After Over 1 Million Products Sold on TikTok Shop, The Beachwaver Co. It’s also going into Sales

The Beachwaver Co. — one of the oldest jewelry brands to hit the TikTok Shop — is looking to translate its digital success into brick-and-mortar sales.

First launched in 2012 by celebrity hairstylist Sarah Potempa and sisters Erin Potempa-Wall and Emily Potempa, the brand is bringing a variety of hair care products and accessories to Target doors nationwide in October. The brand is also available at Dillards, Von Maur, online at Ulta Beauty and in all Anthropologie stores.

The changes mark a return to the brand’s market, which debuted on QVC when Sarah Potempa demonstrated using the brand’s original and military weapon, the $229 Beachwaver Pro round iron. The brand soon rolled out the tool to Target, Ulta and Nordstrom, before exiting in 2016 to focus on growing its direct-to-consumer business.

“QVC was amazing because we got to show our product to an audience, but with this type of show you only get so little time — usually 10 minutes — and we were like, ‘how do we know? our customer? how do we get answers?'” Potempa said.

Indeed, QVC’s 10-minute demos are six to eight hours long and have helped Beachwaver’s sales on the TikTok Shop, where the brand has sold more than 1.1 million units in just one year, entering the top 1. percent of all TikTok Shop merchants. Data from Charm.io, too, shows that the brand earned more than $11 million in TikTok Shop sales in the first half of 2024, making it the fourth fastest growing brand in terms of sales on the platform during this period.

They often have hairdressing tutorials or packaging videos – which are played from a warehouse in Illinois – the live sessions are similar to those that the brand started doing in the late 2010s through their direct-to-consumer website, although TikTok has brought it. them to a wider audience.

“Whenever I show on our website or on social media, I get a lot of questions and comments from viewers, so it’s a two-way street where I get in touch with consumers,” said Potempa, who this summer opened a 5,100-square-foot content studio in Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar. Factory. Complete with office and retail space, the lounge serves as a venue for social events.

Since going public, Beachwaver has amassed a “Text Fam” of 750,000 members, most of whom are women aged 34 and up, who choose to text to inform them when the brand is on its website or on TikTok. Buy it.

“The communication we’ve been able to create with consumers was a direct result of our decision to invest in our community and build the brand, as opposed to trying to push at the time to sell,” Potempa-Wall said. .

The return allowed the brand to focus on its product range, adding flat irons, hair dryers and variations of the Beachwaver signature, as well as selling hair care products – from hair sprays to mousses to blonde shampoo – in 2019. one of the stockists for a long time, and this was not a big deal for our suppliers. Now, we have more than 100 units – we are a very different company than we were then,” said Sarah Potempa.

Although the founders haven’t said what they expect to sell at launch, industry sources say the Beachwaver could do $5 million in sales in its first three months at Target. Although hair accessories make up the majority of the business – more than 90 percent – the attraction also gives the brand an opportunity to make a splash in hair care.

“Selling hair care is different from selling a hair product, where you can understand the before and after just by looking at it, right?,” Potempa-Wall said. “When caring for hair, you want to feel it, you want to see the container, smell it and see how it is.”

“We’ve done the work of building a variety of hair care products – now, we want consumers to be able to find a place where they can walk and shop,” said Sarah Potempa.