SunSkincare Interview

Elevate your knowledge of e-commerce success with an insider’s look into SunSkincare. Join us as we uncover the strategies and insights that have paved the way for SunSkincare to stand out in the dynamic landscape of online entrepreneurship. 

1. Can you introduce yourself and SunSkincare?

Hi, my name is Amonrat Saekang. I’m a skincare enthusiast with a passion for skincare and sunscreen. I’m the founder of SunSkincare.

SunSkincare is an e-commerce start-up based in Toronto, Canada. We offer the very best quality Korean and Japanese sunscreen and skincare products at affordable prices. We carry world- renowned brands like MISSHA, COSRX, Dear Klairs, LANEIGE, Innisfree, Dr.Jart+, ETUDE HOUSE, and not so world- renowned brands but have great quality products and are extremely popular in Japan like CANMAKE and ISEHAN. All our products are 100% authentic, imported from Korea and Japan. They’re in stock in Toronto, available to be shipped immediately. Free shipping is also available!

2. How was SunSkincare born? How did you start?

It started from my own skin problem. I have eczema and rosacea, so my skin is quite sensitive, especially to heat and sunlight. In the last three years, these symptoms got worse. Even though I wore sunscreen every day, I couldn’t sit near windows without a burning feeling on my face. So I decided to do more research to find possible solutions and tried different products and methods.

By doing these things, I learned that all sunscreens are not equal in terms of quality and effectiveness. The ones that I normally used in the past are sunscreens that can be easily found in Canada and the U.S. Most of them contain old school UV filters (e.g. homosalate, oxybenzone, octocrylene, and avobenzone) which can cause skin irritation and some are not photostable. One hour of sunlight exposure reduces avobenzone absorbance by 36%. Avobenzone degrades even faster when exposed to light in combination with physical sunscreens like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. It can lose up to 50-90% of its efficacy in the first hour of sun exposure.

So I dug deeper, including consulting dermatologists, in order to find better alternatives. Then I decided to go for Asian sunscreens. They use the new generation UV filters (which are highly photostable and less irritating), and contain lots of skin nourishing, soothing ingredients. However, most of them contain a high percentage of alcohol and fragrance, and I know that would be a problem for me.

Fortunately, at last I found CANMAKE Mermaid Skin Gel UV and ISEHAN Kiss Me Mommy UV Aqua Milk. They are both alcohol-free, fragrance-free, and essential oil-free! I ordered them from Japan and waited for 1.5-2 months (or 3 months during this pandemic) to be delivered. Since then, the burning feeling on my face was substantially decreased!

So I started to think that there must be many people out there that have the same kind of problems as me. I would like to make these products more accessible to them without having to wait for 2-3 months to be delivered or having to pay very expensive express shipping costs. And this is how SunSkincare was born! We started to bring CANMAKE and ISEHAN sunscreens, and other world-trusted brands from Korea and Japan to Canadians at affordable prices. (We are planning to ship worldwide soon). A few months later, after getting feedback from customers, we stated to bring other award-winning skincare products to our shop as well.

3. What makes SunSkincare different? Can you explain your products with details?

Unlike most cosmetic shops in Canada, SunSkincare offers not only Korean beauty, but also Japanese skincare products. The Japanese sunscreens in our shop are not available elsewhere in Canada. Even though some shops in the U.S. do offer the same products, their prices and shipping costs are much higher, and it takes longer to be delivered, especially during this pandemic.

At SunSkincare, we’ve tried to make our products accessible and affordable. We subsidize our customers’ shipping costs by offering different shipping rates depending on the size of the order. The more products you buy, the lower the shipping fees or you could get free shipping! For example, in Ontario and Quebec, we charge a $11.50 shipping fee on any order less than $35, or a $6 shipping fee on an order of $35-68, or free expedited shipping on any order $68+. Most of our products have a shelf life of 3 years (expiry dates are provided on the product detail page). So customers can stock up to save some shipping costs or to be eligible for free shipping 🙂

Additionally, SunSkincare’s main focus is quality and customer satisfaction. We bring products that everyone can use, even someone who has sensitive skin. We try our best to select products that contain non-irritating ingredients but are still effective to include in our shop. We believe that beauty starts with healthy skin first and we do not sell any product that we haven’t tried it ourselves!

5. What are the advantages of SunSkincare?

We have a fast shipping policy. All orders will be sent to Canada Post or courier within 24 hours, even on weekends and during holiday seasons (as long as the Post Offices is open). We try to do our best on our end to make sure that our customers receive their products as soon as possible.

At Sunskincare, we also offer products that are suitable for extremely sensitive skin or reactive skin, such as products that are alcohol, fragrance and essential-oil free, and of course we’ve already tested them on ourselves.

Our products are always fresh as we don’t keep large inventories. We often restock instead of ordering a huge amount of products to reduce the costs. We pay a little bit higher to suppliers but we can be certain that we have fresh products for our customers!