Beauty and cosmetics: replenishment, shades, ingredients and what an agent can match Free & Pro

Beauty is a replenishment business. The customer knows the product and the shade and wants the same again, or wants the next size up, or wants to know whether a product has an ingredient they avoid. A personal agent is good at all three if the catalogue gives it words to work with. This page is for beauty and skincare stores on WooCommerce running Agent Adapt, with facts from the plugin as it ships on 13 October 2026.

What customers will ask their assistant

• "Reorder my foundation, same shade."
• "Find a fragrance-free moisturiser for dry skin under £30."
• "Is the serum I bought last time safe to return? I opened it."
• "Has my order shipped?"

Shades and sizes

Shades are variations, and variations are matched by their attribute values. A variation named "Shade: 220 Warm Beige" can be matched to "the warm beige one" and reported back to the customer in words they recognise. A variation named "220" cannot. The same goes for sizes: "Size: 50 ml" rather than "50". Stock is read per variation, so a shade that is out of stock is reported as such and is not added to the cart.

A reorder puts the previous order’s exact variation back in the cart. A customer who wants the same product in a different shade needs the agent to find the product and pick the variation, which works when the shade names are clear.

Ingredients and claims

Agents read the product description (up to 5,000 characters) and the short description (500). An ingredient list in the description text is readable; one in an image or a plugin’s separate tab is not. Customers who avoid specific ingredients will ask their assistant, and the assistant answers from what you wrote. Be exact about claims. "Fragrance-free" and "unscented" are different things; an assistant will quote whichever you wrote.

Hygiene and returns

Beauty stores commonly refuse returns of opened products. Your returns page is sent to agents as plain text and quoted; say plainly what you accept, what you refuse, and what you do about damaged or faulty items. With Pro, an agent can send a return request on a completed order within your return window; it adds a note and emails you, refunds nothing, and you decide as you would with any return.

Samples, gifts with purchase, bundles

Free samples added by a plugin at checkout still get added, because the customer completes the order on your checkout. Bundles built with a bundle plugin are untested through the agent API; a simple bundle sold as one product with a fixed price works like any product.

What to set up

1. Shade and size names a person would say, consistent across the catalogue.
2. SKUs on every shade and size.
3. Ingredients, skin type and key claims in the description text.
4. Stock managed per variation.
5. A returns page with your opened-product rule and your faulty-item process.
6. Hidden products for anything you sell only on request (professional lines, for example); hidden products are never served to agents.

Common questions

Can the agent match a shade from another brand?

It can only read your names and descriptions. If your description says "equivalent to a light-medium with neutral undertone", it has that to work with.

Will it see my reviews?

It can sort search results by rating or popularity, but review text is not part of the API.

Can it apply my loyalty points?

Points plugins work at checkout, where the customer pays. Coupon codes the customer has can be applied by the agent; your usage rules apply.

Does it see the product photos?

It receives the first image’s URL and can show it to the customer. It does not read swatches; name the shade.