Solara Suncare Goes Into Target With Go! Collection While Maintaining Prestige Distribution

Stephanie DiPisa is used to balancing things. After all, she’s a parent and entrepreneur. And she’s managing her busy business and family while trying to keep Lyme disease at bay. The balancing acts in her life were practice for the balancing act she’s now performing at her sun care brand Solara, which has stretched into Target as it maintains prestige retail distribution.

DiPisa decided to launch Solara in Target, where it’s rolled out to around 300 doors across the country as well as online, without embarking on a secondary brand. Instead, it fashioned a mass-oriented collection. Solara’s Go! Collection at Target contains Barrier Defense Hyaluronic Essence, Daily Defense Soothing Mineral Face Sunscreen, Mineral Defense Sport Superfruit Body Sunscreen, Mineral Defense Sport Superfruit + Aloe Sunscreen Mist, Mineral Defense Sport Antioxidant Face Sunscreen, Mineral Defense Sport Ceramide Sunscreen Stick and Vacation Glow Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer, a glowy daily face sunscreen that’s compared to a clean, mineral-only and accessibly priced version of Supergoop’s Glowscreen. Go! Collection’s prices run from $16 to $27.

Solara’s original Luxe Collection is available in some 200 retail doors, including at Neiman Marcus, Anthropologie, The Detox Market, Nordstrom Canada and Nordstrom’s website in the United States. Priced from $16 to $42, the prestige range features bestselling Time Traveler Ageless SPF Active Wear Face Moisturizer, Clean Freak Nutrient SPF Active Wear Body Moisturizer, Pout Protector Moisturizing Lip Serum, Glow Getter Shimmery SPF Active Wear Body Moisturizer, JuiceBoost Defense Boosting Serum and AlpineReboot Defense Boosting Serum.

“I know the typical model for an established brand or a brand sold in the department store sector would be to launch a diffusion line or a sub-brand under a completely different name, but that felt off-brand for me,” says DiPisa. “We truly from the start were transparent, from being sourced responsibly to being sustainable with the packaging. So, it felt like a disconnect to not connect to what we were so proud to have built.”

Although the Go! and Luxe Collections retain the Solara name, they vary in other ways. Products in the Luxe Collection are loaded with skincare ingredients such as ceramides and copper peptides. Products in the Go! Collection have streamlined formulas. Each collection has unique packaging. Products in the Luxe Collection have sunrise-inspired color bands on their tubes in yellow, orange, blue and more. The Go! Collection’s packaging is primarily white with the brand’s and  Go! Collection’s script logos in color along with colorful caps.

“As a mom of three, it couldn’t be more rewarding to see the product on shelf at a place moms like being and are shopping every day.”

DiPisa says Solara’s long-time customers—the brand began in 2019 to be a sun care corollary to the sophisticated skincare offerings from the likes Tata Harper and Indie Lee occupying clean beauty selections—understand the distinctions between the collections. “A lot of our existing community tends to be in the 30 to 70 age range. They are thrilled that there are options for younger members of their family,” she explains. She continues, “As a mom of three, it couldn’t be more rewarding to see the product on shelf at a place moms like being and are shopping every day.”

The decision not to have a diffusion line for mass isn’t the only unusual development shaping Solara’s venture into the mass market. At Target, the brand is housed in both the sun care and premium skincare sections. The Sport grouping of products is in the sunscreen section, and Barrier Defense Hyaluronic Essence, Mineral Defense Sport Superfruit + Aloe Sunscreen Mist and Vacation Glow Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer are in the premium skincare section.

Solara participated in Target’s Takeoff accelerator program in early 2021 and was awarded the Target account in mid-2021. The program provided DiPisa with access to buyers across categories in the beauty department. Solara may have been put in the sun care and premium skincare sections if it wasn’t involved in the Takeoff program, but the program certainly helped, according to DiPisa.

“It’s rare to see a sunscreen brand on a skincare shelf. If there’s sunscreen, it’s usually a skincare brand that has one add-on product. The reason I pushed for it is discovery,” she says. “I think you go down the sun care aisle when you have a reason to, whether it’s an upcoming vacation or you’re looking to stock up for a pool party and, in some cases, everyday lightweight face sunscreen could be lost on that shelf from a discoverability standpoint. The guest is ready and willing to shop for a skincare regimen, and we want to be ready to solve the sun care element of it.”

“The guest is ready and willing to shop for a skincare regimen, and we want to be ready to solve the sun care element of it.”

DiPisa shares that Solara entered 2022 with sales growth tracking at 400% over 2021. She says, “With the expansion into Target and other retailers with our new Go! Collection and the expansion and projected growth of the original Luxe Collection, which remains the majority of our business to date, we expect that growth projection to drive even higher this year as people get back to traveling and adventuring outdoors.”

Solara sat on the product release sidelines in 2021 to focus on the creation of the Go! Collection, but it’s returning to product release territory with the introduction of three new products to its Luxe Collection this year. DiPisa characterizes them as “much-needed sisters” to Time Traveler. “They are everyday lightweight products that are fully loaded at the serum level with ingredients. That definitely comes at a higher price tag in terms of development and formulation,” she says. “Not everything from the Luxe Collection will always have a higher price point, but because they are fully loaded face products, you will definitely see that this year.”

To support its Target launch, Solara will endeavor to ramp up ambassador and influencer engagement, and direct earned and paid media geographically toward areas where it’s at Target stores along with taking part in Target’s promotional opportunities. Competing against consumer packaged goods giants in the sunscreen space is a challenge for self-funded Solara—and the brand doesn’t just have to compete with legacy sun care players. Today, brands big and small, in sun care and outside of it are jumping into the sunscreen market.

“This year will see a ton of sun care growth and launches from every brand. It’s become table stakes. People know that sunscreen is critically important for skin cancer prevention and for the health of your skin and how it ages,” says DiPisa. “It’s a booming category without a doubt, and we’re excited to be in the right place as it takes liftoff.”