Dive Brief:
- The Honest Company will halt product sales through its website on Dec. 28 and shutter its mobile app, the retailer announced in an email to customers on Tuesday. All products ordered starting on Nov. 24 will be considered final sale.
- The company will sell its products through other retailers, including Walmart, Target, Amazon, Kroger and HEB.
- Its brand site will serve as a hub where shoppers locate retailers where merchandise is sold and will be a place to find product advice and inspiration, the company said.
Dive Insight:
The Honest company is closing down direct sales as a way to better deliver on its mission, according to the company.
“These updates were made with you, our loyal Honest family, at heart and will allow us to focus on what matters most: developing and designing products that meet our rigorous Honest Standards for you and your loved ones,” the company said in a note to its customers.
This fall, the company launched its “Transformation 2.0: Powering Honest Growth” plan, which includes exiting its website fulfillment and apparel operations and shuttering its brick-and-mortar and online stores in Canada. The company also aims to rightsize its selling, general and administrative expenses and streamline its supply chain.
With its new strategy, the company aims to improve profitability.
The transformation plan is “a comprehensive two-part program that drives greater focus on our most strategic and profitable categories by exiting certain lower margin, non-strategic categories and channels while also optimizing our cost structure,” The Honest Company CEO Carla Vernón said in the company’s Q3 earnings release. “We believe these actions will reduce complexity, drive sharper focus on our core product categories and strengthen our profitability.”
In the years since the company went public in 2021, The Honest Company has grown its roster of retail partners. In 2022, the company began selling its products on Walmart’s website and in its physical stores. That same year, the brand expanded its partnership with Ulta Beauty by offering its products in the retailer’s stores and offering an exclusive line of skin care with the beauty retailer.
Its decision to end its in-house e-commerce sales follows a series of executive changes. In April 2024, Jessica Alba, the company’s founder, stepped down as chief creative officer. This year, the company named Etienne von Kunssberg as its senior vice president of supply chain and appointed Curtiss Bruce as its chief financial officer.
In its latest earnings, the company reported a 6.7% year-over-year revenue decline to $93 million, while net income rose by 3.6% to $758,000. The company notably had no debt on its balance sheet as of Sept. 30.
