Typology Chief Shares Expansion Strategy
PARIS — Typology, a clean, gender-neutral French direct-to-consumer skin-care start-up, is eyeing further expansion, possibly into the U.S.
Launched in mid-February 2019 in Paris by serial digital entrepreneur Ning Li, Typology has recently entered a new country and product categories.
“We really wanted to create a brand that has one of the highest bars in the industry in terms of what ingredients we want to exclude from our formulation,” said China-born Li.
Simultaneously, Typology’s aim is to offer efficient products at affordable prices. Typology’s line of 100 items range from 10 euros to 25 euros.
“We have had very strong sales momentum since the start,” said Li.
Typology products were designed to have a minimum carbon footprint.
“They’re very flat, so can go into people’s letterboxes,” said Li. “Our products [are] efficient in terms of delivery.”
Typology has chimed even louder with people since March, when France’s first lockdown began and they started looking online for products good for their skin and health, he added.
The brand for a week or two noted a steep decline in business, but then revenues doubled.
Li would not discuss sales, but industry sources estimate the brand, which employs 30 people, sells a few thousand products per day. Its core consumers are aged 25 to 50.
Bestsellers include serums — including the Botanical Blends, each with a different plant. There’s also the 9-Ingredients Face Moisturiser.
“Our products in general have a very minimalist approach,” said Li. “When it comes down to formulation, we have worked really hard to exclude all the unnecessary ingredients to make it simple [and] safe for customers.”
Typology recently launched tinted serums, products melding color and skin care without silicon or nanoparticles. Depending how those sell, the brand might speed up product development in that hybrid category.
A four-unit face- and body-scrub range, called Formule, officially launches today.
One key goal for Typology is to become even more international.
“Our product has been formulated to be compliant with the majority of countries in the world from the get-go, and are labeled in both French and English,” said Li. “So we are mostly ready to dial up one notch in terms of international ambition. It’s just a matter of timing. At some point next year [we could go into] a major country — say the U.S., for example.”
After France and Belgium, in mid-May, Typology entered the U.K. Three months after launching there, the country generated about 15 percent of the brand’s total revenues. The whole introduction was orchestrated from France.
“That was quite a learning experience for us, that we can actually launch something remotely when we have to,” said Li.
Typology is majority-owned by the executive, who raised a seed round of $10 million two years ago through investments made by Xavier Niel, Alven and Firstminute Capital.
Today, the brand is gearing up for its second edition of Black For Good, from Nov. 27 to 30, an event Typology founded for Good Friday last year.
“It’s a movement that encourages brands to not just do record sales, but also to give back,” said Li.
Each decides what it will contribute where. Typology is to donate profits generated to La Fondation des Hôpitaux de France to support medical workers during the pandemic.
Last year, more than 80 brands joined Black for Good (#blackforgood).
“We really hope to push it a little further this year,” said Li.
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