How to tackle the challenges of storing and fulfilling natural cosmetics

The natural beauty market has been growing significantly in recent years, and is expected to reach a value of 42.13 billion dollars globally by 2025. Young people in particular are keen to know what exactly is in their products and what percentage of them come from natural sources. The Green Barometer Survey from Kari Gran found that for seventy three percent of millennial women, purchasing beauty products with natural ingredients was important to them. This young community in particular is engaged in the beauty world and invested in sustainability.

Using natural ingredients and avoiding preservatives has plenty of benefits for your products, but can make your logistics more challenging. Outsourcing your operations to a Third Party Logistics Partner (3PL) which is used to fulfilling cosmetics can take these complications off your shoulders and be hugely beneficial for your brand.

What you will learn in this blog post:

• Ensuring the right storage for your cosmetics
• Expiry date management for natural makeup and skincare
• Save time and stress with address validation
• Creating a personalized and sustainable unboxing experience
• Why choose Hive as your 3PL for natural cosmetics

Ensuring temperature checked storage for your cosmetics

Natural cosmetics need extra care to ensure they reach your end customer in ideal conditions. This is why outsourcing to a 3PL which is experienced with cosmetics can help ensure they are stored and fulfilled in the best possible way.

Often they need to be treated similarly to fresh goods, and the right fulfillment partner should be able to store them in ambient temperatures to help maintain the product texture. Products like perfume or nail polish will last longer than most other natural cosmetics if stored in a cool dark place, but still have to be carefully monitored to make sure they do not expire (more on expiry date management below). 

At Hive, we fulfill a range of products that require ambient temperatures from our BIO- and HACCP-certified fulfillment centers. 

Expiry date management for natural makeup and skincare in storage

As a natural cosmetics brand, you will know that handling expiry dates can be challenging.

Avoiding chemical preservatives can lead to shorter expiration times, so it is particularly important to ensure that your stock levels are right to prevent products from expiring on the shelf. Additionally, sending a mixture of B2B and B2C orders means even more to manage, as you need to account for the amount of time your products might be sitting on the shelf.

Comprehensive data is crucial to track your products and when they expire, and to make sure you are ordering new stock at the perfect moment. With Hive, you always have access to live data on your SKUs. Our software is directly connected to your Shopify or WooCommerce Shop and gives you access in real time to data on inventory, order status or return status. If you need to restock, we will send you an alert. Plus, you can check your stock forecast in our merchant app to help you optimize the restocking process. 

Another benefit of this data is that you will be able to more easily spot trends. The cosmetics industry is prone to certain product categories trending, accelerated by social media. Having access to what your customers are ordering and when can help you identify patterns in buying habits and further streamline both your restocking and marketing processes.

Save time and stress with address validation

It happens to most of us at some point: we accidentally put down the wrong shipping address. As a consumer you will be aware of the frustration, even if it was your own fault. As a brand you will also know that incorrect addresses come with plenty of annoyance and extra costs in shipping and customer support. But what if you could save on all this hassle? 

As your cosmetics fulfillment partner, Hive makes sure to validate the addresses inputted to check that they are correct. If something is not right, the customer is alerted and asked to check the address. This cuts down on wasted time shipping back and forth, meaning your product arrives with your customer in good time.

Combining this optimized inventory management and address validation also contributes to keeping your brand sustainable as it leads to reduced waste and shipping.

Creating a personalized and sustainable unboxing experience

Packaging is a major touchpoint between you and your community, and is a key part of your beauty brand. As a cosmetics brand, your unboxing experience should be exciting, and encourage your community to share pictures and videos on social media. 

It can feel daunting to trust a third party with your packaging since it is such an important part of the customer journey. With Hive, we understand the importance of branding and you can customize your packaging to ensure that every moment your customer has with your brand is carefully crafted by you. Plus, we always keep some of Hive’s brown boxes ready to go, just in case you run out of your own.

As a natural cosmetics brand, sustainability is bound to be on your mind. In recent years, sustainable packaging has become an increasingly significant factor in purchasing decisions. In fact, according to a Gartner study How Packaging Can Positively Impact Digital Commerce Outcomes, thirty seven percent of consumers prioritize sustainability when making buying decisions. 

Using glass bottles instead of plastic, for example, brings with it environmental benefits, but means you need a 3PL capable of carefully handling this packaging. At Hive, we are used to fulfilling for cosmetics brands and others who use glass primary packaging and always ensure to pack with care. We can also use customized protective packaging (e.g. sizzle paper) to make sure your glass bottles are safely cushioned in the box. If there are ever any recurring issues with breakages, we can advise you on best practices. Plus, we look carefully at orders when they arrive at the Fulfillment center from the supplier to check for damages. If anything is damaged, our Customer Experience (CX) team will get in touch with photos and discuss with you what to do next.

It can also be a challenge to balance the consumer demand for sustainability with the equally pressing demand for lightning fast shipping. At Hive, we offset CO2 for delivery and use sustainable materials for our own boxes and packing materials. We also aim to send out all orders made before 12pm on the same day.

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Why choose Hive as your 3PL for makeup and natural cosmetics?

To sum up: Hive is an experienced 3PL with cosmetics, ready to help you grow your brand. We can provide you with a first-class fulfillment service, combined with easy-to-use software to make sure you are always on top of your inventory.