Evolving indie retail: brands face less than 1% chance to list.
We’re not being pessimistic — brands had less than a 1% chance of being listed at Detox Market in 2024. Of course, we understand as well as the next brand builder just how tough it is win a new listing, especially in the discerning and saturated world of clean beauty and indie retail.
In their 2024 annual round up on Instagram, Detox Market shared that 783 brands submitted for consideration to their buying team, with just 6 listed. Of these, one was a returning brand, May Lindstrom. After vacating retail to focus on DTC in the pandemic, that team made the choice to return to an in-store presence (understandably, as omnichannel selling is literally everything). Of the five other listed brands, one brand was a departure from Detox Market core categories of facial / body / hair care and wellness, with Canadian-led home care brand Guests on Earth added.
What can this indie retail ‘micro case study’ teach us HABA brand builders, as we kick off 2025, and seek success and scale in a time of (continued, gah!) uncertainty? Here are three lessons for us all:
Diversification of channels, consumers and ultimately, revenue.
True or false: an indie-only sales approach with laser targeted conscious consumer positioning is a viable sales strategy in this the year of the lord 2025? If you answered “False” contact us for a prize. As brands who existed before 2020 already understand, the pressures pushing indie retail into post-pandemic precarity have not fully let up. Nearly five years later, announcements of indie retail closures sadly continue to be announced on social. Brands can support local retail and indie boutiques with sound wholesale terms and experienced sales teams, and by growing brands into additional channels of trade (a rising tide lifts all boats). Increased visibility in multiple channels raises brand recognition, too. Whether it’s premium natural health, drug, department stores or creative activations, exploring outside indie, will help you in it.
Seek the less saturated sales corners, and spotlight (truly unique) USPs.
Find consumer alignment with proven demographics data to position into new, unconventional opportunities, such as active lifestyles, fitness or sustainability. This can bring your brand to a whole new set of consumers who might not have discovered you otherwise (like Detox taking on Guests on Earth, expanding their assortment and exposing their customers to home care). This can look like ‘premium with premium’ (across a host of categories). But, be sure to stay mindful of the cautionary tales of being the first, or the only, in any assortment. Orphan SKUs (as Ange loves to call them) struggle to survive over the long term in an ocean of categories where they don’t conventionally belong, left swimming against the category currents. Strong sales support, sustained storytelling and substantial promotional investment can safeguard against sinking in that sea.
Approach the mass market, even in a micro format.
Emerging brands scaling into the mass market face headwinds including production capacities, challenging vendor requirements, logistics headaches and eye-watering promo plans. But, the chance to connect with audiences of millions is unmatched. Listing with big banner retailers in scalable (profitable) formats allows you to start engaging their sizable customer bases, without overextending brand resources, or compromising loyal indie retailers. That could be listing into the ecommerce marketplaces we all know by name, curation in a time-limited pop-up, a temporary retail installation in a high foot traffic shopping center, a pilot launch in a limited number of total doors at a retailer or an exclusive SKU set / promotional kit to drive consumer discovery. There are a number of ways to peek in the door without galloping all the way through it, helping your team prepare to expand, and succeed wildly when you finally do. There’s opportunities for the mass market to be micro. Take them.
Indie retail truly set the standard for clean beauty, ethical production and sustainability in packaging and sourcing more than a decade ago. Now, those criteria are table stakes for most HABA assortments in many channels of trade, from big beauty doors, drug to grocery, lifestyle and luxury. Positioning your brand for success as an impactful player no longer requires you to stay solely focused in the original indie beauty doors, and that’s a good thing. As we continue to honour indie retail, we also set our sights and targets on a diverse set of wholesale doors and inclusive opportunities to find our best customers in 2025.
