Cosmetics Checkout Performance Index | PDQ Checkout Benchmarks

Cosmetics

Checkout Benchmarks

Indexed performance data for Cosmetics brands on Shopify: conversion rate, AOV, free shipping behavior, and shipping revenue, tracked against a consistent baseline month over month.

Part of the PDQ Checkout Benchmarks: 130M+ checkout sessions across 500+ Shopify merchants, indexed to June 2024 = 1.0x.

Compare your Cosmetics store

Cosmetics Checkout Performance Index: March 2026

PDQ Checkout Monitor – By Industry

https://checkoutindex.prettydamnquick.com/widget-cosmetics-march2026.html

An index of 1.15x means that metric is 15% above baseline. 0.92x means it's 8% below. We publish relative change rather than absolute numbers because absolute rates vary too much by merchant size and category to be meaningful as cross-merchant benchmarks.

Shopify checkout benchmarks by vertical

Checkout behavior varies by category more than most merchants expect. Select your vertical for a full analysis.

Three signals worth acting on this month

Written for Cosmetics operators. Every observation connects to a decision you can make this week.

  1. Cosmetics AOV has quietly recovered to 1.08x after eighteen months of pressure. The floor is in.
    From mid-2024 through early 2025, Cosmetics AOV told an uncomfortable story. It peaked at 1.20x in September 2024 and then spent the better part of a year contracting, bottoming out at 0.85x in January 2025 before beginning a slow, uneven climb back. February 2026 at 1.08x is the first time the vertical has been meaningfully above baseline since that September peak.

What to do: If you haven't reviewed your post-cart upsell or cross-sell logic in the last six months, now is the moment. AOV recovery in this vertical is driven by attachment, not basket size. A single well-placed "complete the routine" prompt at checkout, tied to what's already in the cart, is worth more than a blanket discount offer.

  1. Coupon usage is the defining characteristic of this vertical, and it hasn't normalized
    No other vertical in this dataset runs coupon usage the way Cosmetics does. The series peaked at 1.51x baseline in December 2024, a reading that stands out even among promotional categories, and while it has pulled back since then, February 2026 still came in at 1.11x. Cosmetics buyers use codes. That's structural.

What to do: Audit what percentage of your orders include a discount code and what the average discount depth is. If more than 30% of orders include a code, you have a structural dependency worth addressing.

  1. Shipping revenue has been falling for over a year, and the free shipping rate recovery tells you why
    Cosmetics shipping revenue peaked in late 2024 and has been declining steadily since, hitting 0.81x baseline in February 2026. At the same time, the free shipping rate has climbed from a low of 0.63x in December 2024 to 0.98x in February, nearly back to baseline.

What to do: Check where your free shipping threshold sits relative to your current AOV. If the threshold is below AOV, lower it carefully and watch whether conversion holds or basket size drops.

Monthly archive: Cosmetics

Every monthly dispatch, indexed and preserved. Use the archive to track how Cosmetics checkout behavior has shifted over time, to validate whether seasonal patterns in your own data match the vertical.

About this dataset

The Cosmetics dataset within the PDQ Checkout Benchmarks draws from aggregated, anonymized session data across cosmetics-categorized merchants on Shopify's platform. Merchants are classified using Shopify's standard industry taxonomy and must meet a minimum session threshold for inclusion. The Cosmetics cohort spans makeup, skincare, fragrance, haircare, and beauty tools categories.

All figures are indexed to June 2024 = 1.0x. Figures exclude bot traffic, draft orders, and point-of-sale transactions. Data refreshes monthly, typically in the first week, reflecting the prior month's activity."