What Happened When “The DTC Guy” Nik Sharma Bought And Completely Overhauled Body Care Brand Long Wknd

Just because he’s called “The DTC Guy” doesn’t mean every DTC brand’s business is a cinch for Nik Sharma. In fact, his own brand’s business has been anything but. 

The CEO of New York-based Sharma Brands spent about $500,000 and a year refurbishing and repositioning Long Wknd as an upmarket, fuss-free body care brand for people bitten by the travel bug in a process that succeeded a calamitous takeover. In the spring of 2022, Sharma crossed brand ownership off of his direct-to-consumer bucket list by acquiring the brand previously marketed as an all-natural plastic-free personal care brand from Pela, a Canadian sustainable consumer products company that purchased it in 2020 under the name Habitat Botanicals.

Pela offloaded Long Wknd to concentrate on its home composter Lomi. The brand was founded in 2017 by friends and environmental enthusiasts Jaymie Friesen and Hannah Christian. Sharma became acquainted with it through former Pela CMO Gareth Everard, a fellow performance marketer and co-founder of Rockwell Razors, but he admits he should’ve gotten to know it better. 

“I didn’t do enough proper diligence around the operations, products, formulations or past customer service issues,” he says. “That’s why, after we bought it, we had to completely reimagine the brand from formulations to how we represent the brand.”

Sharma, an investor in Jolie, Chamberlain Coffee and Haus whose brand strategy agency has worked with the likes of Feastables, Skinny Confidential, Scent Beauty, Cadence, Supernatural and Twice, has completely overhauled nearly every aspect of Long Wknd. In the summer of last year, beauty contract manufacturer Cosmos Labs agreed to assume production of the brand’s merchandise, but production equipment Sharma bought broke down and a shipment of raw materials was stuck in customs for three months en route to the United States. 

Sharma estimates that $17,000 worth of ingredients were spoiled. Pela deducted the cost from Sharma’s future payments. His acquisition of Long Wknd stipulated that he make monthly payments of 25% of the brand’s profits to Pela in lieu of an upfront payment. Inventory for Long Wknd’s assortment encompassing deodorants, lip balms, shampoo bars, body wash bars and conditioner bars was thrown in with the deal along with raw materials and manufacturing equipment.  

“The deal is definitely abnormal,” says Sharma. “Of course, if we sell the business, the previous company gets paid out first similar to how preferred stock would work.”

Once the raw materials were freed from customs, Mary Berry, founder and CEO of Cosmos Labs, recalls that they arrived to her facility improperly packed. Boxes were half-open and some contained random office supplies. Cosmos Labs had to weigh the contents, catalog them and decide what should be destroyed. Sharma regrets that he didn’t inspect Long Wknd’s products and ingredients earlier. 

“I agreed to buy the company for what I thought was a great deal and almost everything since signing the agreement had turned into a nightmare.”

“If I could redo it, I would’ve flown Mary out to the company’s original location, and I would’ve gone with her,” he says. “We would inspect everything from the weight of the deodorant, which was listed at 4 ounces when it’s actually 3 ounces, the raw ingredients and even had her go through the formulations, which didn’t last.”

Additional problems emerged after Cosmos Labs cranked up production. Customers received wrong orders from Long Wknd’s website, and the brand had trouble fulfilling wholesale orders from the online wholesale platform Faire. According to Sharma, its third-party logistics provider was to blame. On top of those issues, Long Wknd hired a brand manager who didn’t pan out. 

“Until this point, absolutely nothing had gone right,” says Sharma. “I agreed to buy the company for what I thought was a great deal and almost everything since signing the agreement had turned into a nightmare.” 

To save Long Wknd’s business, Sharma decided a hard pivot was required. He and Berry concluded the brand needed to repackage and reformulate to become more premium. Long Wknd went on hiatus while the rebrand was underway. With the refresh, the brand’s prices increased 50% to $18 to $30 with the aim of reaching an average order value of between $75 and $80. Products that weren’t strong sales performers such as lip balm, shampoo bars and conditioner bars were eliminated. Pricier products like Long Wknd’s $30 solid face balm stick were introduced. 

Sharma hired a different 3PL provider and brand manager to oversee Long Wknd’s day-to-day functions. Sharma Brands built a new site and visual identity for the brand. It also tapped influencers to generate buzz for Long Wknd. To further kick up momentum, it collaborated with the fragrance brand Snif on a scented body bar that Sharma says sold out in 36 hours. He figures the cost of Long Wknd’s rebrand could have easily hit $1 million if he didn’t tap his firm.

Despite Long Wknd’s arduous rebrand process, Sharma is encouraged by the warm reception to the remodeled brand. “With our skillset around content creation, driving eyeballs and making truly amazing products, we will be on the right path,” he says. “If anything, this experience has made me realize that, if I’m not buying a business that’s doing at least $10 million in reliable revenue, meaning it has a high repeat purchase or subscription business, then it makes sense to just start from scratch.”