Is there really a perfect time to start a business? This piece looks at some positive reasons to start a business off the back of a pandemic, from a perspective of a Founder in the CBD Beauty Space.
Understandably, it’s been a crazy few months. With little to no visibility on when the pandemic could be over, it has been difficult to see the beauty in the madness. From hosting birthday parties on Zoom, to meeting up with friends and family in the park while social distancing, I am sure we can agree that our lives will be changed forever after this. It has been heartbreaking to see people lose family members and friends because of the pandemic, and it has been as equally sad to see small businesses close or desperately try to stay afloat in this rocky economy.
Back in May, amidst the crisis, I took the crazy decision (depending on how you look at it), to quit my job and go deep into Founder-ville. Let’s take a look at why I made this decision. This piece will not give you tips on how to start a business, instead this piece will look at the factors that gave me the idea to take the plunge.
Back in March 2020, I founded Baked Kurls — the world’s first CBD-infused, natural hair care line, dedicated to kinky and curly hair textures. Now we have spoken about all the pleasantries, let’s get into the juicy details!
Consumer’s are now starting to embrace the wonderful world of e-commerce
The Baked Kurls business model is B2C through e-commerce. Of course, e-commerce is a money saving option for a lot of B2C businesses, as it takes little to no money to set up shop. However, what has been happening in the online retail space in the UK, for this option to now become more attractive? Online retail sales were up 72% year-on-year in the UK in May. This is progress on April’s online sales — which were up 64% year-over-year, showing a continuing growth trend as consumers continue to shop online during the pandemic. On the flip side, total retail sales in the UK for May were down 13.6% year on year while e-commerce sales were up 72.3%.
What does this tell us?
With the pandemic not letting up, it is clear that there is a lot of opportunity for e-commerce to take centre stage. There are a ton of resources out there to aid Small Business Owners on the basics of Digital Marketing, and Social Media platforms such as Instagram are now offering support for Small Business Owner’s to make noise on the app. One example of this support is the new feature called the “Support small business” sticker, where a user can easily show their support for a small business on their story.
Conscious beauty is here to stay
Consumers are starting to realise the importance of ingredient transparency, and just how dangerous some ingredients can be to not only your health, but the environment.
Before the pandemic, conscious beauty was steadily on the rise. Research taken through the Global Web Index (GWI) in 2019 shows that consumers want more action on eco and ethical issues from brands. Consumers are making choices based on three key things: sustainability, suitability and inclusion. An astonishing 43% would pay more if the packaging was environmentally friendly and 56% would pay more if the products were made with natural/organic ingredients.
Big players in the beauty space such as Lush have begun to push towards zero packaging by producing products in solid form, and L’Oreal has publicly committed to 100% eco-friendly packaging by 2025.
What does this tell us?
If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we are now more sensitive towards information, i.e. fake news. Beauty brands in all sectors must be more careful with the not just ingredients that they use, but also the type of packaging and claims they make. People still desire high quality products, but not at the price of their health or the environment. Conscious beauty isn’t going anywhere.
CBD and CBD-infused products are gaining popularity in the UK
The cannabis derived extract CBD appears to be absolutely everywhere lately, and although there are tight regulations here in the UK around CBD (and levels of THC in products), there is still a sweet spot that is beginning to widen. I won’t be getting into too much detail into CBD, but you can take a look at my previous post that goes into a deep dive on CBD, and the hidden potential for kinky and curly hair textures. The CBD market in the UK has grown at double digits and is expected to fall short of 1 billion pounds in 2025.
We are beginning to see a shift from medicinal uses of CBD in the UK, to interest in CBD for beauty and wellness. This is because, there is now new evidence that proves that CBD is not addictive, and presents no health risks from sustained use, it is clear that CBD will now begin to become more beneficial for a wider range of issues.
What does this tell us?
Although the murky waters of CBD regulation are tricky issues to navigate, if done correctly, being a CBD business can bring you incredible results as a business owner. So are you down for the CBD hype train or not?
With the pandemic unfolding more and more day by day, it is not difficult to look at the world and deny yourself of an opportunity to start that business idea you had. However, with a little insight and perspective, I’m sure that we can see a small window of opportunity, so that once we return back to our new normal, that we will have a wealth of opportunity and understanding to create bad-ass businesses.
As the Latin say: Carpe Diem!
