MedPlusBeauty.com Shopping Experience Review

This is a review of the Indian online Shopping Portal MedplusBeauty.com, which is a part of MedPlus, one of India's famous healthcare retail chain.

I started shopping with them in April 2012. There was a Facebook update about a direct contact form. I wrote to them through that form about non-availability of the Chambor Waterproof Eyeliner pencil in Black, which always showed out of stock. They went out of the way and procured me that item and won me over as a permanent customer. This is the first place where I look for any personal care or makeup item I want to buy.

Website: When I started shopping with them, no other online shopping portal was offering as much discounts as them. So it was a supersaver shopping experience but the website was quite primitive and killed some of the thrill. The search results were poor, all items were not properly linked to brands, and some products would have the ‘buy’ button missing.

They have recently revamped the website and 95% of the problems are gone. I still find some important misses but the browsing experience has hugely improved. So a big Thumbs up there!

'Add to wishlist', 'Product Request' and 'Order Tracking' features have recently been added. I can now use the 'Track my Orders' link on the home page and can get my courier tracking code, without having to log in.

Virtual Studio: Medplusbeauty.com was the first to introduce the concept of a Virtual Studio, where you can try out cosmetics on your uploaded photograph, before buying it. They also had a Virtual Makeover Contest this year in May and gave out a Mega Prize worth INR 25K. Now some other websites have also added Virtual Studios. 

Brands Available: They have 400+ brands starting from small soap brands to premium brands like Givenchy, Giovanni, Estee Lauder, Make Up Forever and MANY more.

Product Categories: They sell both professional and premium ranges of skin care, hair care and makeup products. Other categories are: Beauty accessories, Personal Care, Mother & Baby, Nutrition and Healthcare. There are many sub-categories under each. I always use the ‘Browse by Brands’ feature when the search box doesn't help.

Shopping Rewards: Besides great discounts, Medplusbeauty.com rewards your shopping through ‘Valueplus Rewards Programme’. Most of the items have ValuePlus points attached to them. It shows you the total accumulated every time you place an order. Points are updated around a week after placing the order and can be redeemed for certain gifts. 

Discounts: Medplusbeauty.com used to offer up to 50% discount on selective products and a minimum of 15% discount almost every item. After revamping the website recently, the prices on many products have gone really high. While they still offer the 15% discount on many products, most of the other products have become at par with other online shopping portals.

They also give out huge discounts from 10% to 60% on selected high-end brands during their clearance sale a few times a year. People shop like crazy and most products go out of stock within minutes. Just subscribe to their newsletter and you will receive the coupons in your email.

Update on Jan 10, 2012: You can now view the discount coupon under 'Hot Offers'. They have added 'Free Samples'. You can choose one free sample for every INR 500 you spend and they are improving on the samples every few days. For other great offers check 'Hot Offers'.

Customer Service: Customer service has always been polite and helpful. All my emails are mostly answered within a day and sometimes through a callback. Once, one of the products I had ordered was near expiry date and they called me to offer a coupon for the same amount for next shopping. I preferred a refund and they immediately issued it. I even check with them on mfg and expiry dates before buying and they always let me know.

Shipping: Shipping is free on orders of INR 400 (earlier it was INR 350) and above. COD is available in limited cities and I prepay for my orders. Prepaid orders are sent through premium courier service like Bluedart etc.

UPDATE (Jul 26, 2013): Shipping Policy has changed. Here's is the new shipping policy for medplusbeauty.com:
For customers in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi/ NCR and Mumbai: Free shipping on Prepaid orders above Rs 600. For COD orders, Rs 50 handling charges, irrespective of the bill amount.


All other cities: Shipping charge is based on products' weight. Rs 50 for first 500 gms of products' weight. PLUS Rs 30 for every additional 500 gms

They have a 15 days return policy. Read the ‘Returns and Cancellations’ Policy HERE.

Packing: Packing is foolproof. Similar sized items are clubbed together and bubble-wrapped into one bundle. Liquids are properly sealed to avoid spillage. The bubble-wrapped bundles are cushioned with a lot of thermocol pieces from all sides. So far, I have received all orders intact, touchwood!

Newsletters: I have subscribed to their newsletters. They don’t spam customers. I receive an e-mail only on order confirmation, when there is an offer on certain products or when they generate coupons on special occasions.

Blog: They also came up with their own beauty blog this year.

Some Minuses: 

They don’t have a toll free number. 

They take quite long to restock out of stock items. Sometimes it is also because a product has been discontinued.

So far all of my big orders go to medplusbeauty.com. I hope they keep up the service and shopping standard and not slip down the graph over time, like some other online shopping portals. But I am really unhappy about the change in their shipping policy from Jun 2013 (updated above).