Ouai Haircare, the emblem founded by way of movie star hairstylist Jen Atkin, has launched a devoted frame-care product as it seeks to broaden its scope.
The new product, known as the After Sun Body Soother, is a pores and skin-cooling foam intended to be used after sun exposure. It launches in all 410 Sephora doorways on May 10, after debuting on-line at Sephora.Com and the logo’s e-trade web page, TheOuai.Com, final week. Also ultimate week, it became stocked in Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters and Selfridges in the U.K.
The standalone body product follows the releases of Ouai’s twin hair-and-body merchandise: Rose Hair & Body oil in May 2017 and Scalp & Body Scrub in August 2018. Those merchandise are actually a number of the top-five bestsellers for the emblem, consistent with Laura Bernthol, Ouai Haircare CMO. Following the release of the After Sun Body Soother, Ouai will debut a fragrance within the 1/3 zone and will release products in additional categories in the fall, stated Bernthol, though she declined to show the kinds. In 2018, Ouai brought in an envisioned $23 million in sales, in line with WWD.
“Skin care has come to be more popular,” said Bernthol. “It’s not simply your face; it’s also scalp and frame. A lot of innovation in hair care stems from skin care, and [that’s why] we are extending into frame now.”
It is an opportunistic time to release into body care. According to marketplace research company NPD Group, body care made up just five% of the larger $5.6 billion prestige skin care income in 2017, signifying lots of white space for growth.
Other hair-care brands also are broadening their scope: Briogeo kicked off 2019 through announcing it turned into getting into health, and R+Co began experimenting with make-up and perfume in February. Stretching one’s limits past hair has also tested savvy for acquisition purposes. In June 2016, top rate hair-care logo Oribe moved into six new categories without delay, inclusive of pores and skin care and frame care, and turned into then acquired by means of Kao USA Inc. A 12 months later.
“[With] new brands, there aren’t regulations on how to make correct products. You earn your network’s trust and grow with them,” said Jen Atkin, Ouai Haircare’s founder. “More and extra way of life brands becomes the norm. We are sincerely excited to experiment with new categories at the same time as staying genuine to our network’s wishes.”
Ouai determined to create the after-sun product after learning that its dual-motive products were primarily getting used at the frame, said Bernthol. In 2018, the emblem used Instagram (wherein it has 840,000 fans) to post polls and ask questions in its photograph captions around what clients are searching out in product categories and what the enjoy need to sense like. The After Sun Body Soother has been designed to now not simplest be “Instagram-pleasant,” Bernthol said, however also to be extra amusing than a lotion — it’s allotted as a foam.
To launch the product, the logo is depending on three hundred unpaid influencers together with Sivan Ayla (@sivanayla, 249,000 fans) and Elle Ferguson (@elle_ferguson, 656,000 fans). The influencer mailer consists of the product, as well as a sheet of stickers and a reusable tote. Jen Atkin, who has 2.Nine million followers, has also posted at least 4 instances about the product for the reason that release, and Ouai has posted approximately it almost each day. Bernthol said the emblem’s Instagram feed will most often function nonetheless shots and highlight substances and blessings of merchandise, and movies of influencers using the goods. Instagram Stories, in the meantime, could be more “experiential,” showing off the packaging or the cooling sensation of the After Sun Body Soother.
“Consumers sense accept as true with with positive brands. Our customers had been involved and curious for brand new merchandise,” she stated. “Hair care is our expertise that will constantly be a vast quantity of enterprise, but developing into new categories, like body, is a superb suit as nicely.”
