ZitSticka Launches Nationwide At Target With Exclusive Mini Sizes

ZitSticka has launched in all 1,800 Target doors, marking its biggest retail partnership to date. 

The expansion follows the skin, body and ingestible product brand’s Ulta Beauty entrance in 2020. ZitSticka is also carried by luxury e-tailers Goop, Violet Grey and Net-a-Porter. It joins other pimple patch brands, including Hero, Starface, Rael and Skincamp, in Target’s assortment. 

Target has picked up ZitSticka’s complete range of 10 products, but four products—Skin Discipline clarifying supplement, Blur Potion brightening supplement, Silkshake probiotic body wash and Fizz Fountain body scrub—will be online only. The six products online and in stores are Killa Kit microdart patches plus cleansing wipes, Hyperface dark spot microdart patches, Press Refresh sheet mask, Goo Getter hydrocolloid patches, Megashade SPF serum and Pore Vac clay mask. 

ZitSticka’s prices generally running from $16 to $60 are higher than Target’s usual beauty offerings. To bring down the price and encourage trial, the brand created exclusive mini or what it’s calling Junior sizes for the six in-store products. The full-size Megashade retails at $40 for a 50-ml. size, but the 30-ml. mini version retails for $26, for example. The brand’s Killa Kit, sold for $29 on its website for an eight pack, will be available in a four pack at Target for $16.

Given ZitSticka’s prices relative to Target’s usual in-store beauty offerings, the brand has created exclusive mini, or what the brand is calling Junior, sizes for the six in-store offerings. For example, the full size Megashade, a 50ml bottle, retails for $40. Target will sell a 30ml version for $26. Killa retails on the brands’ website for $29 for an eight-ct. or $60 for a 20 ct. box. A four-ct. Killa Kit will be available at Target for $16.  

“We think of them more like half sizes of our existing range. We really are trying to leverage this as an exploratory experience for the consumer where they can try and expand their regular routine within ZitSticka,” says Kate Festa, senior director of retail marketing at ZitSticka. “It allows that ability to buy multiple SKUs versus just focusing on maybe that one splurge item.”

Entering Target with the breadth of its selection represented was important to ZitSticka, according to Festa, who assumed her position at ZitSticka in August after holding senior marketing posts at Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare and Dr. Jart+. “With our supplements and our full-size body washes, the range of retail prices compared with our core line that’s in store, there is that bigger jump,” she says. “It is a little bit of a test in some capacity, but it’s also a way to show the partnership of our brand and for our consumers to make things convenient and easy, where they can explore further beyond just our topical and patch range.” 

While Killa, the single product ZitSticka launched with in 2019, is a perennial bestseller, the brand is staking its claim beyond the pimple patch category. In January, it introduced Por Vac, a multi-purpose clay mask designed for congested, acne-prone skin. Sales of the topical are already strong. “We’re already seeing some preliminary sales on this, it’s making its way towards the top SKUs within the range, which is really exciting,” says Festa. 

Target has long been a coveted retail partner for emerging beauty brands, a status the big-box retailer solidified by being an essential retailer during the pandemic and has bolstered by ushering in numerous rising brands into its merchandise ranks. One of the huge draws is Target shoppers, a broad cohort encompassing many demographics. “There’s so much crossover now. I can’t even tell you exactly who was a Target shopper because I think it’s everyone,” says Festa. 

ZitSticka has realized its customer isn’t exactly who the brand thought it would be at the outset. “We think of acne as younger, but as we’ve evolved the brand and evolved the range, we’ve seen that actually a big piece of our market is in that 30 to 40 range. That’s a major sweet spot for us,” says Festa. “That also helps with having a consumer that’s a little bit more established. They have more of a flexible income, which warrants some of our price points. I think it’s mostly quality consumers who come to our brand, people who are looking for products that work, that have active ingredients, that have science behind them.”

Brothers-in-law Daniel Kaplan and Robbie Miller started ZitSticka in early 2019. The brand has raised a total of $7.75 million in funding between seed and series A rounds. Festa divulges another raise may be in the brand’s near future. “ZitSticka has raised capital from a few VCs, namely BFG and Unilever Ventures, allowing for accelerated business growth through the three short years it’s been running,” she says. “As the company grows it’s retail footprint, expanding on its omnichannel offering, future capital raising is being considered to keep up with the fast growing B2B and DTC demand.”