The Amazon Effect: Beauty's Next Frontier Is Already Here

At the 2025 BeautyMatter Future 50 event, Front Row Chief Revenue Officer Christopher Skinner joined a panel to tackle a critical truth: beauty brands can no longer afford to treat Amazon as a silo.

“Amazon, which used to be seen as a replenishment channel, is now seeing customers from consideration to validation, and all the way through to purchase,” Skinner said to open the panel.

Recent NielsenIQ data backs it up: ecommerce now accounts for 41% of beauty and personal care sales in the U.S., with Amazon commanding a dominant share. And according to Skinner, Amazon has captured seven points of beauty market share in just four years, with 64% of that growth coming from existing Amazon customers. That shift reflects a deeper alignment between the Amazon consumer and the beauty consumer.

Beauty's New Ecosystem Is Stacked, Not Siloed

Consumers, especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha, don't shop in straight lines anymore. They discover a product on TikTok. Validate it on Amazon. Buy it through DTC or retail. And then replenish wherever is most convenient.

That means brands need to build for a stacked ecosystem, not separate channels.

“Amazon is no longer just a transactional platform, it’s a validation engine. Your presence there reinforces your brand everywhere else,” he said. 

Why Reviews Matter More Than Ever, Especially at Higher Price Points

One of Amazon’s most powerful (and underrated) assets is its review system. Nearly 90% of CPG searches on Amazon are unbranded, meaning consumers rely on reviews to guide their choices. That’s particularly important for premium and medical-grade brands.

“Reviews are how you bring off-platform brand equity onto the platform,” Skinner said. “They help premium brands differentiate from cheaper dupes, and build trust at every price point.”

This rings especially true for brands like NuFACE, whose clinical credentials can get buried next to generic competitors. As Monifa Browne, SVP of Digital and Brand at NuFACE, noted:

“We need our Amazon presence to feel like an extension of our brand education system, just like DTC or retail.”

Strategy Tip: If You're Not Controlling It, Someone Else Will

Brand control on Amazon is make-or-break. As GroundForce Capital’s Erin Dwyer reminded the audience:

“Where there is demand, there will be supply. Are you the one supplying it, or is somebody else?”

Whether you're battling unauthorized sellers, managing product listings, or protecting your brand from dupes, Amazon needs to be part of a proactive brand defense strategy.

To watch the full panel from the BeautyMatter Future 50 event, click here. 

What Front Row Brings to the Table

At Front Row, we help beauty brands win on Amazon by:

• Building full-funnel strategies across TikTok, DTC, and marketplace.
• Using real-time data from Catapult (our proprietary tech) to track and respond to consumer behavior shifts.
• Defending brand equity through best-in-class content, review generation, and distribution control.

The time to capitalize on Amazon’s growing influence is now. Learn how our Marketplace Partnership team helps beauty brands grow and command space on Amazon.