Beauty shoppers today don't follow the rules. They discover products on TikTok during their morning coffee, research ingredients on Amazon while commuting, test products in-store during lunch and complete their purchase online that evening. At every step, they expect the same seamless experience.
Yet most brands still operate like it's 2010. Their beauty ecommerce, stores and marketplaces teams operate independently.
The result? Lost customers, missed sales and frustrated shoppers who simply move on to brands that make buying easy.
Research shows that 77% of US shoppers will abandon their purchase if the experience becomes too complicated. Meanwhile, retailers using three or more connected channels see 250% higher customer engagement and retain nearly 90% more customers than those limited to a single channel.
If you're ready to start building the unified experience today's beauty shoppers demand, this playbook will show you exactly how to get there.
Let’s be clear: omnichannel is not just “being everywhere.” It’s about creating a single, unified experience across every touchpoint.
Multichannel retail operates different channels separately. Your online store runs independently from your physical locations. Your marketplace listings don't talk to your website inventory. Your social commerce operates in its own silo. Customers get different prices, inconsistent promotions and fragmented service depending on where they shop.
Omnichannel retail aligns all touchpoints into a single operational and experiential framework. Customers can browse products online, check availability at a nearby location and choose how and where they complete their purchase. Whether the order is fulfilled in-store, shipped to their home or picked up at a third-party location, the brand experience remains unified.
This transforms how customers experience your brand. They can browse your latest collection on Instagram, check if their favorite shade is available at a nearby store and choose whether to buy online for home delivery or pick it up in person. All of this while enjoying consistent pricing and earning the same loyalty rewards.
Each retail channel plays a distinct role in an integrated beauty commerce strategy:
Physical stores continue to serve as important hybrid spaces that complement digital channels. Customers can pick up online orders, test beauty products in person, or speak to trained staff who can assist with digital orders using in-store tools.
Store associates can now access complete customer profiles, seeing online browsing history, past purchases and preferences to provide truly personalized service. This transforms every store visit into an opportunity for deeper customer relationships.
Your brand-owned website serves as the foundation for deep personalization and customer retention. This is where you capture valuable first-party data, control the entire customer experience and build direct relationships without marketplace fees eating into margins.
Additionally, you can implement customized product recommendations based on skin type to exclusive member benefits that keep customers coming back.
Amazon, Sephora, and other marketplaces excel at one thing: helping new customers discover your brand. They're perfect for top-of-funnel discovery by reaching broader audiences, and build awareness with low friction. Although brands have less control over the experience on marketplaces, the visibility and volume these platforms provide are valuable for driving trial and traffic.
Once customers try your products there, you can guide them to your owned channels for deeper engagement.
Platforms like Instagram Shopping and TikTok Shop drive high-volume discovery through creative content. They complement marketplace reach with brand storytelling and create emotional connections that turn browsers into buyers.
To maximize performance across these channels, all customer and product data should be integrated into a centralized customer data platform (CDP). This ensures real-time insights power every campaign and that brand experiences remain consistent across every touchpoint.
A unified data model is the foundation of any successful omnichannel strategy. Centralizing inventory, customer profiles, and order history within a single system enables real-time updates across all channels.
For instance, when a product sells out in-store, it should immediately reflect online. When a customer places an order through social commerce, that transaction should update their loyalty profile and trigger appropriate post-purchase messaging. Every interaction builds on previous ones, regardless of channel.
Cross-channel shopping options: Customers should be able to buy online and pick up in-store, browse in-store and have items shipped home, or return online purchases to physical locations without hassle.
Advanced clienteling: Equip your sales associates with access to complete customer histories across all touchpoints. When a VIP customer walks into your store, your team should know their purchase history, preferences, and current promotions.
Consistent experiences: Maintain the same pricing, promotions, and service quality everywhere customers interact with your brand.
Begin with a comprehensive data audit. Map out where your customer data, product information and inventory levels currently live. Determine how information flows between platforms.Then focus on connecting your core systems: order management (OMS), customer relationship management (CRM) and analytics tools.
With your technical foundation in place, focus on creating customer interactions that feel effortless and natural.
Personalization is central to omnichannel success. Use purchase history and browsing behavior to deliver relevant product recommendations whether customers are reading your email newsletter or talking with a store associate.
For example, if a customer frequently buys anti-aging products online, your store associates can proactively suggest new arrivals in that category during their next visit. If someone abandons their cart online, you can send personalized email recommendations or offer in-store consultation appointments.
Make sure personalization enhances the experience, not overwhelms it. Focus on usefulness, not volume.
Success requires more than good intentions and smart technology. It demands the right people, processes and tools working together.
Invest in integrated systems that share data in real-time. Your order management system should connect seamlessly with your point-of-sale (POS) terminals, inventory management and customer service platforms.
Your success depends on people understanding and embracing the omnichannel approach. Train staff across all channels to think about unified customer journeys rather than channel-specific transactions.
Store associates need access to customer data and training on how to use it effectively. Online customer service representatives should understand in-store processes. Marketing teams need to coordinate campaigns across channels rather than optimizing in isolation.
Most importantly, align incentives. When online and offline teams compete against each other rather than working toward shared goals, customers suffer.
Don't try to transform everything overnight. Start with foundational integrations like connecting your ecommerce platform with your customer relationship management (CRM) system.
Once basic data sharing works smoothly, expand into more advanced capabilities: loyalty programs that work across channels and clienteling tools for store associates. Then, marketing automation that responds to customer behavior regardless of where it happens.
Test and optimize at each stage. Small improvements compound over time. Gradual implementation gives your team and customers time to adapt to new processes.
You can't improve what you don't measure. Instead of evaluating ecommerce, stores and marketplaces in isolation, you can access a complete view of how customers move between channels — and which touchpoints drive conversions.
This allows marketing, sales and operations to collaborate using the same insights and make smarter, faster decisions.
Cart.com supports beauty brands with the infrastructure required to manage a truly unified retail strategy.
With Cart.com, you can:
The path to omnichannel success is clear, but the execution requires expertise, technology and ongoing optimization. Contact Cart.com’s growth marketing team for a personalized assessment of your current omnichannel readiness and a roadmap to your brand’s needs and goals.