Celebrities open their own e-stores, including in Poland

Jessica Alba's organic cosmetics company is valued at $1.7 billion, Kate Hudson's sportswear brand reported revenues of $1.5 million last year. Hollywood actresses are making waves in the ecommerce industry. Polish celebrities are also following in their footsteps.

Jessica Alba founded Honest Company in 2011. As a young mom, she noticed a niche in baby products - most of which contain harmful ingredients and artificial flavors that can irritate sensitive skin. She launched an online store with 17 products - organic cosmetics for kids and moms. Today it sells more than 120 of them, ranging from eco diapers and organic soaps to biodegradable laundry detergents and vegan chic bags for moms with special pockets for bottles and diapers. The company reported $275 million in revenue last year, plus it also receives funding from private investors. Honest already sells its bestsellers not only online, but also in traditional store chains Target and Costco. Starting online and, once popular, going offline is a model also pursued by Fabletics. The designer sportswear brand founded in 2013 by Kate Hudson, among others, was supposed to operate only as an e-commerce store. The colorful leggings, sports bras, tops and sweatshirts so appealed to customers that in 2015 Fabletics recorded revenues of $150 million and opened its first stationary store two years after the launch of the online store. The key to the company's success is its policy of reasonable prices and marketing centered around a star who loves a healthy, active lifestyle.

Gwyneth Paltrow has also created her own online brand. The actress has been running a lifestyle website goop.com combined with a store for eight years. Paltrow has released her own collection of clothes, cosmetics and perfumes, but her e-store also offers products from other brands, including Reebok, Michael Kors, Valentino, Loeffler Randall. Goop's offerings are very wide (clothes, handbags, cosmetics, shoes, kitchen accessories, home decorations) and rather aimed at the wealthier - a little black dress costs about $600, a coat almost $1,200, and a scented candle designed by Gwyneth costs $72.

- I have been watching with interest the entry of celebrities into e-commerce. Celebrities, looking for a way to diversify their income, are reaching for their own products, usually starting by opening an online store. They primarily invest their own image in their business. Why should they advertise someone else's brand when they have their own? - notes Tomasz Tybon, director of marketing and sales at Dreamcommerce, provider of Shoper ready-to-use online store software. - Polish celebrities are also following in the footsteps of Hollywood actors. Our software is already used by the stores of more than a dozen celebrities, Tybon enumerates.

Stores of Polish celebrities

The forerunner of celebrity brands in Poland is Kinga Rusin. She launched her organic cosmetics under the name Pat&Rub nine years ago. Although the brand has had its business woes, the cosmetics have just been back on sale with refreshed formulas, available at the new store www.patandrub.eu. Subsequent batches of Pat&Rub by Kinga Rusin are going down online like hotcakes, and are also expected to appear soon in the Sephora chain.

Celebrities are finding their way not only into beauty or fashion departments. Anna Dereszowska entered the children's industry this year. The actress and mother has designed a clothes-bottle, which is a comforting cuddly toy into which a child's bottle or bottle can be inserted. The soft plush animal-shaped cuddly toy makes it easy for a child to hold the bottle on his own, while the charm of the clever toy encourages him to empty it. Anna Dereszowska sells the cuddly toys and pacifiers through her e-store www.ubrankootulanko.pl.

- The actions of celebrities reflect trends throughout society. More and more people are shopping online, the e-commerce industry is growing steadily. The online store itself is easy to set up and does not require a huge investment. It is convenient to run, especially if you use ready-made software, which, together with the engine and template of the store, provides the necessary elements: hosting, online marketing, built-in payment systems or legal and technical support. Such start-up support comes in handy especially for those who don't have as many resources as well-known people," explains Tomasz Tybon of Dreamcommerce.