This story was originally part of the 2024 Glossy 50 feature. Click here to see all of this year’s honorees.
In March, Amazon scored a major coup in the world of premium beauty by bringing Clinique — the first of several Estée Lauder companies slated to join Amazon — onto the platform.
Melis del Rey, Amazon’s gm and director of North American stores for beauty, baby and beauty technology, was instrumental in making the partnership happen. In 2024, del Rey helped launch more than 300 brands on Amazon Premium Beauty. She said there’s a simple playbook for bringing high-end brands onto the platform: She shows them the data.
“When I share that we actually over-index on premium customers, brands are often surprised by how big an audience we have for them,” del Rey said. She added that one-third of premium beauty customers in the U.S. shop on Amazon. “The other part is that our customers are loyal. More than two-thirds of our beauty customers are Amazon Prime users, and Prime is a strategic loyalty program.”
Many brands that sell on their own channels as well as on marketplaces like Amazon intentionally differentiate the channels’ product curations: Often, core products will go on marketplaces like Amazon, while limited and seasonal products will remain on owned channels. But del Rey said that many of Amazon’s premium beauty brands have brought their entire product catalogs to Amazon.
“When brands bring their entire catalog, they discover what items sell best on Amazon. And sometimes it’s not the ones they expect,” del Rey said.
Looking forward, del Rey said Amazon’s main priority for premium beauty in the next year will be social commerce.
“Social media is important for the beauty shopper. It’s the medium that influences their purchasing decisions,” del Rey said. “We have one of the world’s biggest affiliate programs, so 2025 will be a big year for social influencers for us.”
