Tatcha and QVC continue to leverage partnership

For Tatcha, the Ageless Revitalizing Neck Cream debut marks its second worldwide launch with QVC since being sold on the retailer starting in 2013. The first was Tatcha’s Kissu Lip Mask as part of the channel’s first-ever “Black Friday in July” exercise in July 2018. Following the lip mask’s debut on QVC’s social channels in July and Tsai’s subsequent on-air appearance in August 2018, the product sold out globally on all channels in September 2018.

Like the Kissu product, Tatcha’s neck cream was based on the culling of QVC’s 8.1. million U.S. customers, who are typically between the ages of 35 to 64 years old. “What we’ve seen is that the neck cream category is an emerging category at QVC, and with our customers hitting that over-45 sweet spot, neck care is a new concern,” said Rob Robillard, vice president of integrated beauty for QVC, HSN and Zulily.

Tatcha’s customer base is broad and serves women in their mid-20s to their mid-80s. “Our customers like to shop in different channels, so our Sephora client is younger and tends to like our products that go well with makeup. The QVC customer is more mature, so she likes the richer and reparative formulas, which is where this neck cream comes in,” said Tsai.

The neck cream will launch on Tatcha.com over a month after the QVC launch, on April 25. That will give Tatcha customers time to first learn about this new type of product and how to use it.

“Our customer is hungry for education, and QVC is the pioneer in video,” said Tsai. “Digital has brought a lot of to the forefront, but outside of YouTubers, I don’t think anyone else has cracked the code about explaining what is unique about a product and why a customer may need it.”

For Tatcha, the new cream is its first neck-specific product. According to Tsai, existing QVC and Tatcha customers were using the brand’s Ageless Revitalizing Eye Cream on their necks, and Tatcha received around 60 requests for a neck cream in 2018.

“In Asia, skin care goes beyond the face,” said Tsai. “The neck is one of the first places to show signs of aging, like the hands. So this product is a way to fight against premature aging.”

As one of the top five skin-care brands at QVC, Tatcha was also seen as a category builder for the company, said Robillard. Currently, QVC sells about 50 neck-related products from its best-sellers, like NuFace’s Mini Face and Neck Toning device and corresponding facial gels, and Perricone MD’s Cold Plasma Sub-D Neck treatment.

In fourth-quarter and year-end 2018 results, parent company Qurate Retail reported that QVC’s U.S. revenue increased for both time periods by 3 percent year-over-year. E-commerce and mobile sales continue to grow for QVC — according to Robillard, e-commerce represents more than 60 percent of U.S. sales, and mobile accounted for 66 percent of those orders in the fourth quarter. In 2018, it was reported that Tatcha’s retail sales grew by 80 percent to $120 million.

Both companies will be pushing the product launch on social. Starting tomorrow, facialist Yolanda Mata, aka @YoliGlo, who has over 84,000 followers on Instagram, will be using the new Tatcha neck cream at facial appointments for select influencers and editors in New York. QVC social correspondent, Sloane Glass will be documenting the appointments for the retailer’s channels. On Instagram and Facebook, QVC has 486,000 and 2.8 million followers, respectively; Tatcha has 782,000 and 170,000 followers, respectively.

“This is a powerful launch for us and for Tatcha,” said Robillard. “Since this is a worldwide exclusive, we have to show up in these digital spaces with what our customer wants and where she is.”