Case study: Erewhon
Product-led branding in action
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“Orange cauliflower that’s more photogenic than you” is how Tinx, an influencer, describes one of the more popular products in Erewhon, a luxury grocer. Erewhon certainly knows how to use its $26 hyper oxygenated water to participate in cultural conversations: Erwehon smoothies are a coveted social media content fodder, a status symbol, and a healthy treat all in one - leading to Erewhon’s $171.4M in profit in 2023.
“Erewhon’s significance in the culture reflects both a millennial and Gen Z shift in spending, from material goods toward experience, and a shift in desire, from designer clothes toward designer bodies,” Hollywood Reporter wrote last year. According to McKinsey’s study of the US consumer spending, grocery shopping follows dining as the top two activities that consumers seek to spend their money on.
Erewhon built its brand around the health, wellness - and aspirational - credentials of its products. Originally launched in Boston with intention of introducing macrobiotic diet to the US consumers, Erewhon sells only locally sourced, traceable, natural, organic, vegan, macrobiotic fare. Its brand grew from association with their products and all of those who consume them, now reaching the status and recognition not dissimilar to a luxury fashion brand.
The more content there is, the more people are talking, the more people are buying, the richer the Erewhon narrative, cultural resonance, and aspirational credentials. “We need people to understand that we’re not just a grocery store. It’s something you buy into,” notes Alec Antoci, son of the Erewhon owners. In the perfect product-led branding example, instead of convincing people to buy something (think of countless CPG ads on TV), Erewhon created something that people want to buy and identify with.
The key five elements of Erewhon’s product-led branding playbook are value, use, aesthetics, narrative and fandom. Read below.
Value
List of Erewhon product ingredients is long and mysterious: colloidal silver, reishi powder, astragalus extract, Neocell hyaluronic acid drops, activated charcoal, liquid collagen, stevia, blue majik, superfoods, tocos, lucuma, mesquite, turmeric … they are all produced by Erewhon or locally sourced. Health credentials of Erewhon products are its original selling proposition, commanding high prices, a cult following, and an aspirational status of the brand.
“What I’m essentially looking to do in the review process is curate the best product, and the best ingredients, for our customers, so they can trust what they see on the shelf. Price is not what triggers us. It’s more about the ingredients, the look, and all that. Pricing tends to be considered at the later stage [in our process] than for some