This is an episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the beauty and wellness industries. More from the series →
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On Sunday, Amazon wrapped up its fourth-annual Summer Beauty Event. Over two weeks, Amazon tempted shoppers with discounts of up to 50% on everything from makeup to vitamins. Even prior to the sale, the retailer did not seem to have trouble courting the beauty consumer. According to data from e-commerce agency Front Row, Amazon cleared $8 billion in U.S. beauty revenue in the first quarter of 2026.
But Amazon wants more than just a place to snag beauty at a discount; it wants to be known as a premium beauty destination.
On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, hosts Lexy Lebsack and Sara Spruch-Feiner are joined by senior beauty reporter Emily Jensen to discuss the strategy around the e-commerce giant’s beauty sales and assortment, and how it’s attempting to position itself as a prestige beauty retailer on par with the likes of Sephora and Ulta Beauty.
For Amazon, that means not only upping its brand assortment, which has grown to include everything from K-beauty favorites like Medicube to Puig-owned Charlotte Tilbury in recent months, but also encouraging consumers to use its AI-powered shopping assistants in lieu of in-person sales associates. According to Amazon, 300 million customers used its AI shopping assistant Rufus in 2025. On Wednesday, after the recording of this episode, Amazon announced it would replace the Rufus AI assistant with Alexa for Shopping.
Highlights from the episode, below, have been lightly edited for clarity.
On being the point of discovery
Jensen: “What is the reason for anyone to go to any one place to buy beauty? In some cases, maybe they want that in-person experience. They want to swatch a product, like a foundation or a concealer. Maybe they want to have the ease of [making a] return in-store. Maybe they’re going for the loyalty points, they’re going for exclusive products. … With Amazon, they have learned that people will buy an expensive product, like a foundation or even a fragrance, on Amazon. They’re willing to do that, but what Amazon wants is to be at that point of discovery in the funnel. They want them to come not just for replenishing the foundation they already know they like, that they discovered at Sephora or Ulta, but also to discover and trust Amazon to tell them what foundation is right for them. And they’re trying to do this more with their AI services.”
On the importance of comments and reviews in online shopping
Lebsack: “I talked to someone from TikTok last week for a story that’s on the site now, and they said that the biggest driver of sales right now is people seeing the product and then going into the comment section in an effort to just validate: Is this good? Do people like it? Have people ordered it? It’s basically their version of reviews. That has to be one of Amazon’s biggest assets — having reviews. Because, with other retailers, it’s unclear if they are cherry-picking or where the reviews are coming from.”
On the evolving world of exclusivity
Spruch-Feiner: “It does feel like, in the past couple of months or year, the floodgates have sort of opened. There used to be so much focus on: “Ulta has this brand,” or “Sephora has this brand, and nobody else has it.” … And we see that brands that maybe just a couple of years ago you couldn’t have imagined on Amazon are on Amazon now, like Charlotte Tilbury and Rabanne fragrances. A lot has changed in that regard.”
