How are businesses growing their brands by working with their competitors?

In last week’s Podcast, Pippa Kulmar and I spoke with Annie Jackson, the Co-Founder and COO of Credo Beauty. Credo, for those of you unfamiliar with the brand, is the world’s largest Clean Beauty retailer with 9 physical stores (plus 2 more stores currently in construction) and a strong online presence. They stock around 120+ clean beauty brands, who are all required to meet the ‘Credo Clean Standard’ in order for their products to be stocked in store & online.

Whilst we touched on many subjects during the conversation, I’d like to bring to the forefront the idea that brands with similar products can actually work together and mutually benefit. To quote Pippa “Similar to the work you’re doing with Ulta Beauty, there is this notion of being anti-competitive, it’s more about cooperation. I think that’s quite beautiful, normally we think of Capitalism as ‘I have to take off someone in order to grow my business’”, but Credo is proving this isn’t the case. “Ulta was aware of Credo and reached out to us…it’s been very collaborative, and we’ve shared all sorts of resources, and for a start-up like Credo to have access to a retailer of that size has been incredible during a global crisis” says Annie.

This part of the Podcast was discussing the newly announced partnership between Credo Beauty and US beauty giant, Ulta Beauty, where Annie Jackson has begun advising Ulta on Clean Beauty, forming their “Conscious Beauty at Ulta Beauty” movement – I say movement rather than campaign knowing this isn’t a trend, but a direction all brands should at least be considering in order to stay relevant to their ever-progressing customer. We love that by joining forces, where the “little guy” is educating the “big guy”, we see a partnership where everyone wins – a breaking down of traditional Capitalist rules.

A couple of examples of brands we love who are joining forces are…

• Nordstrom Local and Rent the Runway: Customers can now return their RTR fashion rentals to the self-service kiosks located within the Nordstrom Local stores – no more shipping fees for customers and a chance to expose new customers to the Nordstrom brand…a true win-win!

• Kroger and Walgreens: This winning strategic collaboration saw Kroger open their Kroger Express stores which offered fresh, frozen and non-perishable items inside of select Walgreens stores, while Walgreens-branded health and beauty products appeared in select Kroger stores, allowing both brands to potentially expand market share.

• Adidas and Parley Ocean Plastic: Made from entirely recycled material designed to keep plastic out of the oceans, Adidas and Parley designed and created a line of training shoes and other products (drink bottles etc). Whilst maintaining their mission and culture, these brands show us it is possible to partner up and boost your brand value (Adidas has seen a boost in brand value of more than 50% since launching the partnership).

• SONOS and IKEA: Together, SONOS and IKEA have built “The best sounding lamp in the world – the SYMFONISK”. These WiFi speaker lamps show the brands combining their expertise, one sound, the other furnishings, to create a product for the everyday home. We like this partnership as SONOS becomes more accessible through IKEA, and IKEA gets “smart home” credibility through SONOS.

So, what does this mean for retail?

It’s clear to me that partnerships are the future of retail - they’re the springboard to new customers, the leg up to opportunity and exposure, and the ability to become more accessible to more people. It’s a win-win!

To listen to the rest of our Podcast with Annie Jackson (Credo Beauty) click here. And coming this week, we will be interviewing Laura Beres, Director of Corporate Strategy at Ulta Beauty. To be notified when this episode airs, subscribe here.