Reference no: EM133379760

Case Study: Subscription-based women's shave and personal care brand Athena Club is coming north.

The New York-based, primarily direct-to-consumer brand boasts it has surpassed 1 million products shipped to customers in the past 24 months, and that this is its first international foray outside its home base.

"Over the past two years, we received many inquiries about shipping to Canada, which was very exciting and one of the reasons for expanding," says company co-founder Maria Markina. "It has been our number one most-requested country across social media and customer service, and we have thousands of Canadian email subscribers and followers on TikTok and Instagram."

Markina tells strategy the market is also steadily growing at approximately 2.5% CAGR. So from a business perspective, expanding to Canada makes a lot of sense and presents the perfect opportunity for Athena Club to also expand its retail footprint and bring clean, sustainable, and beautifully designed personal care products to domestic consumers.

Products from the brand's portfolio - including its Razor Kit, Cloud Shave Foam, Creamy Body Wash, Dewy Body Lotion and All Day Deo (a deodorant) - will be available on its website, though expanding into retail while continuing to grow its DTC (Direct to Consumer) business will be a priority for the brand.

Markina says Athena Club also has a first-player advantage as a woman-focused DTC personal care brand, but as it continues to market and develop the brand, it will ensure that messaging resonates with consumers regardless of which side of the border they reside.

"Communications around national holidays will be localized, as will our cultural and seasonal references when appropriate," Markina says. "Canada-specific retail opportunities, such as Boxing Day, will also be taken into consideration in order to maximize Canadian consumer expectations and behavior."

Larger marketing efforts tend to focus on its product value propositions or a brand message, rather than being particularly localized. For example, in October, Athena Club rolled out its debut brand campaign "For How People Actually Shave" taking a cinematic approach to personal care, "celebrating how we shave, when we shave, and what we shave."

Markina says Athena Club is always engaging in smaller and more localized marketing efforts such as brand partnerships, event gifting and community building. "We will tackle these efforts by engaging with taste-makers in local communities throughout Canada, with the goal of building genuine relationships from the ground up."

According to Markina, despite there being many mass market options for shave Care, body Care, and period care, there are not many made with safe and high-quality ingredients, thoughtful packaging and at an affordable price.

Thus far, stateside (in the U.S.), the brand has attracted a majority female-identifying audience (81%) very distributed in terms of age and geography.

Adapted from:

Lombardo, Christopher "Athena Club aims to shake up women's personal care", strategyonline.ca.

QUESTION: You are the marketing manager for Athena Club in Canada and are starting the annual planning process for next year. Prepare a thorough SWOT analysis for the Canadian operation at this stage of its life using all of the pertinent information provided in the case study.