After The Pandemic Shuttered It, Om Organics Apothecary Sets To Reopen

Om Organics’ store is returning three years after the pandemic shuttered it.

Set to officially open late next month, Om Organics Apothecary will carry the Canadian skincare and body care brand’s complete assortment as well as products from 16 third-party brands such as Maude, Mount Lai, Blissy and Luna Nectar. There are about 250 stockkeeping units available for purchase in the store. 

“Anything that you could imagine for skincare, body care and wellness, we have it in the store,” says Om Organics founder and former aesthetician Kari Asselin. “If it’s not our own product, it’s something we feel is complementary like silk pillow cases, hair accessories, supplements and ingestibles, and facial tools.” 

Located in a landmarked building in the busy downtown area of Invermere in British Columbia, Asselin first signed the lease for the multi-use space that would become Om Organics Apothecary seven years ago. At 3,000 square feet, she divided it rough equally between a storefront and a production facility for her brand’s products.

Asselin says, “It’s always been really important to me to have full control over our production from start to finish, the ingredients, the quality and also the margins.”

The production facility remained open during the pandemic as Om Organic’s direct-to-consumer sales soared, and the shuttered storefront became a makeshift fulfillment center. “We filled it with raw goods, packaging, shipping materials, you name it,” says Asselin. “It was stuffed to the brim.”

Om Organics took the time during the store’s closure to refresh its branding and packaging. It also rejiggered its pricing strategy, increasing the prices of some face products and lowering many body care product prices. Including mini sizes, Om Organics’ prices for individual products range from $9 to $44. 

Earlier this year, Om Organics tapped a third-party fulfillment provider to take over fulfillment and geared up to reopen its store with the revamped branding and pricing. In the past, the store bolstered awareness and customer acquisition with greater efficiency than the brand’s digital advertising efforts.

“The return on investment on digital ads was killing us,” says Asselin. “I feel like it’s so much more impactful for a customer to walk into this beautifully branded store and really experience the brand firsthand versus just scrolling past an ad on social media.” 

Pre-pandemic, the store boasted a 70% return customer rate and outpaced sales of Om Organics products at the brand’s wholesale partners by 10X to 15X. In addition to its store, Om Organics products are at 120 e-tailers, boutiques and gift shops like Flip, Simons, Oak+Tonic, Modern Nomad, Green Bee Boutique and Carbon Environmental Boutique.

Om Organics Apothecary is Om Organics’ most profitable distribution outlet, which Asselin attributes to the multifunctional nature of the space. Wholesale is its second most profitable channel, and direct-to-consumer distribution comes in last. Asselin points out that Canada’s notoriously high shipping costs eat into the brand’s online margins. While Om Organics’ DTC sales have moderated since the onset of the pandemic, they jumped 35% year-over-year in 2022.

Heavy seasonal traffic to Invermere impacts shopper visitation at Om Organics Apothecary. Nestled in the scenic Columbia Valley, Invermere’s beaches, hiking trails, golf courses and hot springs attract around 40,000 tourists in the summer. Normally its population sits between 3,500 to 4,000. Asselin says, “We’re like cottage country for Calgary. People come from all over to vacation here.” 

Currently in the midst of a soft opening, the store is seeing customers snap up Om Organics’ face care products with enthusiasm. Its Marula + Cactus Nourishing Face Oil, Youth Infusion Hydrating Face Elixir and Clarity Purifying Concentrate are particular favorites.  

“It’s a vibe and an experience in store. Back when I was an aesthetician, one thing I was really, really good at was selling skincare,” says Asselin. “I can talk to anybody about their skin and sell them a full skincare routine. I’ve perfected that, and I’ve trained my staff to be able to approach customers in the same way.”

Haircare, facial tools and drinkable collagen products from third-party brands are showing signs of momentum in the store so far. Blissy, Luna Nectar, Kitsch and French Girl Organics were onboarded after Asselin met them at Adit Live Los Angeles in November. Adit Live is a trade show owned and operated by Beauty Independent parent company Indie Beauty Media Group. 

“The brands that I’ve brought in are brands that I personally love and would buy from,” says Asselin. “I’m very much into that whole health and wellness lifestyle and pristine self-care.” 

Moving forward, Asselin is focused on investing resources into driving Om Organics Apothecary’s success and funneling funds away from high-cost marketing expenses that don’t produce returns. The self-funded brand has pulled out of Facebook ads entirely and now budgets between $10,000 and $20,000 a month for Google ads.

Asselin is looking to replicate the store’s format in other touristy destinations around Canada like Banff, Whistler or Victoria. She says,​​ “I would rather invest in things that are tangible to me that I feel like I have control over.”

As the brand scales across its retail network, Asselin aims to upgrade its production facility and bring fulfillment back in-house to become a vertically integrated business. She says, “I’m super ambitious, and the sky’s the limit.”