As health and wellness take more prominent positioning in the beauty industry, Marcia Kilgore’s Beauty Pie is rounding out its assortment with supplements.
On November 4, Beauty Pie launched ingestible products in the U.K.: a collagen powder, a daily multivitamin and a Vitamin D3 capsule. Concepted in collaboration with hormone specialist and nutritionist Kay Ali, the offering ranges from $11.41-$26.05 for Beauty Pie members. It will be available in the U.S. later this month. A “Supergut” supplement and a Bio Omega 3 capsule will be added to the merchandising slate in January.
Beauty Pie, exists as a direct-to-consumer membership service. Customers pay monthly fees that then go toward buying products at prices much closer to manufacturing costs. For instance, with retail’s middlemen, Kilgore said Beauty Pie’s collagen powder would be priced $116.34, instead of $26.05. Like many DTC-centric companies that have seen new awareness since the pandemic, Kilgore, who founded the company, said membership rates for the company have increased by 300% since Covid-19 began. The company has added 35 new hires since the start of the year, including new CMO Rob Weston, previously of Marks & Spencer and John Lewis, and COO Panni Morshedi of Funding Circle. The Beauty Pie team now clocks in at 97 employees.
“At a certain point, who cares about how you look? It’s about how you feel,” said Kilgore of the new launch. ” I’m an expert in skin care, but I wanted a partner like Kay [Ali], who could help us with nutrition and health. And it’s the right timing because everyone needs to bolster their immunity [now].”
Kilgore and Ali said the formulas were in the works for over a year and a half, and the end use cases were based on Ali’s past history with clients. “We looked at the modern U.S. and U.K. diets to see what was lacking. We could have easily done a hair, skin and nails supplement, but that’s not true health or beauty. We believe that there is no greater beauty than good health.”
Because of Covid-19, interest in supplements and ingestibles is increasing. Customers are looking for more specific solves, whether it be for hair loss or athletic performance. And acquirers are noticing: In September, Bayer purchased 70% of Care/of in a transaction that valued the company at $225 million.
Still, there are questions around if ingestibles and supplements actually work. which Ali acknowledged. “I started in the industry as a buyer of supplements, so I know for a fact that so much of what is out there is overpriced and super low in quality. People aren’t getting what they need and the supplement industry isn’t doing a good job in responding,” said Ali. Beauty Pie did not run clinical trials on the five end products, but Ali said that the ingredients in the products have clinical research behind them.
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Given that this is a new category for Beauty Pie, Kilgore said the company will be ramping up the educational content around it, on its site and social media. Kay will be leading an IG Stories Series, as well as a video series, so customers can get a comprehensive picture of what the products are and what they do, said Kilgore. Additionally, Kilgore and Kay will be working on an IGTV series together, and creating a supplement FAQ and glossary for the site. “We’re focused on educating our member base. We have been pacing the business responsibly, but I think these products are going to fly fast,” she said.
