“Some grocery stores have a separate area for organic products,” said Kimberly Grustas, who co-founded Good For You Girls in 2008 with her business partner Grace Hvasta-Petrarca.
The company is based in Connecticut, where it produces and markets a range of natural and organic skin care products for young girls, primarily in the 9 – 15 age group, making it the first company of its kind to market towards this demographic.
“A store within a store makes it much easier for the customer to identify the product they are looking for,” Grustas said, making specific examples of two of the biggest mass market retailers in the US – Target and Wal-Mart.
Differentiation of natural products in mass market retail
Grustas went on to underline the way in which Target has moved towards differentiating natural and personal care products by creating a separate segment in store aisles devoted to this type of product.
“Ideally I would love to see four or five aisles uniquely identified, holding everything from personal care and cosmetics to cleaning products,” Grustas said.
“Perhaps even a sign that identifies why these products are different and the standards that the retailer has used to identify them... and even a dedicated sales person, trained to explain all about such natural products.”
“This approach helps with segmenting the natural selections from the chemical offerings… I make my products as affordable as I can but obviously will never compete in price with a $3.00 tube of chemicals.”
This kind of pricing helps position such products at the premium end of the market, but equally Grustas points out that her customers are educated, knowledgeable about product ingredients and won’t be fooled by ‘greenwashing’.
Entering into the mass market has its perils
Although Grustas does consider natural and organic personal care products finding mass market shelf space a good thing, she is ‘saddened’ by the thought that this trend might detract from the smaller stores who have built up businesses by committing to the natural products ethos.
Likewise, entering into the mass market also brings up a new and even more pervasive challenge - the intense pricing pressures that such retailers work to in an effort to maintain competitivity.
“I think the mass market stores would need to respect the price point manufacturers like myself need to maintain in order to thrive and continue our commitment to product innovation,” said Grustas.
Currently, Good For You Girls products are found in approximately 250 natural product retailers, together with a number of green spas and salons throughout the US.
Although the company’s expansion plan does not currently include the big mass market retailers, Grustas says that the aim is to expand distribution into independent chain stores throughout the US as well as Canada.