AG1, formerly Athletic Greens, the popular greens powder brand, is is projected to reach $600 million in revenue this fiscal year by selling just a single product—its signature daily health drink mix—solely direct to consumer.
While it’s been following this model since 2010, it’s gearing up for its “first steps” into new retail channels and products, CEO Kat Cole, who took over the role from founder Chris Ashenden in July, said in an NRF panel alongside Shopify president Harley Finkelstein and Favorite Daughter founder Sara Foster.
“The power in our decisions for years was saying no to those things,” Cole said, but after years of behind-the-scenes work to prepare for this moment, from iterating on its products to build a community of consumers, it’s ready to start saying yes. Speaking with Retail Brew following the panel, Cole, alongside Finkelstein—who has worked with AG1 through its partnership with Shopify—shared why the timing was right and how digitally native retail brands should be thinking about the move to offline in 2025.
Changing channels: According to Finkelstein, we’re living in a “post-omnichannel” world, where retail brands being available everywhere—DTC, Amazon, flooding the shelves of mass players like Target or Walmart—isn’t necessarily a key to success. During NRF, Shopify held an AG1 and Favorite Daughter pop-up in SoHo, while AG1 has also recently partnered with 1 Hotels and True Food Kitchen as avenues for new customers to “help people have their own real experience—not a billboard, not a podcast,” Cole said.
Cole said the company knew it was ready to start expanding for three reasons: first, its work to strengthen its supply chain, moving some production from New Zealand to the US; second, efforts to conduct clinical trials and research to communicate a “science-driven message to consumers” that would be clear on shelf; and third, its assembling of a team with experience in the retail channel that “understands innovation.” Its recent hires include CMO Paulie Dery, former CMO of cooler and drinkware brand Yeti, in August.
After doing one thing for so many years, the expansion process won’t necessarily be easy, Cole admitted.
“It’s like, white knuckle all the way where we’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s the site experience gonna be? Everybody’s used to seeing only one thing—what happens when they have the option for two?’…So that journey for us is gonna be really exciting. It’s very invigorating for the team,” she said.
For brands in 2025, the drivers behind entering retail or opening their own brick-and-mortar stores have evolved. Finkelstein said he believes that when entering new channels, brands shouldn’t necessarily be centered around gaining new customers, but increasing the LTV (lifetime value) of its current customers. This shift from online to offline also used to be a pretty expensive one, but as the cost of customer acquisition on digital platforms has skyrocked over the past few years, in some circumstances a lease could turn out to be cheaper per square foot than advertising online, he noted.
“It’s less about online versus offline,” he said. “It’s more about, can your brand actually grow larger, whether it’s through LTV or it’s to reduce your cost per cost acquisition through physical retail?”
Loyal treatment: Much like at last fall’s Groceryshop, many leaders at NRF discussed the question of how to maintain customer loyalty, which appears to be wavering amid the proliferation of private label, dupe culture, and consumers’ desire for value. But for AG1, there’s one key to loyalty: quality.
“There is nothing I could say to a customer that would get them to be loyal if the quality weren’t there,” she said. “You could spend all the money you want. You could do rewards, loyalty, incentives, recognition programs—at some point, that well runs dry if they don’t feel what they’re buying is worth it.”
A close relationship to its consumer base is also essential, Finkelstein added, noting when he participated in 29029 Everesting (a 36-hour endurance hike where participants climb 29,029 feet), he found that AG1 had partnered with the company.
“[29029 Everesting] is not a well-known thing, but the fact that someone at AG1 figured out that this particular event is the right particular demographic for AG1 new customers…that’s a difference maker,” he said. “That is something you know because you’re in the community.”
Cole said having one product in one channel has ultimately helped the company stay focused, and build and get to know that community (even though there’s been temptation to launch more products before it was ready).
“We think very much long term, proper restraint, service of the customer,” she said. “What will we decide today that we’ll be grateful we decided tomorrow? We’ve been so rewarded for that focus. It doesn’t mean the focus looks the same over time.”
This report was originally published by Retail Brew.
