As companies like Amazon and Walmart continue to dominate consumers’ total retail spending, direct-to-consumer brands — companies that make products and use the internet to make sales without 3rd party retailers — are emerging as effective competition.
Now, a London-based celebrity hair colorist named Josh Wood has raised $6.5m to get in on that D2C action, by launching his customized home hair coloring kit business.
Wood — who has worked with the likes of David Bowie, and held director and board positions at companies like Redken — wants to “democratize hair color” by giving women a personalized online salon experience at value price.
As with other D2C brands, tech is playing a role on multiple levels of Wood’s business — from how the product is developed to how it will match with consumers.
Similar to Third Love, the online bra company that specializes in customizable lingerie, Josh Wood’s at-home hair kit gives each consumer a customized hair shade, instead of the existing one-color-fits-all approach.
Per TechCrunch, some 80% of women over 25 color their hair, with 75% of those doing it at home — ipso facto at-home hair coloring is a $20B industry.
It’s a market that the 30-year dome-shade expert already knows: In his partnership with UK drugstore chain Boots, Wood sold some 240k products, alongside names like Revlon and L’Oreal, in his first year.