In March 2026, Hanahana Beauty pulled its products from 500 Ulta Beauty stores and told customers to buy from it directly. The brand gave up its offline retail presence to sell online only. That decision made us want to look at the other side of it, the shoppers, and how they choose between premium beauty products and cheaper dupes. It is the question behind any beauty dupe strategy.
Founder Abena Boamah-Acheampong told Beauty Independent that entering retail takes at least $1 million in working capital, and much more to keep a meaningful presence. Money spent on slotting fees, field representatives and minimum orders is money not spent on giving shoppers a reason to pay more. She also pointed to what retail hides. In stores, she said, “you see the numbers, but you don’t know who they are.”
What We Wanted to Find Out About Dupe Buyers
Beauty brands tend to treat dupe buyers and premium buyers as two separate groups. On that view, people who buy dupes have left for good and premium customers are safe. We wanted to know whether dupe buyers have really left, or whether they are a brand’s own customers testing whether its price is worth paying.
In April 2026 we surveyed 576 US adults about how they buy beauty and skincare, what frustrates them about established brands, and when they choose a cheaper alternative. The questionnaire also covered 15 brands, from long-established names to newer brands built on ingredient transparency. Across everyone surveyed, 47% say they have already replaced at least one premium product with a cheaper alternative they found online or on social media.
Who Buys Beauty Dupes
From here on, “active buyers” means the 432 people, 75% of those we surveyed, who say they buy beauty or skincare products. Among active buyers, 61% say they have replaced a premium product with a cheaper alternative. Among the 144 people who don’t buy in the category, the figure is 5%. Switching to dupes is something the category’s own customers do, and people outside it have almost never done it.
Income splits the picture in two. Across all 576 people, 56% of those earning under $75,000 a year say they are spending less on beauty overall. For them, buying less beauty is a question of budget.
Better-off shoppers behave differently. Among those earning $75,000 or more, 10% say they are cutting their beauty spend, yet 54% say they have replaced a premium product with a cheaper one. They still spend on beauty, and more than half of them have moved at least one product to a cheaper alternative. Budget pressure does not explain their switching.
Why Shoppers Switch From Premium Beauty to Dupes
The main complaint is price against quality. 55% of the people we surveyed name a mismatch between the two as their main frustration with established beauty brands. The answer comes up across income levels, age groups and how often people buy, so it is shared across the market rather than held by one group.
To see what keeps people on a premium product, we gave them a concrete case. A $12 drugstore moisturizer shares 80% of its active ingredients with a $65 prestige moisturizer. 50% say they would switch to the $12 product immediately. 10% say they would keep buying the $65 one for its brand experience and packaging.
Brand experience and packaging are what a prestige price pays for beyond the formula. In this scenario, they keep one person in ten on the premium product. For the other shoppers, the decision comes down to what is inside the jar and what it costs.
Is Dupe Buying a Gen Z Trend
Dupe buying is often described as a Gen Z habit. In our survey, younger people switch a little more often. 51% of 18 to 34-year-olds say they have replaced a premium product with a cheaper one, against 42% of people aged 55 and over. Both groups name price and value as the main factor in what they buy.
A nine-point gap between the youngest and oldest groups describes a habit found at every age, somewhat stronger among younger shoppers. Older buyers are switching almost as often, for the same reasons.
Research focused on Gen Z adds a point about quality. A First Insight study published in March 2026 surveyed 2,151 consumers. 59% of Gen Z said they cut back on household staples such as food, drinks and everyday essentials to spend more on health, wellness and beauty. Skincare and beauty was the second most common place that money went, and 22% of Gen Z said they would pay a premium in the category.
The same study found that quality, cited by 33%, was the top reason Gen Z gave for choosing a beauty or skincare product. In food and drinks, price came first. These shoppers are willing to pay for beauty, and a cheaper alternative gives them a way to check whether the quality matches the price.
Where Beauty Shoppers Look Before Buying
Shoppers judge quality largely through each other. A March 2026 study by Walr for We Are Talker surveyed 2,000 US Gen Z consumers. Customer reviews came first among the sources they trust when deciding whether to engage with a brand, cited by 72%. Influencer content ranked seventh at 55%, behind independent research, expert opinion, news coverage, brand advertising and brand social media.
A de-influencing trend has also grown on TikTok. Creators share lists of products that failed to live up to their claims and tell followers not to buy them. Beauty products sold on words like “transformative”, “clinical-grade” or “luxury” are a frequent target.
Dupes and de-influencing question different things. Dupes question the price of a premium product, while de-influencing questions the claims made for it. Both run on shoppers comparing notes with each other.
What the Data Means for a Beauty Dupe Strategy
Three checks follow from the figures for anyone working on a beauty dupe strategy.
Check whether your formula claim can be stated in ingredients. When the choice came down to shared active ingredients, 50% of the people we surveyed said they would move to the $12 product. 10% would stay with the $65 one. A premium that rests on brand experience alone keeps a small share of buyers.
Check who is switching away from your products. Among people earning $75,000 or more, 54% have swapped a premium product for a cheaper one, while 10% are cutting their beauty spend. For these buyers, switching is a question of value for money. Knowing who these customers are is the point Hanahana’s founder said retail made hard.
Check whether switching is really concentrated among your younger buyers. 51% of 18 to 34-year-olds and 42% of people aged 55 and over say they have made the swap. Reading dupe buying as a Gen Z issue leaves out older shoppers who switch almost as often.
What the Study Doesn’t Tell Us
The figures describe what people told us, not purchases we observed. The $12 and $65 moisturizers are a scenario, so the 50% who say they would switch describe an intention rather than a sale. The survey covers US adults in April 2026, and the Gen Z figures on quality and trust come from other studies with their own methods.
Going Further
The full report is free to access and covers every question. It includes breakdowns by age, income and buyer status, five consumer personas, and brand-level scores for the brands we tested. These figures describe the category. For a specific brand’s beauty dupe strategy, that’s what Brand Health and Brand Tracking measure.
Methodology: 576 US adults, nationally representative, surveyed by Standard Insights in April 2026. Active buyers (Q5 A+B): N = 432 (75.0%). Non-buyers (Q5 C): N = 144 (25.0%). The questionnaire also covered 15 beauty brands; brand-level results are in the full report.
