Target Expands Its “Cleanical” Offering With The Addition Of Sun Protection And Skincare Brand MDSolarSciences

Rooted in the professional channel, MDSolarSciences is extending into the mass market.

The 10-year-old brand founded by dermatologic oncologist Robert Friedman has launched seven products priced from $16.99 to $50.99 on Target’s website: Mineral Tinted Crème SPF 30, Daily Antioxidant Face Moisturizer SPF 30, Evening Retinol Moisturizing Serum, Revitalizing Eye Gel, Mineral BB Cream SPF 50, Wash Away Face Cleanser and Hydrating Sheer Lip Balm SPF 30. Along with a 170-door test run at CVS with similar products, the launch sets up MDSolarSciences to introduce its formulas, many of which are sun care-skincare combos, to a broader audience. For Target and CVS, the brand strengthens their offerings at the “cleanical” intersection of clean and lab-born beauty.

“I believe that true skin wellness needs to be accessible to everyone, not just locked up in the ivory tower of a dermatologist office where the reason why you are going is usually a problem. We look at MDSolarSciences as preventative. It helps preserve the quality and youthfulness of your skin,” says CEO Renee Plato. “By being part of Target and the Target guest experience, we deliver against the mantra of accessibility.”

Plato, a former SVP at Walt Disney Co. and Nielsen, joined MDSolarSciences two and a half years ago, about two to three years from the time the brand began to branch out from the professional channel—it’s in roughly 700 dermatologists’ offices and 300 aestheticians’ practices today—to e-tailers and retailers including Revolve, Pharmaca, Dermstore and Amazon’s luxury beauty portal. As the pandemic emerged in the United States in 2020, e-commerce accounted for 80% of the brand’s business, a factor that protected it from a severe decline as dermatologists and aestheticians closed for precautionary measures.

Without a background in the beauty industry, Plato came on board because she was enamored with MDSolarSciences’ formulas. After realizing his patients’ disdain for the texture of the sunscreens on the market prevented them from wearing sunscreen, Friedman, a specialist in the early detection of melanoma, conceived the brand’s sunscreen with gentle application. For Plato, the real test was whether MDSolarSciences kids’ sunscreen would fly with her daughter, who was 6 years old when Plato was considering the CEO post. Plato reports, “She said, ‘I love this.’ So, I thought, ‘This is a winner, it just needs a spotlight shined on it.’”

“True skin wellness needs to be accessible to everyone, not just locked up in the ivory tower of a dermatologist office.”

To shine a spotlight on the brand she deemed a sleeper in the sun protection and skincare categories, Plato decided it should be spiffed up. MDSolarSciences embarked on a major refresh unveiled last year that took it from packaging splashed with bright colors to a sleek black and white design with the exception of kids’ products housed in vibrant green packaging. The brand uses icons to communicate to consumers that its products are cruelty-free and hypoallergenic, among several attributes, and its recyclable packaging is soft touch to align with the velvety texture of its formulas. The brand also highlights star ingredients such as niacinamide and hyaluronic acid on the packaging for skincare consumers hunting for ingredient dynamos.

To create attainable prices for mass-market shoppers, MDSolarSciences developed skincare products with streamlined formulas that Plato underscores don’t compromise results. “We made sure we were maintaining efficacy as well as the wonderful feel of or products, but we went from maybe 24 antioxidants to peel that back to maybe 16,” says Plato, referring specifically to the difference between the $31.99 mass-market Daily Antioxidant Face Moisturizer SPF 30 and the premium $76 Daily Perfecting Moisturizer SPF 30. “That really helped us lighten the cost structure.” In addition, the brand shrunk the sizes of the products. For example, the premium face moisturizer is 1.7 ounces compared to the 1-oz. size of the mass-market face moisturizer.

The distinctions between MDSolarSciences’ mass and premium products, and professional accounts’ preferences for its mainstay sun care products over its skincare products may assist the brand as it pursues the mass market while attempting to retain a robust business in the professional channel. “We are very much loved by aestheticians for post-procedure sun protection,” says Plato. “We will always invest in that business because that’s our heritage. That gives us the street credibility so in demand in other channels that want to see more dermatologist products on the shelves.”

She acknowledges there are risks for MDSolarSciences associated with entering the mass market, but she thinks there’s a greater upside to being in front of consumers where they flock to shop. Plato says, “I’m mindful of the consumer and what’s important to them, and I will position our business accordingly.” Last year, she shares MDSolarSciences notched triple-digit growth in the professional channel and 60% growth generally. This year, Plato says, “We are on pace for a significant jump forward again.” MDSolarSciences is owned by Friedman’s trust and a small group of private investors who were friends of his. Friedman died last year.

“I’m mindful of the consumer and what’s important to them, and I will position our business accordingly.”

Out of the gate, Mineral Tinted Crème SPF 30 is the bestseller online at Target. Overall, MDSolarSciences’ bestselling product is Mineral Crème SPF 50. Recently, the brand’s lip balms have been gaining traction, and they’re often the third or fourth top-selling product. In tandem with MDSolarSciences’ push into skincare and consumers’ increased adoption of regular sunscreen wear, they’ve played a role in reducing the seasonality of the brand’s sales. During her tenure, Plato says the summer has gone from driving 70% to around 60% of sales. And MDSolarSciences’ customer base has become younger as sun care has risen in relevance to younger consumers. Its core customers are largely 25 to 55 years old, and 30% are men.

Currently sitting at 24 stockkeeping units, MDSolarSciences plans to deepen its bench of skincare products, and products that commingle skincare and sun protection, but Plato emphasizes she’s seeking to avoid a “bloated” selection. “Our products are powerhouses,” she says. “They are dual if not triple purpose and that’s by design. As a busy working mother, I don’t want to grab five different products that do five different things. I want one product that’s going to repair, protect and prevent.”

As for distribution expansion, an in-store Target presence, a wider CVS rollout, Ulta Beauty and Bluemercury are on Plato’s wish list. “Some other mass retailers just don’t fit not only our price point, but our consumer base, and I want to be very conscientious of being successful and not putting ourselves in a position where it’s not going to work,” she says. “We are not low price point. We are definitely on the higher end within the mass environment, and we are at a very approachable price point in the prestige environment. We really can straddle both worlds.”