Honest Co. Hopes Retail P’ships With Walmart, Ulta, GNC Will Reverse Sales Slump

As its sales slump stretches to a year, The Honest Company is touting ongoing and new partnerships as key to helping it reverse course for its clean lifestyle brand ahead of its fiscal 2022 year-end earnings report in nine months, according to a company press release Friday (May 13).

To goose that turnaround, Honest plans to restage its personal care and diaper/training pants and enhance its concealer and clearing skin lines, the release stated. It also expects to extend its clean mascara lines in multiple large retailers and add a supplements line that includes products for sleep, stress, immunity and hair health.

The company is also launching products on walmart.com, followed by a national Walmart in-store expansion of diapers, wipes and select personal care products and services, according to the release. It is expanding its Ulta distribution of select skin care products to complement its online offerings too.

Honest is also launching supplements and other personal care items online and in-store with GNC and expanding the Honest brand internationally with Asian beauty distributor SuperOrdinary, the release stated.

“In the face of significant macro headwinds, I’m pleased we are able to maintain our financial outlook for the year,” said CEO Nick Vlahos in the release. “The first quarter of 2022 experienced challenging comparisons year over year as well as softness in the digital space as many consumers returned to in-store shopping in our product categories.

“While inflation and supply chain pressures continue to challenge Honest and the industry, we remain deeply focused on what we can control: driving innovation, maintaining cost discipline, investing in digital capabilities, expanding our distribution footprint and executing our pricing strategies to position Honest for long-term growth,” he added.

Honest’s Q1 revenue decreased 15% to $69 million compared to the same time in 2021, with last year’s revenue reflecting a liquidation of legacy beauty inventory ahead of the company’s Beauty Restage and higher sales in sanitizing and disinfecting products in 2021. The company also pointed to a shift away from digital shopping and increasing supply chain issues leading to many items being out of stock.

Honest’s stock price now sits below $3 per share and the company’s market capitalization has dropped to less than $270 million, with both numbers down significantly from March levels when the company previewed its anticipated Q1 woes.

Read more: Weak Sales Forecast Sends Investors Fleeing From Honest Co

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