To celebrate its 7th anniversary, the French brand is speeding up its export growth with a strategy focused on a Green Beauty positioning and a kid & mamma offering. Inuwet (for “In Unicorns We Trust”) uses its Korea- and Japan-inspired aesthetics and enchanting baseline, “Vegan Poetic Beauty”, as a powerful tool to appeal to very young girls, who are crazy about the sticks with rabbit ears and sugary fragrances.
Founded in 2016 by the De Bruyère company, Inuwet is the French “good vibes” cosmetics leader for kids, but also for their mums. Even though the flashy, animal-shaped packs are fun, playful, and childlike, the formulas are reliable, vegan, natural, or even organic, and most products are made in France. “People first buy our products because they are cute, but in the end, they come back and test other references, because the formulas hold their promises when it comes to textures, sensoriality…”, explains founder Marie Puech. The company boasts a two-digit sales growth (+27% in 2022), more than 3,000 points of sale throughout France (pharmacies, department stores, Nocibé, Beauty Success, Passion Beauté, Monoprix, etc.), including about 2,000 pharmacies, and a presence in 15 countries around the world. Inuwet is crafting its offering to assert itself as a key player on its segment.
A statement green beauty positioning
“We are close to kids, which means we are also close to parents. That is why we thought it was key to assert our ‘green beauty’ positioning by offering more and more products mainly with ingredients of natural origin, and most of which are made in France”, explains Marie Puech.
“For example, our rabbit-shaped lip balm, our bestseller, suits children as young as three. It is made in France and contains 98% of ingredients of natural origin. We sell almost one million per year”, she adds. All Inuwet products are green-labelled (“no risk”) on the Yuka application, a reference for many French consumers.
A Kid & Mamma offering in line with a long-term trend
Skincare, makeup, bath products, but also accessories… Inuwet, a real lifestyle brand, does not only target children. “Indeed! Some of our distributors, including department stores (Bon Marché, Galeries Lafayette, Printemps), already offer ‘mum and daughter’ skincare ranges which include our products, like our biocellulose masks and hand creams”, emphasizes the Director.
“I do believe that this service is a long-term trend and that we should jump on this bandwagon, as a brand much popular and praised among kids, and increasingly approved and used by mothers, who buy skincare products in particular”, she adds.
A new, easily identifiable range for young consumers
Inuwet will officialize the launch of its Inuwet Mini range when they release the mini nail polish line with perfumed water for kids over 3, next June. “With Inuwet Mini, we aim to provide parents with a reference. Inuwet Mini is a kid range free from controversial ingredients and composed of products with gentle, natural formulas”, explains Marie Puech. “Our distributors will also be able to integrate this mini nail polish range to a ‘kid and mamma’ manicure routine.”
In stores, in particular in pharmacies, where the brand aims to strengthen its presence, displays highlighting Inuwet Mini will be available to present the real benefits of this kid range. “Also, we have been working on solutions to put forward our main arguments in more standard points of sale”, she explains.
A strengthened export team
Almost 90% of Inuwet’s sales are achieved on the French market: the brand is now firmly established on the French soil, “although it has not matured yet”, says Marie Puech.
In addition, it is distributed in Spain, Belgium, and Italy – at Douglas’ – and on a more global level, in about 15 countries. “We aim to reproduce our French model in neighbouring countries, but also to grow through overseas export. To this aim, I recruited new employees, and this year, I started a collaboration with a distributor in Dubai to develop this highly dynamic area,” she says. The brand is present at Printemps, in Qatar, which recently opened (the “grand opening” was on March 8). “Lastly, of course, we have been thinking about going back to the US, where we had really started growing with a nice referencing at Ulta Beauty, before the pandemic”, concludes Marie Puech.
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