Dropshipping is a great business strategy for a new skincare brand operating on a tight budget. 

Under this business model, the manufacturer holds and ships inventory on your behalf - saving you time and reducing overhead and storage costs for your small business.

However, dropshipping does eat into profit margins, and skincare is a competitive market with new brands coming and going every day. 

How can you make dropshipping profitable and stay afloat? 

Your success or failure rests on three key factors: the actual skincare you choose, your relationship with the supplier, and where you decide to sell the products online. 

Our easy-to-follow guide below breaks down how to get these fundamentals correct to make your chance of success skyrocket.

Dropshipping Skincare The Wrong Way 

A lot of newbies go straight to Alibaba and place a dropshipping order on the first skincare serum they find with multiple 5 star reviews. Big mistake. 

5 star reviews may indicate that the supplier is easy to work with, or that the products are as described. But how do you know if this skincare is actually any good? 

Before you know it, you’re one month in, your inbox is flooded with customer complaints, you’re racking up negative reviews, and because you haven’t invested time into the product, you don’t even know how to respond to customer concerns! 

You’ve tanked your brand’s reputation and now repeat sales are out of the question. Game over.

So, how do you assess product quality? Don’t overthink it - just focus on the ingredients.

1. Quality Ingredients Are Key To Success With Dropshipping Skincare 

If you want your dropshipping business to succeed, you need skincare products that actually work.  

When prospective customers trust that your skincare ingredients deliver real results, you’re building up their trust before they even hit the add-to-cart button. 

Vet each supplier’s ingredients carefully. Do the anti-aging serums contain ingredients proven to target fine lines and help build collagen? Are the vitamin C products formulated to deliver real brightening effects? 

Better yet - look beyond creams and serums that only target one skincare concern. Which sounds better: an eye cream that reduces dark circles, or an eye cream that reduces dark circles AND provides anti-aging benefits at the same time? Solving multiple issues for your customers with just one product will keep them coming back for more. 

At Genie Supply, we have a wide range of high-performing skincare products to choose from. Need to brush up on your skincare knowledge? We briefly explain how our skincare ingredients work on our product pages, and we’re always available to answer any questions about our formulations. 

From the beta-carotene in our cleansing balms to the added hyaluronic acid in our retinol serums, at Genie Supply, we create base products that do as they say and then some. 

Once you’ve established that the skincare products can provide real benefits for your dropshipping customers, it’s time to dig a little deeper and find the suppliers that go the extra mile. 

Choose Clean Skincare For Your Dropshipping Business 

A wide array of beauty industry experts from product formulators to packaging suppliers agree - we’re moving into an economy where clean beauty is no longer optional. 

Thanks to up-to-date info from dermatologist Youtubers, expert-led blogs, and ingredient-scanning apps, skincare fans are savvier than ever and are getting wise to faux clean-washed promises. One or two “bad” ingredients? They won’t even give your brand a chance!

At Genie Supply, we’re committed to creating truly clean, cruelty-free, and vegan skincare. Don’t just take our word for it - our products meet the clean beauty/cruelty-free standards from a range of certifying agencies including Credo, Sephora, Ulta, Wholefoods, and Leaping Bunny.  [Certifications vary from product to product].

Plus, because we know how important it is to impress customers who use ingredient scanning apps, we always set a target of a 1-2 rating on the EWG scale (1 is the best rating).

Think of it from the customer’s perspective: why would you buy a skincare serum full of petroleum derivatives and silicones that could harm your health, when you could buy an equally great product with much cleaner ingredients? 

2. Evaluating The Supplier (Location & Customization)

Why Your Dropshipping Skincare Brand Should Source From The USA 

While dropshipping straight from China can help save on costs, if you’re serious about your brand succeeding in the long run, it makes more sense to choose a supplier closer to home. 

How many times have you ordered from China and had the package finally arrive 2 months later? Yeah. Your customers won’t be happy about that either. 

Drastically shorter shipping times lead to happier customers, better reviews, and fewer complaints. Keeping the supplier close to home reduces the chance of any major fulfillment hiccups for your dropshipping skincare brand. 

Genie Supply is based in the US and we conduct all of our R&D and manufacturing in-house. 

The benefits don’t stop there - sourcing from the USA removes language barriers and makes it easier to build a strong working relationship with your supplier.

Make Your Skincare Brand Unique By Customizing Your Products 

Just because you are using the dropshipping business model, it doesn’t mean your skincare line needs to be a carbon copy of everything else on the market. 

Look for a supplier who is willing to collaborate and help you put your personal touch on their base product to make it your own. 

At Genie Supply, we’ve done the hard work and nailed the base formula for all of our skincare products. Now it’s time for you to collaborate with our lab and make subtle customizations that help your brand stand out!

Maybe scented skincare is against your brand’s natural USP? We can keep all of our formulas fragrance-free. Or perhaps you have a specific scent in mind? We have over 25 different scented options (including both essential oil and fragrance oils) to choose from.   

When it comes to putting your own distinctive stamp on your skincare range, don’t forget about the packaging! First impressions count and your brand’s customers will see your packaging before they swatch any of your serums. 

We provide the dielines templates for our dropshipping skincare packaging and let you collaborate with your designer to bring your exact packaging vision to life. 

3. Choosing The Right Platform (Own Website or Amazon FBA)

Although competition is tougher, there’s one huge upside to starting a skincare business in the current era - setting up an online store is easier than ever! Gone are the days of hiring a pricey programmer just to get a basic template website live. 

Now you can take your pick from a range of ready-to-go selling platforms like Shopify, Wix, or Squarespace. You can buy a platform package and have your website up and running by the end of the day! 

Now comes the hard part. 

Your dropshipping skincare store needs lots of visitors to make just one sale. On average, the e-commerce conversion rate for the beauty and personal care industry fluctuated between a high of 5.21% and a low of 2.51% from March 2022 to February 2023. Your customers won’t just magically appear - you need to put in the work to bring in traffic and make those sales. 

We recommend trying out a range of marketing strategies to find the ones that work best for your dropshipping skincare business. 

Consider launching ads through Google ads or on Facebook, or create an SEO-optimized blog to drive search engine traffic. Another great way to bring in leads is to build up an organic following on Instagram or Tiktok. 

Let me guess - marketing is your worst nightmare? You could outsource it, but there’s a simpler way to get around the problem - Amazon FBA!

The Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) program brings Amazon’s vast customer base directly to you. There’s a chance that your dropshipping skincare products can get traction on Amazon before you’ve even spent a single dollar on ads or had your first viral post on TIktok! 

At Genie Supply, we offer a special Amazon package to our customers. 

We help you comply with Amazon’s rules for FBA, including packaging that passes their 3 feet drop test, SKU label printing, and we provide the correct product images for Amazon’s platform. Plus, we will label and package your orders and ship them directly to Amazon to take that hassle off your hands. 

In sum, the secret to successfully dropshipping skincare is: 

• Select products with quality, clean ingredients that actually provide skincare benefits 

• Work with US-based suppliers who offer customization to make your unique mark on the industry

• Weigh up the pros and cons of setting up your own website vs picking the Amazon FBA route. Choose the option that makes the most sense for your business

Interested in our Amazon package, or curious about another way to dropship skincare with Genie Supply? Get in touch via email: customerservice@geniesupply.com or give us a call at (812)-329-1105.