How to Sell Beauty Products Online in 2024

Beauty products will never go out of style. No matter the time of year or the state of the economy, consumers will continue to purchase beauty and personal care items.

To prove it to you, according to our recent Jungle Scout Consumer Trends Report, 21% of consumers plan to buy more beauty-related products in 2024 than the previous year, and another 21% are still buying the same amount they’ve always had. 

This is a big reason why the beauty category is so popular amongst Amazon sellers.  But how do you start selling beauty and personal care products on Amazon?

Why sell beauty products on Amazon?

The beauty and personal care category on Amazon is one of the most popular among Amazon sellers, with 23% of sellers having products listed under this main category. 

As we mentioned above, consumers will continue to purchase products in this category, almost no matter what. While many products that fall under this category may not be necessary, many are, including hair care products, dental hygiene products, personal hygiene products, and so on. 

There are many ways to make money on Amazon by selling beauty products. 

Is selling beauty products on Amazon profitable?

In short, yes! Selling beauty products on Amazon is profitable. If it weren’t, there wouldn’t be any sellers. But just how profitable?

According to the Jungle Scout State of the Seller Report, 21% of beauty sellers achieve net profit margins between 26-50%! And 15% of sellers achieve 21-25% profits. 

As you can see, selling beauty products on Amazon can be very profitable. There will always be a demand for a variety of products within this category so sellers can expect healthy profit margins.

What products fall under the beauty category?

These are the main subcategories in the beauty and personal care category on Amazon. Of course, you can dig deeper into each subcategory to get more specific. 

• Makeup
• Skin Care
• Hair Care
• Fragrance
• Foot, Hand & Nail Care
• Tools & Accessories
• Shave & Hair Removal
• Personal Care
• Salon & Spa Equipment

Let’s say a customer clicks on “hair care.” More subcategories will be shown within hair care. This is just to show you how many different product opportunities are within this main category.

Selling beauty products does not just mean skincare or hair care products. It also includes products such as brushes, combs, scissors, razors, blow dryers, curling irons, and so on. 

How to get approval to sell beauty products on Amazon

One of the biggest questions new sellers ask is, “how do I get approval to sell in the beauty category?” A couple of years ago, the answer to this question may have been a little more complicated, as the beauty category was “gated” and required approval from Amazon.  

Now, the beauty and personal care category is no longer restricted to new Amazon sellers. 

Though Amazon makes it very clear within their Overview of categories help page that, “even if selling in a category does not require approval from Amazon, selling certain products may require approval.”

This means that just because you are approved to sell in the beauty category does not mean you will be able to sell every brand within that category. 

If you resell products through retail arbitrage or wholesale, make sure you are allowed to list that particular product or brand before purchasing inventory. 

If you encounter a specific brand that you would like to sell but are restricted, you must find an authorized distributor of that brand, purchase at least ten units, and submit the invoice to Amazon for approval. You will become ungated if Amazon is satisfied with the submitted documents.

Premium and Professional Beauty on Amazon

You may encounter the “Premium” and “Professional” beauty categories during your product research but any products that fall within these categories should be avoided. Products in the Premium and Professional categories are selected by Amazon and are reserved for the top beauty brands. 

You will likely be unable to list any products that fall under these two categories because Amazon limits who can sell under them, and they are not currently accepting applications for Premium and Professional beauty. 

What are Amazon’s requirements to sell beauty products?

Before listing beauty products for sale on Amazon, especially a new private label brand, you must be sure you adhere to Amazon’s compliance checklist for selling cosmetic products. 

Amazon describes cosmetic products as follows:

“Cosmetics are products that are usually rubbed, poured, sprinkled, or sprayed onto the body for cleansing, beautifying, or changing the appearance of the body. The cosmetics category includes products like skin creams, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail polishes, temporary tattoos, eye and facial makeup, shampoos, hair colors, toothpastes, and deodorants.”

You must follow the checklist to ensure products are compliant with Amazon’s policies. The checklist includes:

• Packaging requirements 
• Labeling and Product Detail Page requirements
• Products and Ingredient requirements

Source: Cosmetics & Skin/Hair Care help page

Prohibited beauty products

Amazon also provides a list of prohibited cosmetic products. The following products are prohibited because they do not meet the above checklist requirements (this is not a complete list of prohibited products):

• Corrective and cosmetic contact lenses
• Latisse
• Obagi Nu-Derm Sunfader
• Obagi Nu-Derm Clear
• Obagi Nu-Derm Blender
• Obagi Elastiderm Decolletage Skin Lightening Complex
• Obagi C-Therapy Nightcream
• Obagi RX System Clarifying Serum
• Products that contain minoxidil in excess of 5%
• Bithionol
• Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Solution
• Chloroform
• Halogenated salicylanilides
• Methylene chloride
• Vinyl chloride in aerosol products
• Zirconium-containing complexes in aerosol products
• Synthol, Synthrol, or Swethol posing oil
• Trichloroacetic Acid

Ways to sell beauty products on Amazon

If you’re interested in selling beauty products on Amazon, you can do so in the following ways:

• Launch a brand through private label 
• Resell other brands’ products with retail arbitrage, online arbitrage, or wholesale

While the beauty category is very popular amongst sellers, it can also be competitive. Reselling other brands’ products may be the best way to break into the beauty category, as launching a new brand may be difficult for an inexperienced seller. 

To get started with retail arbitrage, go to a local retail store and start scanning products in the beauty section with the Amazon Seller App. The app alerts you if you are not allowed to sell a particular product, so pay attention to that restriction before buying anything. 

If the Amazon Seller app says that you are allowed to sell the brand in new condition, purchase a small quantity of inventory and test how it sells on Amazon. 

Before you do that, you need to decide if you want to fulfill the orders through FBA or FBM. If you want your business to be hands-off and give the best possible experience for your customers, we suggest using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA.) 

To get started reselling other brands through wholesale, research popular beauty products on Amazon using Jungle Scout’s Product Database or Opportunity Finder.

Plug in your desired criteria and note some brands you want to sell on Amazon. Your next step would be to contact those brands directly or find an authorized distributor to place bulk wholesale orders of those products. 

In my experience, this is the best way to sell beauty products on Amazon as you don’t need to reinvent the wheel or create brand new products; you simply resell other brands’ products that are in high demand. 

Check out our in-depth How to Sell Wholesale Products video!

Trending beauty products on Amazon

Using Jungle Scout’s enterprise product research tool, Cobalt, we pulled some of the top beauty products and brands currently offered on Amazon to give you some inspiration on what is possible in this category.

Top beauty brands 

Fenty 

Over the last 30 days, Fenty’s monthly revenue has increased by 144%.

• Fenty’s Top Seller – FENTY BEAUTY BY RIHANNA Match Stix Matte Skinstick Amber – contour shade with cool undertones Matte finish
  • Revenue – $55.4k; up 130%

Huda Beauty

Over the last 30 days, Huda Beauty’s monthly revenue has increased by 81%.

• Hude Beauty’s Top Seller – NEW HUDA BEAUTY Easy Bake Loose Baking and Setting Powder – Pound Cake
  • Revenue –   $25k; up 145%

Olay 

Over the last 30 days, Olay’s monthly revenue has increased by 13%.

• Olay’s Top seller: Olay Regenerist Vitamin C + Peptide 24 Brightening Face Moisturizer for Brighter Skin, Lightweight anti aging cream for dark spots, Includes Olay Whip Travel size for dry skin
  • Revenue: 908.9k; up 23%

The Body Shop

Over the last 30 days, The Body Shop’s monthly revenue has increased by 13%.

• The Body Shop’s Top seller: The Body Shop Ginger Scalp Care Conditioner, 13.5 Fl Oz (Vegan)
  • Revenue: $96k; up 623%

Top beauty products

Heatless Curling Rod Headband

Revenue: $200k/month; Up 100% in the past three months

This product became wildly popular after going viral on TikTok earlier this year. TikTok is an incredible way to gain visibility on your products if you are a private label seller or brand owner. 

Particle Men’s 6 in 1 Face Moisturizer

Revenue: $250,000/month; up 271% in three months

This product is a great example of men’s beauty and personal care products that are also very popular on Amazon. If you notice, there are multiple sellers on this listing, which could be a potential wholesale opportunity for other sellers. 

Advanced Clinicals Aloe Vera + Vitamin C + Hyaluronic Acid Face & Body Cream 

The product has an overwhelming amount of positive reviews and a loyal customer base. Make note of what the brand has done right on its product listing, images, and overall branding.

Revenue: $425,000/month; up 100% in three months 

Are you ready to sell beauty products on Amazon? 

We hope this article answers all your questions about selling beauty products on Amazon! 

Do you have any more questions? Let us know down in the comments. 

Want to learn more about how you can use Jungle Scout to launch, grow, and run your Amazon business? Click the “Learn More” button below!