Amazon Prime Day was a boon for beauty and wellness.

In line with a NielsenIQ survey, beauty was a top-shopped category in the course of the two-day sale extravaganza. Twenty-seven percent of those that bought consumer packaged goods bought skincare; 26 percent, vitamins and supplements; 24 percent, hair care, and 18 percent, cosmetics. 

“Beauty was the number-one CPG category that was shopped during Prime Big Deal Day. What surprised me essentially the most was seeing the merchandising. While you went to Amazon on Tuesday and Wednesday, there was just one feature banner on the homepage, and it was a beauty banner,” said Jacqueline Flam, senior vice chairman of U.S. retail, beauty and over-the-counter at NielsenIQ.

In line with the corporate, bestselling creator favorites included Laneige’s Lip Sleeping Mask and CosRX’s Snail Mucin 96% Power Repairing Essence, amongst those respective brands’ year-round hero products.

“Prestige beauty for Amazon is actually shining in replenishment categories, and people categories that require a bit more homework and likewise easier replenishment online. We were seeing skincare shine very vibrant on Prime Day,” Flam continued.

That was also the case for skincare brand BeautyStat, said founder and chief executive officer Ron Robinson.

“That is for replenishment,” Robinson said of BeautyStat’s business on Amazon. He did note, though, that Prime Day allowed consumers to access the brand in the event that they had previously been priced out. “When this sale comes, there’s some discovery, especially given what we did with influencer, social media and traditional press. All of that was a option to get recent consumers into the brand.”

BeautyStat’s sales were up 196 percent versus last 12 months’s event, in addition to up 77 percent versus Prime Day in July. 

“We all know our consumer is searching for bargains this 12 months, so we’re really focused on those moments where she goes to be searching for a promotion after which go very big on that,” Robinson said. “What we did otherwise was take an entire 360-degree approach to the event, from influencers, traditional press and social. We saw that lift the location [traffic].”

The second prong of the Amazon strategy, Robinson said, was to get shoppers hooked enough to join Amazon’s subscription feature. “That is a fantastic option to recruit folks. Once they struggle it, they adore it and so they’re hooked,” he said.

For supplements, though, it’s more discovery-driven.

“Lemme is a premium complement brand so we rarely go on sale,” said Simon Huck, Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s business partner for Lemme. “This was an exciting opportunity for quite a lot of customers to try quite a lot of different products, and we did an Amazon Survive the primary day of Prime Deal Day.”

Across three categories, Lemme nabbed bestselling status, Huck said. “Half of America is buying on Amazon Prime and it’s so ingrained of their shopping habits, specifically with vitamins and supplements,” he continued. “This can be a place where they’re naturally shopping and exploring recent brands. It’s such an obvious destination for us to be.”

In hair care, Amika exceeded last 12 months’s numbers just in the primary day alone. “In July, we promoted our bestsellers. This time, we decided to make use of our mid-level sellers — those items ranked 11 through 20,” said Chelsea Riggs, global president of Amika. 

“We had done that last fall, and saw some really interesting gains in among the products long-term,” Riggs continued. “It really helped to construct that demand and that repeat customer, so we desired to see if we could do the identical this 12 months with products which have quite a lot of potential.”

Riggs noted that it often takes a 12 months or so for a recent product to achieve traction on Amazon. Amika’s Perk Up Plus Prolonged Clean Dry Shampoo sold 88 times the standard each day average, Riggs said, and so they sold out of that stock keeping unit’s inventory on the second day of the sale.

By promoting easy trial products at friendly price points, reminiscent of shampoos, dry shampoos and conditioners, it’s also not cannibalizing the core of the brand’s business. “It’s something we’ve been attempting to work out ourselves. Who is that this customer, and what’s the perfect form of product to be promoting. At the tip of the day, I don’t need to put the unique Perk Up Dry Shampoo at 30 percent off for individuals who will buy it full-price anyhow,” Riggs said.

“You need to give your customers different opportunities for value, but between our own website, Sephora and Amazon, there’s loads of opportunities where you can never buy something full-price. We would like to avoid that as much as possible,” she continued.

To that end, neither Amika nor BeautyStat is participating in Amazon’s Holiday Beauty Haul, which starts Oct. 23. As consumers search for more deals across channels, though, it’s a tricky line to walk.

“Of Prime Day beauty shoppers, 28 percent of them are planning to or have already shopped the Ulta Gorgeous Hair sale,” Flam said. “The wonder buyer is well aware of competitive promotions and really looking this holiday season. Retailers are doing a powerful job of getting brands to lean in on promotionality in beauty during this time of 12 months. The appetite is there from the wonder buyer to buy various sales, and never stay exclusively in a single channel or one retailer.”