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It is not just the flashy startups that have discovered they need stores to sell their products: Many old-time mainstay brands have learned the same lesson when it comes to selling everyday household items.
Companies offering every type of ware have tried selling online through subscription services. That is what European giant Unilever thought it would be doing when it paid $1 billion to acquire Dollar Shave Club. The acquisition has yet to make money for Unilever, however. But just like the Allbirds, the Caspers and the Warby Parkers before them, these companies have found that even with mundane household items, consumers prefer to buy in a store, according to The Wall Street Journal. Such large retailers as Walmart and Target give these brands the critical profile they are not getting online.
“We gave up on the direct-to-consumer angle to work with retailers,” said Yanghee Paik, co-founder of Rael, which sells organic feminine-care products. “We’re already asking people to convert from conventional products made by the P&Gs [Procter & Gamble] of the world. To also buy online is asking for a lot of change.”
Today Rael is sold at Target, where it shares shelf space with other formerly online-only items, such as Harry’s razors, Native deodorant and Cora feminine-care products, notes the Journal.
By Edmund Mander
Director, Editor-In-Chief/SCT