Case study: Erewhon

Product-led branding in action

Vacation sunscreen x Erewhon

“Orange cauliflower that’s more photogenic than you” is how Tinx, an influencer, describes one of the more popular products in Erewhon, a luxury grocer. Erewhon certainly knows how to use its $26 hyper oxygenated water to participate in cultural conversations: Erwehon smoothies are a coveted social media content fodder, a status symbol, and a healthy treat all in one — leading to Erewhon’s $171.4M in profit in 2023.

“Erewhon’s significance in the culture reflects both a millennial and Gen Z shift in spending, from material goods toward experience, and a shift in desire, from designer clothes toward designer bodies,” Hollywood Reporter wrote last year. According to McKinsey’s study of the US consumer spending, grocery shopping follows dining as the top two activities that consumers seek to spend their money on.

Erewhon built its brand around the health, wellness — and aspirational — credentials of its products. Originally launched in Boston with intention of introducing macrobiotic diet to the US consumers, Erewhon sells only locally sourced, traceable, natural, organic, vegan, macrobiotic fare. Its brand grew from association with their products and all of those who consume them, now reaching the status and recognition not dissimilar to a luxury fashion brand.

The more content there is, the more people are talking, the more people are buying, the richer the Erewhon narrative, cultural resonance, and aspirational credentials. “We need people to understand that we’re not just a grocery store. It’s something you buy into,” notes Alec Antoci, son of the Erewhon owners. In the perfect product-led branding example, instead of convincing people to buy something (think of countless CPG ads on TV), Erewhon created something that people want to buy and identify with.

The key five elements of Erewhon’s product-led branding playbook are value, use, aesthetics, narrative and fandom. Read below.

Value

List of Erewhon product ingredients is long and mysterious: colloidal silver, reishi powder, astragalus extract, Neocell hyaluronic acid drops, activated charcoal, liquid collagen, stevia, blue majik, superfoods, tocos, lucuma, mesquite, turmeric … they are all produced by Erewhon or locally sourced. Health credentials of Erewhon products are its original selling proposition, commanding high prices, a cult following, and an aspirational status of the brand.

“What I’m essentially looking to do in the review process is curate the best product, and the best ingredients, for our customers, so they can trust what they see on the shelf. Price is not what triggers us. It’s more about the ingredients, the look, and all that. Pricing tends to be considered at the later stage [in our process] than for some

other grocery stores,” notes Erewhon Purchasing Director, Ana Yoon. To cater to its wellness-savvy audience, Erewhon recently introduced AI-generated description for its products on its website, where its customers spend seventy percent more.

Use

Nourishment of Erewhon products is delivered and experienced through their consumption and community, not promised through advertising. Erewhon does not advertise. Its followers, influencers, and celebrities do it instead. Since Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Skin Glaze smoothie went viral on TikTok, Erewhon has been making ~40,000 of them a month (in 2023, Erewhon made $10.6M just on it), thanks to the hordes of fans (fandom here spans Hailey Bieber, content creation, status signaling, health and aspiration) who make a regular pilgrimage to Erewhon (something similar, but at a smaller scale, was seen at the heyday of Glossier and its popups).

Like Glossier products back in the day, Erewhon smoothies are made to both taste good and look good, to nourish and invite sharing at the same time. In addition to Strawberry Skin Glaze, there is Orange Kinsicle smoothie by Bella Hadid, Sweet

Cherry by Sophie Richie, cold Brew Cookie by Emma Chamberlain, Coconut Cloud by Marianna Hewitt, Island Glow by Winnie Harlow, Good 4 ur GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo, Giselderberry Boost by Gisele Bündchen, Sunscreen by Vacation … Like 501 for Levi’s, Arizona for Birkenstock, or 1460 for Dr. Martens, Erewhon smoothies have become an anchor of Erewhon’s business. Beyond smoothies, though, Brooke Baevsky, a celebrity chef, in her now-viral clip explored the ingredients of her $200 peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Food at Erewhon is meant to be first photographed, then eaten.

Aesthetics

Beyond photogenic items and editorial-like food assortment, Erewhon projects its aesthetic through its product drops, merch, and collaborations. “Every city has a destination that speaks to the culture it’s based in and I think Erewhon is an emblem of Los Angeles,” noted Alec Antoci. True to the LA style form, the company regularly drops of its Standard Collection, with hoodies and sweatpants in neutral colors, featuring the original logo, made in French terry and priced in the $125-$150 range. The most recent collaboration saw UGG’s Tazz mules embellished with brown palm tree prints, curtesy of JonBoy, a tattoo artist. The mule is a limited edition, and comes with a cold-press drink called The Tazz Tonic. Thoroughly LA, Erewhon aesthetic has been featured in Balenciaga’s runway show with models sporting sweatpants and UGG-like boots, together with Erewhon grocery bag-like leather totes and bottles of black juices made by Erewhon.

Narrative

Erewhon’s narrative is one of luxury, aspiration, and experience built around health and wellness. Everything that the company does makes this narrative tangible: its Coachella activations, merch drops, and collaborations, like the one with Sushi Club. The exclusive, limited edition Sushi Club x Erewhon bento box was personally curated by Nobu Matsuhisa and comes with a hat, a hoodie and logo t-shirts in nori green.

Read the rest of this analysis on The Sociology of Business.