help that the in-app ads also compete for your customer's attention by showing competitors' products under "related products" or "you may also like". 

2. Niche Marketplaces

These marketplaces cater to specific audiences and can be a great way to target your ideal customer. A lot of the beauty-focused marketplaces cater to audiences in a specific geographical location, for example, Beauty Barn caters to India, Ohlolly is based in the US, Beauty&Seoul caters to the UK. There are also sites that are based in Korea but ship worldwide, for example, Be Mused Korea and Stylekorean. 

Pros:

• Targeting the right audiences: These marketplaces attract beauty enthusiasts who are actively seeking out beauty products made in Korea. Believe it or not, it's easier to convince a K-beauty enthusiast to try your brand (that is made in Korea) than to convince a non-believer of K-beauty. Placing your products in K-beauty-centric marketplaces gives you a direct exposure to relevant customers who are more likely to buy your products. 
• Building brand credibility: Not only you get to reach your target audience more easily, being listed alongside other established K-beauty brands can also add a touch of legitimacy and trust to your brand image, especially for those new to the market. 
• Marketing and exposure: These K-beauty marketplaces often have dedicated marketing teams and established social media followings, offering your new brand more valuable exposure to a relevant audience. Depending on the form of collaboration, some of these marketplaces do charge a certain amount of marketing fee for exposure, but we think it's worth the investment if the audiences are highly relevant. 

Cons: 

• Higher listing fees or commission: Some of these marketplaces have higher listing fees or commission structures compared to larger platforms such as Amazon and so on. So be prepared to invest. 
• Marketing requirements: Even though they often have their own dedicated marketing teams and campaigns, some platforms might require additional marketing efforts on your end in order for the brand to gain traction and build the momentum. So keep in mind that listing your beauty products on niche marketplaces doesn't give you an automatic free pass to slack on your marketing efforts! It's also a good reminder not to depend solely on the platform to build your branding, as that will mean your brand's success hinges on the platform's popularity and marketing efforts. 
• Potential for saturation: As these platforms grow and expand their collection of Korean beauty brands, they might be saturated with similar products, making it harder for yours to stand out. (Which makes putting your own efforts in marketing even more important!) 

3. Social Commerce Platforms

Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are now taking the social commerce game to the next level with their in-app shopping interface such as Instagram Shopping, Facebook Shops and TikTok Shop. These social commerce platforms offer a dynamic space to showcase your products and engage directly with potential customers. 

Pros:

• Access to built-in audience: Did you know? We spend almost 2.5 hours on average per day using social media platforms, which accounts for more than one-third of our total time spent online. It's no wonder why these platforms boast massive user bases, and showcasing your products on these platforms offers immediate access to a vast pool of potential customers.
• Influencer marketing: Social commerce platforms are the best place to show your products in their full glory with captivating videos made in collaboration with beauty influencers. You can also leverage their credibility to promote your products as more often than not, beauty influencers have built their own following by sharing honest reviews on their accounts. 
• Direct engagement with your audience: Thanks to the social aspect of these platforms, you can interact directly with potential customers, answer questions, and address concerns in real-time. It's even more prominent now that live commerce is taking the center stage, and large marketplaces like Amazon, Shopee have begun incorporating live commerce on their platforms as well. By showcasing your products in livestreams, you get to show the real sides of you and your products, and these direct interactions foster trust and brand loyalty, increasing conversion rates. 

Cons: 

• Competition is fierce: Social media is a crowded space. Standing out from the noise requires consistent, high-quality content and creative marketing strategies, so you must be prepared to commit. It also doesn't help that the reach of your posts and products depends heavily on each platform's algorithms, hence understanding and working with the algorithms is crucial for visibility in this competitive space. 
• Limited customization options for your shop: Customization options for your storefront might be limited compared to other platforms that are dedicated to e-commerce. Some of these social commerce shopping features may also not be available in your target country, so do check the availabilities and do your research before diving headfirst.
• Resource-intensive: In order to build a successful social commerce presence, it requires ongoing content creation, community engagement and managing customer interactions in real-time. This can be a significant time investment especially for new businesses. Also bear in mind that each platform may have different requirements for content or different trends, hence staying up to date with the trends and content requirements is also crucial, which means keeping your eyes peeled on social media 24/7 (almost). 

4. Your Own Website

Building your own e-commerce website offers the ultimate brand control. You curate the entire customer experience, following the customer journey from start to end, from landing pages to product descriptions and visuals, pricing and promotions. There are many platforms that offer a user-friendly interface for website building, for example, Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce, Squarespace and so on. This approach usually requires more upfront investment for website development and marketing, but it also offers long-term stability and scalability as your brand's success does not depend on any platform's success. 

Pros:

• Ownership of customer data: Unlike marketplaces like Amazon or Shopee, you get to control valuable customer data such as purchasing habits and preferences. This allows for targeted email or social media marketing campaign strategies and offers a more personalized customer experience. 
• Building brand loyalty: A dedicated website also fosters a stronger brand identity and connection with your customers. Regular visitors feel a sense of community (if your design and website content convey this sense of community, great) and connection to your brand. You can also build customer loyalty programs that allow members to collect points and rewards for repeated purchases. 
• Long-term cost effectiveness: While there are initial setup costs, managing your own website can be more cost-effective in the long run as it does not involve ongoing marketplace listing fees and commissions. In other words, this approach allows for a higher profit margin. 

Cons: 

• Initial investment and site maintenance: As mentioned, building and maintaining a website requires an upfront investment for website development, but don't forget there's also domain name registration and ongoing domain hosting fees.
• Technical expertise required: Website development requires technical expertise and technical knowledge, and while platforms like Wix and Squarespace offer some user-friendly interfaces for website customizations, some platforms offer more customization but require more technical knowledge for a smooth execution. To execute your ideas and brand visions, it is important to assess the level of technical expertise needed. You are also responsible for the security of your customer's data, therefore you also need to think about having the right technical expertise to execute cybersecurity strategies on your website. 
• Customer service and marketing: You'll be responsible for handing all customer service inquiries and managing returns on order issues. You will also need a well-defined marketing strategy to drive traffic to your website, which includes SEO optimizations, social media marketing and potentially paid advertising campaigns. 

Choosing the Right Online Sales Platform for Your Beauty Brand

For brands just starting out, marketplaces offer a convenient way to launch quickly and test the waters without a large investment upfront. But as your beauty brand matures, building your own e-commerce website can be a powerful step towards scaling your business and establishing a thriving, independent beauty empire. 

Ready to start building your own beauty empire? 

MAYK can help you get in touch with established, reputable Korean skincare and cosmetics manufacturers to produce your dream brand with high-quality ingredients and advanced technologies. All without the language or cultural barriers, and the pain of searching for the right manufacturer. Contact us to get a quote now!