Mix and Match Bundles: The #1 Growth Lever for Beauty Brands (Backed by Data)

Beauty Products Run Out: That's the Opportunity

Here's something every beauty brand already knows but rarely turns into a strategy: the product runs out. A moisturiser lasts four to six weeks. Deodorant, about a month. Shampoo, even less. Unlike a jacket or a blender, beauty products come back into the cart, on their own, on a schedule, without you having to convince anyone of anything.

Most brands still treat every purchase as a one-off. The brands pulling ahead have figured out how to turn that single transaction into something bigger, a routine, a habit, a recurring order. And they're doing it with one specific bundle format.

The Most Popular Bundle Type in Beauty: Mix and Match

We looked at bundle data across a group of active beauty and cosmetics brands on FoxSell, haircare, skincare, natural deodorants, cosmetics, and one format pulled way ahead of the rest.

Mix and Match add-ons account for roughly 94% of all bundle units sold across the brands we analysed. It wasn't close. 

Bundle Type	% of Total Units Sold
Mix and Match add-ons Bundle	~94%
Fixed Bundle	~5%
Volume Bundle	~1%

In one week alone, June 10 to 16, 2026, these brands sold over 2,100 bundle units using Mix and Match. Back in November 2025, their peak month, that number hit nearly 20,000 units across the same group.

Why does this one format dominate? Because of what beauty customers actually want.

Why Mix & Match Works So Well Here

Put yourself in the customer's shoes. They already know what they like. A specific scent. A moisturiser that actually works for their skin. They don't want someone else's pre-built kit, they want to build their own.

Mix and Match gives them exactly that: pick the products, pick the quantities, build the combination that fits. The brand gets a higher order value without anything feeling like an upsell. It just feels like the store gets them.

A few reasons this works especially well in beauty:

• It's personal. Skin type, hair type, scent preference, sensitivity, these vary a lot from person to person, more than most product categories.
• Refill behaviour is real. Customers don't buy a Mix and Match bundle once and disappear. They come back to refill specific items, which builds a repeat-purchase loop on its own.
• Less decision fatigue. A curated set of options is easier to choose from than an entire catalogue, and that ease translates into more confident purchases.

What the Numbers Show

Here's bundle performance across the beauty merchant group over three different stretches, two from Q4 2025 peak season, one from Q2 2025.

Time Period	Total Bundle Units Sold	Avg. AOV
May 2025 (Q2)	~8,000	~€62–70
November 2025 (Q4 - BFCM)	~20,000	~€66–70
December 2025 (Q4 - Holiday)	~9,200	~€60–70
Week of Jun 10–16, 2026	~2,100	~€53–70

Average order value stayed in the €55–70 range no matter the season. That's the real signal here, Mix and Match isn't just a volume play. It holds its value per order even outside of peak promotional windows.

Q2 Isn't a Slow Season: The Data Backs This Up

The common assumption in beauty: Q1 and Q2 are slow, save the big push for Black Friday and the holidays. The numbers don't back that up.

May 2025 generated around 8,000 bundle units. December 2025, a full holiday gifting month, came in at roughly 9,200. That's nearly the same output, from a month that's supposedly "off-season."

Here's why: beauty doesn't run on a gifting calendar, it runs on a usage calendar. Spring hits, and customers are refreshing routines, lighter moisturisers, SPF, a deodorant switch as it warms up. Mix and Match is built for exactly that kind of routine reset.

If your bundling strategy only switches on for Black Friday, you're leaving most of the year on the table.

Real Brands Using This Strategy

A few brands in our merchant group show how this plays out differently depending on strategy. Exact revenue stays confidential, but the trends are real.

1. Unbottled: 

Unbottled, a clean beauty brand, ran November 2025 bundle volume at more than 2.6x their May 2025 volume almost entirely on Mix and Match. Their AOV stayed above €70 across both periods, which says customers weren't just buying more, they were building better combinations.

2. Jerome Alexander: 

Jerome Alexander runs all three bundle types. In November 2025, Mix and Match made up about 37% of their bundle units, while Fixed bundles brought in roughly 44%. AOV stayed consistent across both formats (around $55), Fixed bundles carry their gift-set positioning, Mix and Match carries their everyday routine buyers.

3. Nubiance:

Nubiance, a premium skincare brand, runs primarily on Fixed bundles, with AOV above €89, notably higher than the Mix and Match brands. Makes sense: Fixed bundles feel curated and premium, which fits a brand with a strong point of view. Their November 2025 volume ran more than 2.5x their December volume, a clear BFCM spike. For Nubiance, Fixed bundles are the gifting-season engine.

The pattern across all three: format follows strategy. Mix and Match wins on volume and consistency. Fixed bundles win on premium positioning and gifting moments.

Fixed Bundles Still Matter

Worth saying clearly: Fixed bundles, where the brand picks the combination, have a real job to do, just like how Nubiance has aced.

They're strong for gifting, where customers want the decision made for them. They lower the barrier for new customers with a curated "starter kit." And they communicate expertise: we know these three products work together, trust us.

The brands getting the most out of bundling usually run both, Mix and Match for volume and repeat purchases, Fixed bundles anchoring the premium end and carrying gift season.

How to Set Up a Mix & Match Bundle (It's Faster Than You'd Think)

Giving customers the power to build their own bundle isn't just a better shopping experience, it's a proven way to lift average order value. On FoxSell, getting one live takes a few minutes. Here's exactly how:

Step 1: Set Up a New Bundle Product Template in Your Theme

• Head to your theme's Customize panel and go to Products
• Create a new product template, something like "Build Your Own Bundle"
• Hide any sections you don't need, keep the page clean
• Click Add Section → Apps → Mix and Match Add Ons, then Save

Step 2: Build Your Bundle Inside the App

• Give your bundle a compelling title under Bundle Information
• Decide whether to enable quantity as an option, based on how you want customers to shop
• Pick a pricing model, Fixed Price (set bundle price) or Dynamic Price (calculated from individual product prices)
• Click Add Category, select your products, and optionally add Add-Ons or Free Gifts to sweeten the deal

Step 3: Go Live on Your Store

• Click View Bundle in Shopify Admin → Manage
• Select Online Store, assign your new bundle template, and set status to Active
• Hit Save, preview your bundle, done

Three steps, one fully functional Mix and Match bundle on your storefront. Check out our full step-by-step guide for the details.

Conclusion

If you're a beauty or cosmetics brand not using Mix and Match yet, there's a growth lever sitting untouched, and not just in November.

The data is consistent: Mix and Match drives the highest bundle volume, holds up in Q4 when gifting demand peaks, and holds up just as well in Q2 when routine purchasing takx`es over. AOV stays healthy across seasons. And the brands using it well aren't just chasing one big sales month, they're building a replenishment habit that keeps customers coming back.

Beauty products run out. Make sure your store has a bundle ready when they do.