Column: Summer Fridays: The business and economics of bottling a feeling
Lip Butter Balms
By buying Summer Fridays, you are not just purchasing a product but instead purchasing a way of life and a feeling. Since their founding in 2018, influencers Marianna Hewitt and Lauren Ireland have completely transformed the beauty space. By indulging in their products, you are becoming the kind of person who has the time (and money) to treat yourself.
In an economy where people are increasingly spending on self-care and moving towards a culture of consumerism but also actively seeking validation in their purchases, this is a formula for success. The brand dabbles in multiple products including Jet Lag Masks, Retinol Serums and their Lip Butter Balms. Each available in alluring shades and flavors, su ch as Poppy – a subtle rosy pink or Vanilla Beige – a peachy nude. Whether you are looking for an outlandish look or just a nourishing balm, these creams and tubes are a blend of care and glamour.
This business despite its chic image is an interesting business case study in strategic economics. It has perfectly curated a market user base and taken advantage of a shift in consumer behavior to maintain consistent and ever-growing revenue. When the Lip Butter Balm first launched, it sold out almost immediately. This was not driven by a lack of supply, but because of demand that had been engineered through influencer marketing and controlled product drops. In beauty, scarcity creates desirability for consumers. It's the same playbook Supreme uses with its limited releases, just repackaged in shiny tubes.
Additionally, the brand has a strong hold over consumer psychology through its product pricing strategy. They have a premium price point however it's still reachable for younger consumers which is the principle of affordable luxury. This might come off as a synonym however this price-point provides consumers the mental validation that they are purchasing a quality product and for that they are willing to pay a little more. This elevates the importance of Summer Fridays and aligns perfectly with the shift towards self-care as a lifestyle investment. This is backed by economic trends showing that wellness, including beauty, is a trillion-dollar industry that's rapidly expanding. Summer Fridays also excels in its strategic growth and scalability. The brand has a direct-to-consumer model combined with retail partnerships. The utilization of both is unlikely for modern day brands, for example Rhode utilizes only the direct-to-consumer model. This gives Summer Fridays an advantage through the development of a diverse network for scalability.
The brand's presence in Sephora increased opportunities for them through opening doors to high-end markets and a large and diverse consumer base. Sephora is a stamp of approval in the beauty world and Summer Fridays has benefited from them immensely. Moreover, the company tends to do limited-edition product drops, through which they can forecast customer demand, adjust supply and reduce overproduction costs. This strategy builds exclusivity and anticipation which is combined with excitement generated by influences on social media.
In essence, by controlling product availability, Summer Fridays inflates desirability, which drives the urgency to purchase products as soon as possible. This is a clever move to boost short-term sales while also creating long-term brand loyalty (always eagerly awaiting the next drop). Furthermore, their consistent reinvestment in influencer marketing and sponsorships keeps them updated on consumer trends, allowing them to scale and maintain brand integrity. When they first launched, Hewitt and Ireland were faces of their campaign, showcasing authenticity. This is a model that is becoming increasingly common in their beauty industry, similar to Hailey Bieber's Rhode or Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty, but Summer Fridays was one of the first to fully capitalize on this strategy.
Summer Fridays Pop-Up
Ultimately, the most fascinating part of Summer Fridays is the seamless way they integrate into the way we want to feel. Summer Fridays is proof that economics is more than just numbers, that it can even be about evoking emotions.
It comes down to how people rationalize spending, how branding shapes perception, and how a simple phrase can transform into a multimillion-dollar business. Because in an ideal world, every day would be a Summer Friday. And if you can't have that, at least you can have the next best thing: a $24 lip balm that makes it feel like you do. Related
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Yahoo
a day ago
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Yahoo
6 days ago
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Hailey Bieber Preps Rhode for Sephora Debut
Hailey Bieber's billion-dollar beauty brand, Rhode, already had a headline-making year. Following its blockbuster $1 billion acquisition by E.l.f Beauty, Rhode is gearing up for its next significant milestone. Bieber's beauty brand is prepping its debut with Sephora, among the most anticipated retail partnerships of the year just months following the acquisition. More from WWD EXCLUSIVE: Net-a-porter Alums Raise $1 Million for U.K.-based Egg and Sperm Health Supplement Company Ova Report: Shoppers Spending $47 More Per Month Under Trump's Tariff Regime Les Tien Debuts First Los Angeles Store Needless to say, it's been a busy year for Bieber, and only three years after cofounding and launching the brand in 2022. But she is laser-focused on bringing what she's dubbed 'the world of Rhode' to consumers beyond its successful activations, social media and own website. 'This whole time since we launched Rhode, I've stayed true to my gut. 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Fast Company
7 days ago
- Fast Company
Hailey Bieber's Rhode skincare brand to launch in Sephora in September
A month after its $1 billion acquisition by E.l.f. Beauty, Hailey Bieber's skincare brand Rhode is heading to Sephora. Beginning September 4, the 3-year-old brand will be carried by all of the retailer's freestanding stores in the U.S. and Canada as well as on its website. Rhode's first permanent entry into brick-and-mortar comes on the heels of its explosive growth. The company doubled its consumer base over the past year, driving a total of $212 million in net sales in the 12 months that ended March 31. Rhode has had particular success on TikTok Shop, where it's sold more than 112,000 units of its hero products, including pocket blushes, lip tints, and a curated edit of skincare items designed to achieve what Bieber frequently describes as a 'glazed donut' look (moisturized and ultra-glossy). Sales were helped, in part, by Bieber's social presence. She has 55 million Instagram followers and more than 16 million followers on TikTok. Ingredients for success Though some newer celebrity brands have struggled in recent years, Rhode CEO Nick Vlahos credits his company's success to its responsible approach to launching new products, growing sustainably and maintaining good margins before expanding. Rhode regularly sells out of limited-drop products, and presold its lip glosses to Bieber's Instagram followers before they even launched. Vlahos, who joined Rhode in February after leading the Honest Company, said that entering brick-and-mortar retail was always part of the plan, especially as Rhode eyes international expansion. The brand will enter Sephora UK later in the fall, and E.l.f's international presence could help with further expansion and distribution globally. Vlahos also highlights how Sephora's digital prowess can help a digitally native brand like Rhode better market to customers in different areas. 'Sephora really has the ability from a targeting perspective to better geotarget within their respective marketplace,' he says. Priya Venkatesh, Sephora's global chief merchandiser, says Rhode's ingredient-focused approach to marketing could appeal to consumers who are looking to get into skincare but feel daunted by so many options. 'Rhode is a great invitation into beauty for anyone who's not feeling comfortable with the current complexity or who finds the category a bit intimidating,' she says. Venkatesh notes that Sephora saw 2 million unique searches for Rhode on its own site before the partnership was announced. As a result, the company decided to launch Rhode in all freestanding stores immediately, rather than doing a slow rollout. Sephora Shelf Life Key to the partnership is translating Rhode's minimalist aesthetic into physical stores. Rhode established its visual identity through striking and surprising ad campaigns that have gone viral on social media—from getting singer Tate McRae to model alongside life-size peptide-infused lip pencils to having Babygirl actor Harris Dickinson promote the brand's new face mist. This past year, these viral campaigns led to a 367% rise in earned media. Last year, Rhode brought its visual identity into pop-ups in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, and London. Fans of the brand lined up for hours to purchase products and re-create viral 'strawberry girl' or 'latte' makeup looks popularized by Bieber. Roughly a thousand customers lined up for the brand's New York pop-up, and some queued for more than seven hours in the London rain for that event. The pop-ups included design elements from the brand's packaging, like rounded corners, monochrome colors, and stark lighting. In a move from Glossier's Sephora playbook, Rhode designed custom shelving and displays—similar to the ones from its pop-ups—that will help the brand stand out in store. 'Customers can expect glossy grey buildouts with sleek, soft edges and mirror moments for content. It's what our community knows and expects from Rhode, now brought to life in a retail environment,' Bieber said in an emailed statement.
