Bundling Strategies

How to Create High-Converting Product Bundles for Beauty Brands on Shopify

Beauty shoppers are buying clarity, confidence, and transformation. Your bundles should reflect that.

How to Create High-Converting Product Bundles for Beauty Brands on Shopify
Tina Donati's Picture

Tina Donati

Aug 07, 2025 · 6 min

If you’re a beauty brand using Shopify, it’s time we talk bundles.

Not just any bundles, specifically bundles for Shopify beauty merchants. Because shoppers browsing for skincare, makeup, or haircare don’t buy the same way as someone buying a new hoodie or protein powder. 

Their expectations are different. Their habits are different. And the way you bundle your products should reflect that.

So before we answer the common question, “What’s the best product bundling app for beauty brands on Shopify?”, let’s cover what actually makes a great beauty bundle.

In this guide:

  • What beauty customers expect from product bundles
  • How to create personalized beauty bundles
  • Backend setup tips for Shopify
  • Bundle examples from Glossier, Glow Recipe, and more
  • Tools for bundling on Shopify

Understanding Beauty Shoppers and What They Expect From You

When someone shops for beauty products online, they want to be guided to the right solution, shown proof that it works, and treated like someone whose time (and taste) matters.

Here are the five key expectations that come up again and again:

  1. Personalization and guidance
  2. Detailed information and ingredient transparency
  3. Visual accuracy (especially with color cosmetics)
  4. Community-driven validation and reviews
  5. A luxurious or elevated experience, even online

When bundles are done right, they can hit every one of these expectations at once. Let’s dig into each one.

1. Personalization Starts with Simplicity

The average beauty catalog is massive and overwhelming. 

That’s especially true for new shoppers who may not know what they need yet. They’re staring down a page of products with different actives, finishes, textures, and shades, and they’re not sure what applies to them.

Bundling is one of the easiest ways to guide shoppers through that friction. Instead of asking them to sort through every product you offer, you're curating sets based on their specific use case.

This works best when paired with consultative tools like:

  • Skin or hair quizzes that frame product discovery as a personalized consultation
  • Navigation filters based on goals or product concerns (e.g., “Frizz Control,” “Post-Acne Routine,” “Brightening”)
  • Bundles curated by skin or hair type, not just product type

If someone with curly hair can instantly find a full regimen designed specifically for curl definition and frizz control, you’ve taken the guesswork out of the purchase. That’s the goal.

2. Don’t Just List Ingredients—Sell the Solution

Beauty buyers want to know exactly what they’re putting on their skin. They want detailed ingredients. But they also want to understand why a product matters and what it’s going to do for them.

When you’re building your bundle landing pages, don’t stop at technical details. Make sure you also:

  • Link out to each individual item’s product page
  • Call out key benefits clearly (“adds shine,” “reduces inflammation,” “longer wear time”)
  • Frame the bundle in plain language that speaks to results

For example, instead of “Shampoo + Conditioner Set — Save $20,” try something like: “Your 3-step routine for smoother, shinier curls in one week — with 20% off when you bundle.”

3. Visual Accuracy Is Non-Negotiable

Dropdown menus with shade names alone aren’t going to cut it. If someone’s building their own lip kit or foundation trio, they need to:

  • See actual color swatches
  • View shades on models with similar skin tones
  • Watch the product image auto-update as they make their selections

This is especially important for mix-and-match bundles, where customers are choosing multiple shades or finishes. If you’re not giving them the visuals to confidently choose, you’re setting yourself up for friction, disappointment, and higher returns.

4. Let Your Customers Do the Selling

Nothing validates a purchase more than seeing other people loving the same product.

If you’re offering bundles, you should be collecting and showcasing:

  • Reviews and testimonials specifically about the bundle
  • UGC or before-and-after photos featuring the full routine
  • Highlights from social media showing customers unboxing or using the kit

Your customers become your best salespeople, so give them the spotlight.

5. Build In Small Luxuries

A lot of shoppers turn to beauty as a form of self-care or self-expression. Even online, they want the experience to feel special.

That might look like:

  • Branded stickers or samples tucked into the box
  • Seasonal exclusives that change throughout the year
  • Free gifts at certain AOV thresholds

For example, three Ships recently offered a free backpack during a Canada Day promotion, launching new Shopify product bundles that all surpassed the $75 minimum to qualify. The result? Higher AOV and a sense of exclusivity that made shoppers feel like insiders.

This is a prime example of how your bundle is an entry point into your brand experience.

How to Set Up Beauty Product Bundles on Shopify Without Breaking Your Backend

One of the biggest challenges beauty brands face when bundling on Shopify is inventory sync. By default, Shopify only tracks the parent SKU. That means when someone buys a bundle, your 3PL or ERP may not see the individual items that make it up.

To avoid this, you’ll want to:

  • Break bundles into child SKUs
  • Make sure those child SKUs sync to your inventory, warehouse, and fulfillment systems
  • Track inventory across all bundle types so you can forecast properly

Make sure you’re not limited by Shopify’s variant limits. Some brands using Shopify-native bundling apps like Simple Bundles have surpassed trillions of possible combinations—and still run clean ops. That’s only possible if your tool supports dynamic combinations without treating every variation as a static SKU.

If you’re offering mix-and-match bundles for cosmetics and one product is sold out, you need to be able to reflect that in real time—or risk backorders, delays, and poor CX.

This is especially critical for beauty brands where individual SKUs are often used in multiple bundles or sold on their own. If one child item is low in stock, that needs to reflect across every bundle that includes it.

The Formula for Better Beauty Bundles

The most effective product bundling tips for Shopify merchants go beyond discounts or kits. Beauty shoppers are buying clarity, confidence, and transformation. Your bundles should reflect that.

And if you’re looking for a flexible, Shopify-native tool that can handle both frontend customization and backend operations, Simple Bundles is worth a look. 

It’s built for Shopify brands and designed to scale from starter kits to mix-and-match bundles, all while keeping your inventory clean and your fulfillment teams happy.

You can try it for free here.

FAQs

What is the best bundling app for beauty brands on Shopify?Simple Bundles is one of the most powerful bundling apps for Shopify’s biggest beauty brands, as well as scaling brands too. It allows you to break down bundles into child SKUs, surpass variant limits, and support mix-and-match, subscriptions, and fixed sets.

How can I reduce friction when selling beauty bundles online?Use personalized product quizzes, swatch previews, clear use-case naming, and highlight bundle benefits. Make it easy for customers to choose the right products and see exactly what they're getting.

Do bundles help increase AOV for beauty brands?Yes. Bundles are a proven way to raise average order value, especially when curated around routines or goals (e.g., frizz-free curls or glowing skin). They also reduce decision fatigue and drive larger checkouts.