The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The beauty company, which teams up with brands to help them enter new markets or platforms, is announcing five new brand partners: skin care label Herbivore, body care brand Necessaire, cologne company Malbec, skin care brand Mario Badescu and cosmetics label Physicians Formula.
Julian Reis, SuperOrdinary’s founder and chief executive, said that the company landed on this latest round of partners by considering product efficacy, as well as brand heritage. He pointed to Mario Badescu’s price point, and Herbivore’s already-existing fan base in Asia, particularly in Singapore, as reasons for behind the team-up, which will see both brands enter the Chinese market. Physicians Formula and Necessaire will also enter China, while Malbec and Herbivore will debut on Amazon.
SuperOrdinary, which already counts labels including Drunk Elephant, Joanna Vargas, Biossance, Dr. Brandt and SuperGoop among its over 30 brand partners, aims to “brings brands to where the consumers are spending most of their time,” and to be a more modern version of a beauty conglomerate, said Julian Reis, SuperOrdinary’s founder and chief executive.
“We see ourselves as really the accelerator of brands globally, bringing them into markets that they would never normally have gone through and creating demand,” said Reis.
ADVERTISEMENT
Most often, it’s bringing brands to Amazon and China, where SuperOrdinary teams up with brands, buys products en masse at wholesale and then is able to bring the brands to be sold on the e-commerce behemoth or enter the daunting, regulation-filled Chinese market. The aim is that the partnerships are longterm, and that after being introduced to these new markets, demand will grow, and SuperOrdinary can continue to facilitate its operations in the respective platform or region.
It’s different strategy than the classic approach seen by legacy players such as LVMH, Estée Lauder Companies and L’Oréal, which typically acquire brands outright, rather than entering into what is essentially a wholesale agreement. But Reis argues that they’re no less committed to the financial success of a brand than an owner would be.
“We are making purchase orders and helping grow a brand,” said Reis. “We put our money where our mouth is and really commit to building a brand.”
The company, founded in 2018, is eyeing major growth over the next several years, and plans to double down on growing its US presence and its ongoing M&A strategy in the coming months.
Learn more:
SuperOrdinary Plots US Expansion and New M&A Strategy
The company is also partnering with Amazon to help direct-to-consumer brands master selling on the platform.
The US mega-chain is continuing to build out its assortment of prestige beauty brands and services.
With advice from Kris Jenner, the artist debuts his new makeup line, Ortega.
While brand names and celebrities get the public to buy scents, it’s leading behind-the-scenes noses who fuel innovation and set key trends.
In June, BoF will honour the entrepreneurs shaping the future of the beauty industry at The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2024. Apply for your chance to join us.