Many TV-bound entrepreneurs must combat for the possibility to look on “Shark Tank,” solely incomes that priceless display screen time after beating out numerous different business-minded hopefuls. However with the aspirational story behind Lani Lazzari and her skincare model, Easy Sugars, the present’s producers have been intrigued sufficient to achieve out with an invite to use.
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The story goes one thing like this: Lazzari took her first steps into capitalism on the tender age of 11, when what started as prepping easy sugar scrubs as DIY vacation items bloomed into a real curiosity in skincare. Having dealt together with her personal eczema for years, Lazzari began creating chemical-free merchandise superb for delicate complexions. These scrubs contained not one of the frequent skincare elements folks with eczema ought to keep away from, like alcohol or lanolin, and shortly proved widespread with family and friends. Because the phrase about her sugar scrubs unfold, Lazzari’s passion segued right into a flourishing on-line enterprise.
By the point she appeared on “Shark Tank” at simply 18 years outdated, Lazzari had already racked up a sales-forward on-line presence. This fledgling success and concentrate on skin-friendly merchandise caught the attention of Mark Cuban, whose son additionally had eczema. Lazzari and Cuban struck a deal, and similar to that, Easy Sugars entered the following part of its enterprise. However that is hardly the place the story ends — this skincare firm has solely continued to evolve since its quarter-hour of “Shark Tank” fame.
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Easy Sugars’ Shark Tank pitch
Lani Lazzari introduced Easy Sugars to the Sharks method again in 2013, in search of $100,000 in alternate for a ten% stake within the firm. She started her pitch by describing the advantages behind her all-natural sugar scrubs, from their hydrating oils to their suitability for people with eczema, psoriasis, and different delicate pores and skin sorts.
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Lazzari had Lori Greiner come up for a sensible demonstration, displaying the businesswoman how you can use a strawberry-scented physique scrub. Then, she launched into the nitty-gritty, explaining that 60% of gross sales got here by way of Easy Sugars’ web site on the time, whereas inserting merchandise in a regional grocery chain pulled in income as effectively. Lazzari outlined the corporate’s year-to-date gross sales of $55,000 and projections to hit $100,000, together with its 75% to 80% revenue margins. Lazzari additionally underscored the model’s current development. In simply the prior three months, Easy Sugars had expanded its retail presence from six to twenty shops, earned the spot because the “top-selling specialty model” in stated grocery chain, and was negotiating with a “high-end on-line skincare retailer” for a gross sales deal that might be price as much as $400,000.
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Finally, whereas all 5 Sharks expressed their admiration for Lazzari and her progress up to now, 4 bowed out of the bidding battle. Nonetheless, Mark Cuban noticed the model’s potential and supplied up $100,000 in alternate for a 33% stake. After some consideration, Lazzari accepted the deal, and Easy Sugars was off to the races.
Easy Sugars’ gross sales soared after Shark Tank
Throughout her pitch, Lani Lazzari talked about expectations to hit $100,000 in gross sales for the yr, however her profitable phase on “Shark Tank” rapidly blew that projection out of the water. Easy Sugars hit $220,000 in gross sales within the first day following the episode’s airing, and inside six weeks, the corporate reached a whopping $1 million.
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Even with this injection of capital and entry to new experience from investor Mark Cuban, nevertheless, Lazzari continued to strategy her enterprise strategically. To guard the model’s value level and picture, the entrepreneur held her floor in opposition to tempting provides from main retailers like Goal. “It could have been quite a lot of quantity, however they needed a lot decrease costs than I used to be comfy with,” Lazzari later instructed Success. “We’re a high-end status model and have to be very cautious about not undervaluing ourselves. The Goal deal, which was very short-term, would have put us in a tough place going ahead once we approached different retailers.”
Finally, Lazzari seemed on the growing shift away from brick-and-mortar buying and determined to concentrate on e-commerce. In 2017, Easy Sugars pulled its merchandise from almost all bodily retailers — a transfer that by the way left the corporate well-positioned when COVID-19 additional altered the buying panorama for department shops and grocery chains alike in 2020.
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Easy Sugars remains to be a booming enterprise
Greater than a decade has handed since Lani Lazzari introduced her Easy Sugars pitch onto the set of “Shark Tank.” So, the place’s the enterprise now? Not solely is Easy Sugars nonetheless working, however this healthful skincare firm can be thriving. It is even been singled out by enterprise publications like Inc. as one of many “most profitable ‘Shark Tank’ firms of all time” alongside recognizable crowd favorites like Bombas socks and Scrub Daddy sponges.
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Easy Sugars has additionally been cited as one among Mark Cuban’s “most profitable ‘Shark Tank’ investments” from retailers like GO Banking Charges, although the corporate’s present price is not completely clear. In 2018, retailers like The Dallas Enterprise Journal reported that Easy Sugars had advanced right into a $10 million firm, however different reviews counsel that the model solely hit a $5 million valuation in 2021. Both method, this skincare enterprise has clearly skilled important development since its early days and maintains a robust digital footprint. On the time of writing, Easy Sugars boasts greater than 15,000 followers on Instagram and 47,000 followers on Fb. That stated, its TikTok account solely has 89 followers, leaving loads of room to develop and take over BeautyTok.
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What’s subsequent for Easy Sugars?
As many savvy entrepreneurs acknowledge, standing nonetheless generally is a demise sentence in in the present day’s aggressive enterprise area. Fortuitously, Easy Sugars has by no means been a model to relaxation on its laurels. Consistent with the pushed spirit of founder Lani Lazzari, the corporate continues to develop its choices and discover new alternatives for development. This contains constantly promoting new items on the market on its web site, from multi-item bundles and a complete vary of males’s Easy Sugars merchandise to seasonally scented scrubs. As an example, the model’s fall lineup is thought to function scrubs just like the Pumpkin Facial and the Spiced Apple Physique. Probably trying to enhance buyer retention and repeat purchases, Easy Sugars has even launched subscription-based buying choices to proactively fulfill shoppers’ skincare wants.
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And, in fact, the model’s advertising continues unabated. On prime of its common social media presence, Easy Sugars could be seen attempting to seize a slang-driven life-style motion paying homage to the notorious anti-shampoo “no ‘poo” development, although, on this case, the phrase du jour is “no lo’,” brief for “no lotion.” The idea? With the company-driven hashtag #GoNoLo in outstanding use, Easy Sugars emphasizes how its ultra-hydrating, oil-based scrubs remove the necessity to apply lotion after a bathe. Whereas this will not flip into the following go-to catchphrase for magnificence lovers, it does show one factor: Easy Sugars remains to be exploring each avenue to assist its enterprise development, which is why we cannot be too stunned if this model sticks round for an additional 10 years — and past.
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