Clarkston’s Beauty Industry Expert Shares Retail Insights for Rhode with Beauty Independent
April 10, 2024 | Clarkston partner and beauty industry expert Sarah Broyd spoke to Beauty Indepedent about the expected retail transition of Rhode. See Sarah’s featured quotes from the article below, and read the full article here.
What Retailer Should Rhode Choose?
Hailey Bieber is playing perfectly into consumer trends with Rhode. She is capitalizing on ‘minimal beauty,’ a trend that she helped drive with her own look. In addition to the minimalist look, her minimalist packaging aligns with the overall feel of the brand. Further building on that minimalism, she carefully crafts her ingredients and creates transparency with the products on her website.
Her brand’s price points and target audience suggest that the brand will do better at a higher price point in retail. From a brick-and-mortar perspective, Sephora will align better from a shopper and brand positioning standpoint than Ulta, which tends to carry a wider product variety and lower price point.
Bieber has driven interest and excitement through social media about her brand, and the anticipation of a broader launch is growing. But, should she go into retail right away? Maybe not. Her platform and her ability to influence is substantial. Her self-image and brand carry enough weight to continue to drive consumers to a website and sell direct to consumer in the short term.
Fully launching into retail, with high anticipation, but without clear supply and demand signals, brings a lot of risk. If out of stocks occur early, younger in-store shoppers may grow impatient and buy another brand while in store.
I’d personally use Bieber’s website as a test ground to launch her portfolio of products to see which ones are most popular and to stabilize supply and demand. She has an opportunity to continue to drive engagement on her website and then promote a second launch once the company is more mature and stable enough to go into retail. In addition to building strong relationships with her consumers, she will build better relationships with retailers when getting on (and staying on) the shelf.