It defines itself as the new brand of sunscreens for millennials. Kream has been on the market for only a year and a half and has set out to shake up the tanning sector by targeting a profile of very young consumers who, according to the company, do not empathize with the big brands that dominate this gigantic business niche, which moves more than 10,000 million euros a year worldwide and is expected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5% until 2028, according to Statista.
In the case of the Spanish market, sunscreens generate more than 300 million euros, a figure that Kream has set out to conquer through a marketing strategy focused on social networks, presence at music festivals (elrow) and with the signing of influencers such as Laura Escanes and Jessica Goicoechea. In 2022, its first year of landing in the market, the brand managed to invoice 200,000 euros and its goal is to close 2023 by entering the first million euros thanks to the strong growth it registers month after month. The challenge is to grow in the coming years by multiplying its turnover by two or four each year, according to Álex Rodés, general director of the Barcelona-based company.
To finance growth and, especially, to have the necessary economic resources to be able to face the production of its sunscreens, Kream has just closed a financing round of 400,000 euros, which adds to the 200,000 euros raised by the three founding partners when they decided to create the company in 2021. The first capital contribution was subscribed by Friends, Family and Fools (FFF), some of whom have reinvested in this second round, in which several non-professional private investors from Barcelona have also participated, betting on the potential of the young brand. In the operation, explains Rodés, no investment fund has participated.
The promoters of Kream are Jordi Martínez, Joan Faura and Borja Blasco, three thirty-something friends who, during the pandemic, came up with the idea of creating a brand that could be disruptive in the sunscreen market and focused on young people, with whom they seek to create a connection that allows them to compete in a mature market dominated by large multinationals and specialized laboratories that have been in the market for many years and allocate millions to advertising. "We have entered a world where very consolidated brands operate; we took a gamble, but Kream is doing very well, with exceptional growth this first year," highlights Rodés.
Although Kream started from scratch, to make the project a reality, the connection of one of the partners, Jordi Martínez, with the cosmetics sector has been key, as his family owns Arual, a Barcelona-based company that produces products for hairdressing and cosmetics professionals. This company, which was founded in 1949 in the Gracia neighborhood, has an R&D laboratory and a factory located in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, where Kream has outsourced the production of its sunscreens. In the future, Rodés admits that they would like to have their own production center, although, for this, it is first necessary to significantly increase the company's volume.
Martínez's profile, who in addition to being a partner has been Arual's financial and commercial director, is complemented by that of the other two founders of the startup. Thus, Joan Faura is a partner at Optima Network, a leading Barcelona-based advertising technology company that has recently been recognized by Financial Times as one of Europe's thousand fastest-growing companies. Faura is also the founder and director of Impulse Group, a firm also dedicated to online advertising. Finally, Borja Blasco works at Urbania, a company in the real estate sector.
The three partners maintain all these professional occupations in parallel to Kream, as they have handed over the day-to-day management to Rodés, an expert in logistics and seasoned in the e-commerce business thanks to the six years he worked at the successful sunglasses company Northweek.
Kream has opted for three main channels to market its sun creams: online sales through its own store and via Amazon; and physical sales through pharmacies and by signing agreements with hotels and beach clubs. This year, the online business will generate 60% of the turnover, but Rodés wants in-person sales to gain ground and balance the scales.
The commitment to the pharmaceutical channel is one of the strategic decisions adopted by Kream's partners, who have chosen to position their brand in the medium-high segment of the market, avoiding sales in supermarkets. One of the company's partners with interests in the pharmaceutical distribution sector has helped them open up to this competitive channel, where they have managed to triple their presence in the last year, reaching 1,500 pharmacies.
"We are happy with the presence we have achieved in a very short time, but we still have to make the leap. We aspire to soon triple the number of pharmacies that sell Kream again, although the goal is to be present, at least, in half of all pharmacies on the peninsula," says Rodés. According to the executive, more and more pharmacies are interested in carrying the brand because it brings them closer to a younger audience.
The six products that Kream has so far launched on the market (with a total of 20 references if we count the different packs and formats) are sold at a price between 15 and 25 euros, with an average online purchase ticket amounting to 30 euros. Its most demanded product is Kream Bloody Mary, a tanning intensifier that stimulates melanin production, which allows "to reduce hours of sun exposure, a beneficial aspect for health," says Rodés.
The startup currently employs about ten people, including in-house and external staff, and plans in the medium term to also make the leap to Latin America and the Middle East, although the director admits that there is still much ground to cover in Spain and that their priority is to first become a reference brand in the national market.