Herla Offers 15 Skincare Products, But Is Boosting Sales By Marketing Just One

In 2019, Natalia Bednarek and her grandmother Krystyna launched their skincare line. Called Herla, a whimsical play on the word “her,” it was comprised of 14 stockkeeping units at inception, and 15 by the end of its first year in business. In retrospect, Bednarek believes that might have been too many products.

Herla’s inventory spans three skincare collections, each one geared to a range of age groups and skincare concerns. That’s no coincidence. Bednarek, who’s in her twenties, and her grandmother, who’s in her seventies, wanted to develop products they could both use. And, at Herla’s lab in Poland, where Krystyna oversees manufacturing and ingredient sourcing, there’s a small team of female chemists representing various age brackets by design. “We value different perspectives,” says New York-based Bednarek.

The Damask Rose collection targets signs of premature aging, and its seven products include an exfoliating mask and dry oil. The Kakadu Plum collection has three products, including a sleeping mask and hydrating cream. And the Gold Supreme collection has five products, including an eye gel and a serum, that aim to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The latter collection also includes the Illuminating Body Oil with 24k Gold, now Herla’s hero product. The products are priced from $32 to $65.

Looking back at the early days of Herla’s launch, Bednarek says, “When you’re a new brand and you carry a lot of products, people don’t really know what you’re known for. So, when they first encounter your brand, they don’t know which products to choose or what to start with. It divides the focus.”

Customers aren’t the only group confused by a massive product launch. “It felt very overwhelming to editors. We sent six or seven products, and that was quite a lot for a new brand,” says Bednarek. “I think, if we had one hero SKU and we were sending that out like we do now, it would have been much more effective.”

Of course, there were costs associated with launching more than a dozen products at once. “Marketing costs, especially for brand photography, were a lot,” says Bednarek, whose background is in e-commerce for consumer packaged goods.  “Now, it seems obvious, but, at the time, I wasn’t really aware of all those things. And, then, there’s the manufacturing. If I only had three SKUs, I could produce larger quantities, but, with 15, you obviously would do lower quantities and the cost increases.”

“When you’re a new brand and you carry a lot of products, people don’t really know what you’re known for.”

The vast product array meant warehousing costs were steep, and Herla’s website had to be fairly complex. Bednarek notes, “And packaging, working with designers, designing all the different SKUs, product descriptions, FDA compliance—all those things really matter.” In short, Bednarek argues, “I think [launching with] one flagship product or a few products that you’re known for would have been so much better. And that’s what we’re doing now. We’re implementing that strategy.”

Obviously, Herla’s launch is in the rearview mirror—and no products have been discontinued thus far. However, the brand is concentrating its marketing efforts on the Gold Supreme collection, which accounts for approximately 80% of its direct-to-consumer sales.

“We saw that the Gold collection and the body oil are really resonating with people organically, so we learned that this is something that makes us different in terms of products,” says Bednarek. “The main differentiator is that it has real gold in it, and customers are also saying that [the body oil] has great ingredients. It’s not chemical, synthetic fillers.”

Krystyna previously ran a business supplying natural ingredients to European beauty brands, and Herla incorporates those materials in its products. The body oil, for example, has sunflower oil, sweet almond oil and Spanish lavender. “Those are actually ingredients that help with skin rejuvenation, which is not very common in products like that,” says Bednarek. Plus, “a lot of customers comment: This is not stripper glitter. It’s a very elegant shimmer.”

“The main differentiator is that it has real gold in it.”

In its ad spend on Instagram, Facebook, and Google ads, Herla is zeroing in on its Gold Supreme collection. Bednarek says, “That’s what we’ve been doing for the past couple months, and we’re seeing good results.” On top of its DTC platform, Herla sells its products through QVC, Amazon, Verishop and the website of department store retailer Macy’s. “When we’re advertising and driving traffic to our site, we’re seeing a halo effect on other retailers’ websites as well and an increase in sales on those particular products,” says Bednarek. “We had a colder month recently, but [the body oil] has been doing great, so I’m expecting even better sales now that it’s getting warmer.”

Though the shimmering oil is Herla’s bestseller, Bednarek says that other products are generating brisk business. “The Rejuvenating Super Lift Cream with 24k Gold is our second bestseller, but the scrub from the Plum collection and the Rose day and night cream are also doing quite well,” she says. “If we were launching now, we would have probably focused on the Gold collection, but a lot of people love our other products, too, and they love the collections, so we can’t discontinue the other products.” She adds the caveat, “We’re planning to, if not discontinue, hold a few SKUs in the near future, and we can always relaunch if we need to. We’ll definitely keep our three collections, but we may just reduce the number of products in those collections.”

Herla declined to disclose launch costs and yearly sales goals, but Bednarek lets on that certain benchmarks are mutable. “We’re self-funded,” she says. “We do financial planning, but it’s more fluid, and it’s more flexible since we’re a family business. If suddenly we need to spend this amount on advertising, we’ll consider it. It’s not like I have my budget for the year, and there’s nothing we can change about it. So, it’s a little less formal and more flexible, which we like. I know working with investors is the opposite.”

Going forward, Herla is building its Gold Supreme collection, beginning with a nourishing lip oil serum set to drop in April. Made with 24-karat gold, the serum is intended to pair with the body oil to form a “matching set.” And Bednarek hints at another gold product is already in the works.

“With the moisturizer, you have to use it for two weeks to see that your wrinkles are diminishing and that your skin is more moisturized, but, with body oil and the lip oil, you can immediately see what it does. You see that golden shimmer, that golden glow,” says Bednarek. “This new product is also going to show results immediately. I cannot say what it is, but it’s very innovative.”