The Glossy 50 celebrates individual changemakers. They include executives who took their companies into new, competitive categories, industry newcomers who disrupted age-old processes, dealmakers who led groundbreaking partnerships and creatives whose work managed to cut through the noise. More from the series →
The Accelerators: These drivers of a growth-fueling change made a big impact in-house.
Melissa Butler, founder and CEO of The Lip Bar, has had multiple major wins this year.
Starting back in February, The Lip Bar deepened its Target distribution from placement on three shelves to 24, marking an increase of approximately 700%. At the same time, it became the largest Black-owned brand at Target.
The Lip Bar has sold through Target since 2018 and Walmart since 2021, and is in 2,000 stores between the two. In September, the 11-year-old brand expanded to 3,300 CVS locations, doubling its number of brick-and-mortar doors to 5,300. Butler called the CVS partnership, in particular, a major accomplishment. That’s not only because it expands the business, but also because it offers a touchpoint to customers without big box retailers in their communities.
As a result of the CVS partnership, The Lip Bar expects to increase its annual retail sales by 30%, said Butler. According to Glossy reporting, by 2022, The Lip Bar had sold over 2 million units and grown sales by 70% year-over-year in the prior six years. Now, The Lip Bar is gearing up for big plans in 2024, including expanding to more categories, from lip oils to complexion products, and building up the brand and its retail availability in stores nationwide.
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