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How Sol de Janeiro became the top selling brand at Sephora without selling makeup
The maker of Bum Bum Cream is on the way to $1 Billion in sales
The top selling brand at Sephora sells no makeup (yet). It’s not a perfume or skincare brand. At least in the traditional sense. Which might explain the success of 10 year old Sol de Janeiro, which recently rocketed past Glossier and Selena Gomez’ Rare Beauty to become Sephora’s top selling brand.
Founded by cosmetics veteran Heela Yang, Sol sells a line of coconut-pistachio scented body care, haircare, sunscreen, and fragrance mists.
How did Sol de Janeiro become so popular? And what can other beauty brands take away?
Beauty is a tough category to enter. It’s hyper-competitive and requires smart execution across product, packaging, retail and marketing to deliver something that is both relevant to today’s consumers and distinctive from every other product already on the market. On the other hand — beauty is incredibly profitable at scale. High margins allow for high marketing spend which, done right…
