Building on the strong performance of beauty and personal care within its stores, Old Navy has developed its first private-label personal-care line, Kindred Goods.
Launching Thursday at select locations, Kindred Good consists of three scents (Sea Salt & Fig, Sweet Cream & Honey and Orange Blossom & Tea) and five products priced from $6 to $12: eau de parfum, hair and body mist, hand cream, foaming body scrub and body lotion.
Customer demand for fragrance sparked Old Navy’s interest in producing a scent-driven personal-care collection, according to Andres Dorronsoro, vice president and general manager of Old Navy Kids, Fast Lane and brand licensing. He noted beauty and personal care has been one of the fastest-growing consumer-goods categories.
Dorronsoro elaborated, “We wanted the products to smell and feel great, but also embrace who we are as a brand with our ‘playfully optimistic’ point of view. This shows up in the colorful packaging and little story behind each product. Everything is sized for our customer’s on-the-go lifestyle.”
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Old Navy partnered with Tru Fragrance to create Kindred Goods. Tru Fragrance has cultivated a specialty of working with retailers such as Urban Outfitters, The Limited and Anthropologie. “We met with a number of vendors, but were drawn to Tru’s leadership team and years of experience within the beauty category,” Dorronsoro said.
Old Navy is testing multiple formats for merchandising Kindred Goods, including placing products from the line in its Fast Lane sections of impulse items near checkouts. “We have hundreds of Fast Lane items under $10, which is a mix of products we designed and products from other brands we love,” Dorronsoro said. “Given the popularity of our Fast Lanes, it was a no-brainer to introduce Kindred Goods in this space.”
Old Navy has been expanding its repertoire of beauty and personal care products over the last few years with brands such as E.l.f. Cosmetics, Burt’s Bees and SoCozy. The chain is careful about homing in on sharp price points in its beauty and personal care merchandise. For example, the $6 entry price point for Kindred Goods is meant to encourage trial.
“Our customer trusts us for quality products and is always looking to try something new. We believe that if she sees a product that she likes, she will try it,” said Dorronsoro, adding that, “Our beauty products are easy add-ons to her store purchase.”
Beauty and personal care is an important segment for Millennials who, judging by a recent consumer survey from RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Tunick, have a favorable view of Old Navy. The company had 1,029 units in North America as of July 30 and is the largest retail property in Gap Inc.’s portfolio by store count and revenues. Its worldwide comp-store sales were flat in the second quarter, a comparative bright spot as Gap’s global comps dipped 3 percent and Banana Republic’s fell 9 percent.