Key Takeaways
- Customers need to view shopping on your e-commerce site as a delight, not a chore.
- Merchandising your products in thoughtful and intuitive ways to allow for a frictionless customer journey.
- Personalization—both in product assortment and service—is paramount to convert and keep loyal customers.
- Reciprocal brand-customer engagement that is nurtured through loyalty programs and social proof is the backbone of an engaged online shopping community.
If the pandemic taught retailers anything, it was the value of having a customer-friendly online presence. The accessibility, convenience, and scalability of shopping online prove unmatched. While, as of late 2024, in-store sales still account for 80% of purchases, younger demographics (continuously) strongly prefer shopping online. According to Onlinedashers, 67% of millennials and 52% of Generation Z shoppers in the U.S. still prefer shopping online to in-store. Plus, Enterprise App Today found that customers who shop online—across the board—tend to spend more. Most significantly, 81% of U.S. shoppers conduct research online before making a purchase, regardless of their chosen point-of-sale channel.
As of 2024, under 30% of sales are made online for retailers in the fashion (source) and beauty (source) industries. This static, combined with the dynamic and omnichannel nature of the typical customer journey, presents unique challenges—yet extraordinary opportunities for businesses in this sector. For fashion and beauty retailers, an enriching (and high-converting) online shopping experience is akin to crafting a multichannel storefront and brand oasis. It is a space for storytelling, education, and community-building rather than merely facilitating a sale.
Make browsing easy, engaging, and enjoyable
First impressions matter, especially when someone is considering spending their money on what they see in front of them. While sorting out the technological (and technical) details, remember that your digital channels are essentially windows into a non-physical boutique. You’re a merchandiser, buyer, or creative first. Then, translate this expertise to the digital space.
When architecting your homepage, think of it as a digital representation of your (aspired) flagship store on a major global shopping street—Madison Avenue in New York City, Sloane Street in London, or any destination row that your heart (or that of your brand) desires. Find creative and on-brand ways to grab customers’ attention at first glance. Utilize brand video content to promote a hero product, new arrival, website exclusive items, or collaboration.
Consider how Crown Affair lays out its homepage. It’s dynamic with an attention-grabbing hero video, hyper-organized sections, and personalization-centric shoppable content. We consider it an A+ example of how to set up an online storefront. The webpage opens up to an editorial, almost-tutorial-style video showcasing its newest products in use and a call to action that lets you personalize your bundle before prepping it for checkout. Once you scroll down, the brand makes it simple to scroll and add its bestsellers directly to your cart. The following sections showcase the brand’s two main product categories to offer customers a simpler browsing experience. Near the page’s footer, shoppers are prompted to customize bundles or take a hair quiz to find the right products for their needs. It’s personalized, interactive, and a shopping experience.
Once you hook customers’ attention, it’s time to ensure the “racks,” also known as the navigation bar of your online store, are thoughtfully merchandised, in order, and intuitive for shoppers. When sorting your navigation bar, segment and classify your stock by:
- The main groups of customers or aspects of their personhood you cater to (think: women's, men's, kids for a fashion brand and face, eyes, lips, body for a beauty brand).
- The main collection of items you offer (think: coats and jackets, tops, footwear for a fashion brand, and foundation, mascara, lipstick, body lotion, etc. for a beauty or skincare brand).
- The most common use cases (think: workwear, loungewear, casual basics, partywear for a fashion brand or hydration, acne, wrinkles, dryness for a skincare brand).
- Hype-generating merchandise (new arrivals, back in stock, exclusive items, sale items, etc.).
Retailers like FARFETCH, the international marketplace, showcase how a thoughtful navigation bar enables frictionless buyer journeys for various customer segments. They make it simple for shoppers to find a specific item, buy into the new-in hype, browse bestsellers, or discover a desired purchase based on an intended use case. Plus, the multi-brand retailer offers loyalty members exclusive discounts, private sale items, exclusive new arrivals, and personalized shoppable edits directly in the search bar. High-value clients receive VIP experiences before they even begin browsing.
Product pages are some of the highest-stakes pieces of e-commerce real estate that are often relatively overlooked. Haus Labs by Lady Gaga offers exemplary product pages that showcase what and how to display information. Each product page spotlights the following details about each item:
- What it is, its ingredients, and its benefits.
- How to use the product with expert tips on how to apply it for the best results.
- A clear overview of all the variations (in this case, shades) and which ones are trending.
- Videos of the product on a real-life model and images showing how to apply it (alone and with other products).
- Simple CTAs (call-to-action buttons) and recommended items to pair with it for a targeted, customer-centric upsell.
- Customer reviews and UGC (user-generated content) straight from Instagram.
Lastly, always implement a responsive design layout. All your e-commerce pages should automatically adjust to a desktop or mobile interface so customers can enjoy a frictionless shopping experience without any device-related discrimination. Simple yet significant for driving sales.
Prioritize personalization at every touchpoint
Shoppers crave a humanized online shopping experience throughout their purchasing journeys. They want to feel understood and as though you cater to their unique needs. Think of your retailer as the personal concierge of your customers at a 5-star hotel. Every touch feels personal yet can be replicated for the masses. Successful personalization efforts require an omnichannel and multifaceted support system—with “on-site” and “off-site” communications.
These channels work in tandem to provide customers with a frictionless shopping experience.
Any on-site communications should make customers feel like they’re in a high-end department store or boutique. These personalization efforts fall into two categories worth offering: 1) individually curated assortments and product recommendations and 2) high-quality, easily accessible customer service options.
Consider how two retailers at opposite ends of the market, FARFETCH and Amazon, provide customers with high-quality and intuitive personalized recommendations. FARFETCH offers an entire “For You” subsection under its “New In” category to offer members a “Farfetched For You” weekly curated edit based on their previous browsing, purchasing history, and wishlist items. The global luxury marketplace also sorts through its new arrivals to curate all the products they think you’ll love. Similarly, Amazon’s homepage offers personalized curated assortments for every stage of your customer journey. The retailer will prompt you to revisit your browsing history, offer you more recommendations based on this browsing history, and provide you with a curated set of other merchandise and new arrivals to explore based on your previous shopping or browsing activity. Additionally, these fashion retailers offer size finder tools on their product pages to help minimize the frustration of returns for both parties.
Speaking of AI-powered personalization tools, retailers can leverage this technology via conversational commerce to bring premium individualized services to the masses. High-quality (and reachable) customer service? Shoppers call that striking retail gold.
In the fashion and beauty realm, Bloomingdale’s leads the pack with its full integration of Lily AI and its multichannel personal styling services. Within two years, by 2021, Bloomingdale’s saw $20 million in additional online revenue from integrating Lily AI. Yet where Bloomingdale’s really shines is its personal styling services program. Customers can choose a stylist in their local area (or anywhere) to chat and shop together in real time online or schedule virtual and in-person appointments. Plus, shoppers can request personalized picks from their personal stylist. Just enter your contact information, budget, and what you’re looking for. In just a few minutes from your own home, you’re all set.
This leads us to the importance of personalized “off-site” communications. Think: emails, text messages, push notifications, and social media interactions from your retailers sent directly to customers. Small details matter. According to Campaign Monitor, marketers found they had experienced an astounding 760% increase in revenue from adopting personalized and segmented campaigns. Plus, emails from the retail industry saw double the open rates when they had personalized subject lines (source).
When considering how to engage with customers through these channels, communications should feel almost seductive for potential buyers. Follow these guidelines:
- Make the person feel special. Say their name, and repeat it often. Speak directly to them, not at them.
- Learn how to flirt with your audience. Get comfortable and creative with how to tease and create anticipation for your customers when presenting the brand's vision and personality.
- Create a fantasy, and find ways to grow that relationship with trust and regular, thoughtful communication.
Social media offers a unique opportunity to create a streamlined way to offer personalized content, commerce, and community all in one virtual place. Brands like Summer Fridays and STAUD leverage Instagram Shop to provide users with personalized product recommendations while browsing their storefronts. Some Instagram Shop pages, like Emme Parsons, even integrate a welcome promotional pop-up offer when you land on their social commerce page.
Build community via loyalty programs and user-generated content
Gaining high-converting customers requires brands to build relationships with their customers. So, unsurprisingly, loyalty programs and (authentic) purchase reviews are (proven) powerful tools to enrich customers’ online shopping experiences.
Let’s discuss the fashion and beauty world’s loyalty membership crown jewel: the Sephora Beauty Insider program. Responsible for 80% of the company’s sales, see what Sephora has done right and how brands can use the retailers’ framework to craft their successful loyalty program:
- Incentivize customers with exclusive promotions, gifts, and automatic samples or other relevant “freebies.”
- Create a tiered ranking system that's actually sexy: Like Sephora's three-tier system, the basic membership should be free to join. Offer higher-level tiers that offer more exclusive access, and deep discount perks only begin once customers prove their desire to spend more (frequently) on your merchandise.
- Clear communication is key: All the information about Sephora's loyalty program is broken down by tier and is easily accessible as a table on their website. Ensure there's no guesswork involved to know where you stand. What you see (and reap in rewards) is what you spend.
Retailers allowing customers to leave visible reviews is a simple, highly effective way to build consumer credibility and trust (among the retailer, prospective buyer, and other customers, too).
Customers were 270% more likely to purchase a product with visible reviews versus a product with no reviews, according to findings from the Northwestern Medill Spiegel Research Center. Quality matters over quantity—and the visibility of reviews impacts conversion rates significantly more for bigger ticket items. So, any retailer that’s able to display more than five reviews with a 4.0-4.7-star rating could see up to 380% better conversion rates than if their review boxes were blank. With enough high-praise, funny, and enthralling reviews, brands can let their customers do the marketing for them via social proof. It’s a brand’s and buyers' “win-win” transaction.
Conclusion: Take the best elements of physical boutiques plus the luxuries of online community and amenities
While customers can shop online out of convenience, the retailers that will win are the ones that invest in the capabilities of their available online shopping experiences. Younger generations gravitate toward making purchases online. Almost all customers research and read reviews before making a purchase—especially if it’s a high-ticket item. A brand’s online and retail presence is its digital storefront. Brands need to invest their item and technological resources into curating personalized and seamless shoppable experiences at every touchpoint. While more fashion and beauty purchases are currently made in-store, online retailers have an edge with their capacity to offer luxury concierge services to the masses. Dreamy curation, top-tier customer service, and strong social proof are the winning formula for a more enriching online shopping experience.
About the author
As a seasoned business development executive, Laura excels at building and leading high-performing teams, driving growth in professional services, and nurturing complex enterprise deals from inception to closure. Her strategic mindset and relentless curiosity fuel her ability to uncover innovative solutions for the ever-evolving beauty and fashion landscapes. With a robust background in enterprise B2B sales, Laura has thrived within the beauty, consumer products, retail, fashion, apparel, travel, and e-commerce sectors. She is adept at crafting sustainable business practices, fostering deep relationships, and presenting transformative strategies to executives across all levels. Her dedication to integrity and professional excellence is evident in her approach to solving complex client challenges with creativity and insight. As a thought leader, she continually seeks to identify business opportunities that align with human capital needs and market demand, ensuring her contributions enhance people, innovation, and profit. Whether she's exploring the latest trends or delving into strategic initiatives, Laura offers a fresh perspective that captivates and educates her readers.
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