Cymbiotika lands in Ulta just months after launching in Target
Supplement startup Cymbiotika has landed in Ulta as its year of retail expansion continues.
Cymbiotika is launching on Ulta’s website first, on March 15, and then in more than 1,000 Ulta stores on March 29. It’s launching with four products, to start, ranging from an NAD product to its magnesium supplement. Cymbiotika is known for selling “liposomal” supplements, which refers to a delivery mechanism that’s supposed to allow for higher absorption than traditional pills. Its products come in what looks like a gel pack, meaning they can be consumed on the go with a “rip and a sip,” as stated by Cymbiotika’s co-founder and COO, Durana Elmi. The Ulta launch comes quickly after Cymbiotika landed in another major retailer, Target, last fall.
Launching at Ulta is a monumental occasion, according to Elmi — not just for the increased retail distribution, but also for the cultural impact of being in a beauty retailer. “We’ve always been direct-to-consumer, but to now go into the beauty sector is really exciting for us,” she said.
As retailers like Target, Walmart and Ulta make wellness products a bigger part of their assortment, wellness startups like Cymbiotika have more potential paths to growth than ever before. Long-term, the business is preparing for 60% of its business to come from retail, 40% from its DTC site. Currently, the business does about 80% of its sales through its DTC site. Aside from Target and Ulta, Cymbiotika is also available in Erewhon and Sprouts.
As Cymbiotika expands its retail presence, it’s also investing more in consumer education and out-of-home marketing to show up in more cultural moments, especially as shoppers take a greater interest in health and wellness.
To fuel all this growth, Cymbiotika announced a $25 million seed round last year after hitting $150 million in revenue.
To promote the Ulta launch, Cymbiotika is focusing on in-store activations; Ulta itself has also made experiential a priority, adding more than 20,000 new in-store events last year. A lot of these will be sampling and educational events, Elmi said, focused on educating customers on how they can incorporate Cymbiotika into their daily lives, by consuming it with yogurt or mixing it into a smoothie on a hot summer day. Influencer marketing will also play a big role.
The Target launch, Elmi said, taught Cymbiotika the importance of education. “Your consumers really have to know what your products are,” she said. She said Cymbiotika has found success with Target through smaller pack sizes that make it easier for customers to try the product. In Target’s Bullseye Playground section — the department located at the front of the store that features $1, $3 and $5 products — Cymbiotika has experimented with $5 starter packs, including a healthy-aging duo. The starter packs have been “really beneficial and allowed our consumers to have an entry point to tasting our products,” Elmi said.
Around the time of the Target launch, Cymbiotika also embarked on a “wellness tour” consisting of out-of-home activations and events in different cities. In Minneapolis, where Target is headquartered, Cymbiotika set up a 50-foot temporary art installation celebrating “a new era of supplements” and promoting its availability at the big-box retailer. In Miami, timed to Art Basel, Cymbiotika hosted a run club in partnership with Gunna, a rapper and Cymbiotika investor. Elmi described Cymbiotika’s approach as figuring out who has a “sphere of influence” within a particular community and partnering with them to make little pit stops within major markets.” Of course, it also helps that Cymbiotika has a number of celebrity investors, including The Weeknd, Post Malone and The Jonas Brothers.
As Cymbiotika has launched in more retailers, Elmi says the biggest change has been the internal shifts needed to support more omnichannel sales. That includes thinking more about how to drive in-store experiences with influencers, for example, and making sure Cymbiotika’s in-house fulfillment network can handle the velocity that comes from being in big-box retail.
“We’re prepared for it. We have the infrastructure, we’ve got the inventory, and we’ve got the financial means to support the additional inventory demands that [being in retail requires],” Elmi said. “And we’ve got some strong partners that we’re going to be partnering with this year.”