Sell cosmetics online

Batches, expiry dates and recalls

Stock can be held per batch, each with its expiry date and the orders it went into. When a batch has to be pulled, you have the list of customers who received it instead of a spreadsheet and a bad week.

A batch can be put on hold so it stops selling immediately, without touching the rest of the stock for that product.

• Expiry date per batch, so old stock stops selling on its own
• Batches put on hold with one action
• The orders a batch reached, in one view
• Stock per batch across more than one warehouse

What the law asks you to show

EU product-safety information — the responsible person, the warnings, the pictograms — belongs on the product page, not in a PDF nobody opens. It is part of the product, and it goes through the same translation route as everything else, so it appears in every language your shop speaks.

Sets, samples and the second purchase

Cosmetics live on repeat purchase. A bundle sells the routine rather than the single jar; a subscription sends the refill without the shopper having to remember; a loyalty programme pays for the third order with the margin of the first two.

• Bundles with their own price, not just a discount code
• Subscriptions at the interval the product actually lasts
• Points, tiers and rewards for customers who come back
• A free sample above a cart value

Reviews with photos, because skin is specific

A written review tells you a cream is good. A photo from someone with the same skin tone tells the next buyer whether the shade is theirs. Reviews can be requested automatically after delivery and published with the pictures customers send.

Carts left behind come back by email with the items still in them, which in a repeat-purchase category is usually the cheapest order of the week.

Selling beyond your own country

Markets carry their own currency, language, prices and tax treatment. The same catalogue can be a Romanian shop in lei and a German shop in euro without a second installation — and the safety information follows into each language.

Read more: Subscriptions, without a subscription app, One store for every market.