The Vitamin Shoppe’s beauty connection is deepening.

The retailer is launching “Beauty from Within” displays at about 450 of its nearly 700 locations this month. The displays house dozens of beauty-centered ingestible offerings, including hair growth supplements, marine collagen and skincare gummies, from the brands Imaraïs Beauty, Phenology, Embody, Hush and Hush, and Agent Nateur. Additional brands will enter Beauty from Within’s assortment in the coming months. 

“This cohesive, easy-to-shop concept brings together some of our newest, most innovative brands and products that provide supplement-focused solutions for beauty goals such as clearer skin, healthier hair, and stronger nails,” says The Vitamin Shoppe president Muriel Gonzalez. “As the Beauty from Within name suggests, these in-store displays spotlight beauty ingestibles rather than topical cleansers and creams. Many of our consumers are seeking to integrate supplements into their daily, beauty-centric routines, and this new offering aligns well with The Vitamin Shoppe’s deep expertise across holistic, supplement-based health and wellness solutions.”

Gonzalez was named president of The Vitamin Shoppe in May this year, the same time Lee A. Wright became CEO to replace Sharon Leite, who left The Vitamin Shoppe to be CEO of aesthetics and wellness brand Ideal Image. Wright was previously chief commercial officer of The Vitamin Shoppe parent company Franchise Group Inc. Gonzalez was formerly EVP, chief merchandising and marketing officer at The Vitamin Shoppe and, prior to joining it in 2020, she was EVP, GMM of beauty at Macy’s.

Gonzalez points out that the products in the Beauty from Within displays feature clinically studied formulations. Hush and Hush, for example, conducts independently verified clinical studies and publishes the results of those studies in medical journals, according to founder and CEO Marc Ronert. He says, “The consumer needs to cut through the clutter since there are a lot of marketing claims out there.” Along with The Vitamin Shoppe, Hush and Hush is available at spas, doctors’ offices and Saks Fifth Avenue. 

TrueYou

Outside of its Beauty from Within displays, The Vitamin Shoppe carries a broad array of beauty products from brands the likes of Mad Hippie, Thayers, Sky Organics, Heritage Store and Desert Essence. It also sells beauty products from its in-house The Vitamin Shoppe label and the brand TrueYou. In total, The Vitamin Shoppe carries roughly 700 brands.

At beauty retailers, ingestible products have been a tough sell. However, The Vitamin Shoppe may be better positioned to drive ingestible product sales because customers frequent it for supplements. Ronert emphasizes that consumer education is critical. “People do need an explanation how this fits into their beauty routine,” he says. “We cover a lot of beauty concerns like aging, fine line and wrinkles, pigmentation and also unclear and problematic skin, so our experience is that, once people understand the concept of how to enhance certain needs, it is very well received, but people do have questions.”

Imaraïs Beauty, the 2-year-old brand from bodybuilder-turned-influencer Sommer Ray and Aaron Hefter, co-founder of sports nutrition company Nutrabolics, has four products in The Vitamin Shoppe’s Beauty from Within selection: Its two hero ingestible items, skincare supplement Glow and haircare supplement Grow, and two new items, anti-blemish supplement Clarity and de-puffing supplement De-Puff. The products are priced at $49 each. 

“Many of our consumers are seeking to integrate supplements into their daily, beauty-centric routines.”

The partnership is an important milestone for the brand. Ray says, “This collaboration echoes the brand’s commitment to enhancing lives through innovative, science-backed skincare and wellness solutions. To have the products present in 450 stores across the country signifies not only our growth but also the alignment of brand values with a trusted partner that shares the same vision for empowering individuals to radiate beauty from within.” 

Since Grow’s debut last year, the haircare supplement has eclipsed Glow as Imaraïs’s bestseller. The brand has an anti-aging product on deck for the fourth quarter of this year. Imaraïs is interested in placing Grow in the professional beauty and salon channel to further its distribution reach. Its global retail network stands at around 1,400 doors.

Grow arrived at 150 of JC Penney’s The Salon by InStyle locations with its launch last year. This month, Imaraïs will roll out chain-wide at Chatters, Canada’s largest salon retail company with 125 doors. Imaraïs is also carried at Shoppers Drug Mart, Indigo, Whole Foods and Holt Refrew in Canada, where it’s headquartered, as well as Neiman Marcus and Urban Outfitters in the United States. 

Hefter shares that Imaraïs’s revenues grew 10X from year one to year two, and it’s looking to grow in year three, too. It was reported by Beauty Independent last year that the brand was on track to generate $6 million in revenues in 2022. Imaraïs’s growth comes as some influencer brands have hit snags. 

“It’s always been important to myself and the Imaraïs Beauty team to go beyond having a well-known face, to develop and stand behind products that really work. We’re not just following the crowd, we’re focused on creating a movement,” says Ray. “By making quality products that people love and trust, we’re growing all around the world. We believe in what we’re doing, and that’s why we’re succeeding where others may have stumbled.”