rethink sustainability
Personal care products with zero plastic waste? 900.care is building a revolution
For a long time now, personal care products have relied on single-use plastic, with packaging that is thrown away once the contents are finished. This practice is disastrous for the environment and a threat to biodiversity. Now, however, it is possible to opt for personal care products, such as shampoo and body wash, that involve zero plastic waste. 900.care is a Paris-based start-up founded in 2019 by Aymeric Grange and Thomas Arnaudo, seeking to revolutionise our personal care habits. Their objective is to create a new market standard – refillable products purchased through an online subscription.
900.care – 900 refers to the average number of seconds, equivalent to fifteen minutes, we spend in the bathroom each day – has already conquered the French market. Now it has its sights set on expanding internationally and changing the behaviour of European consumers. We met Aymeric Grange, who is determined to bring about an environmental rethink, one refill at a time.
Hi Aymeric. How does 900.care position itself in relation to the giants of the personal care industry as you seek to promote more sustainable consumption?
When you walk down the personal care aisle of a supermarket, you are surrounded by products that have two things in common: they are encased in plastic and their main ingredient is water, which can represent up to 90% of the contents.
That poses an environmental problem, because people are throwing away a lot of plastic and transporting a lot of water, producing huge CO2 emissions. It also creates a problem of affordability, because the plastic packaging represents 50% of the cost of manufacturing a shower gel. With 900.care, rather than transporting water in a plastic container, you keep and refill a bottle and we send you the active ingredients – the 10% that you add to your reusable bottle. You then simply top up the bottle with tap water to create your products.
This approach is better for the planet – avoiding plastic waste and the transporting of water – plus it’s cheaper for customers. We charge just EUR 2.49 for shower gel because we don’t have to cover the cost of a single-use bottle. That’s also good news for your health, because we can invest more in the formulation to use safe, natural and sustainable ingredients.
Read also: The 10 principles of a circular economy
What difficulties did you encounter in creating your products, and how did you overcome them?
This was not a product category that existed before. We had to invent everything ourselves, starting from a blank page. The R&D challenge was sizeable, so we chose to tackle this internally, by developing all our products in our Paris laboratory.
Industrialisation was another challenge, as we had to create a factory from scratch close to Saint-Etienne, given that the procedure involved was totally novel. Lastly, we faced the challenge of educating consumers, which took a lot of communication work explaining the concept and how the products work.
What sets 900.care apart in a market that is increasingly saturated with “green” personal care products?
Our offering is unique. Within today’s personal care market, you have the option of solid cosmetics, but that offer is quite divisive, as it is difficult to adopt. Meanwhile, the efforts made by the big groups are not radical enough. They are often only really cosmetic in nature, and tend to focus on using more recycled plastic in their bottles, without fundamentally rethinking the model. We combine the best of both worlds: the green impact of a product that is just as virtuous as solid cosmetics, and the convenience of a conventional product that is familiar to users.
If we are to bring about the mass adoption of greener personal care products, consumers must be able to make the switch as seamlessly as possible. That is why our products are similar in terms of experience to those found in supermarkets, while being cheaper and delivered to the customer’s door.
As a B Corp™-certified company, 900.care needs to meet very strict social, environmental and transparency criteria. Does the same apply to your suppliers and partners?
Yes, it does. All our products are made in France, with very high social standards. We pay close attention to the partners we work with. They have to share our values – we require them to sign production charters to be sure that we are aligned – and we do all we can to source ethical products for the raw materials that we use.
Over the last few years, we have seen a shift in consumer behaviour towards greater sustainability. Do you see that in your customers too?
We have a lot of data from our customer base, thanks to the direct connection we have with them. Our customers are very diverse in age, income and geographical spread.
Many live in the countryside or in small towns. What they have in common is that most see themselves as new to environmentalism, which roughly translates into “I want to help the planet, but doing so needs to be straightforward, no more expensive, and, above all, enjoyable.” It was with these customers in mind that we devised our product range. There are plenty of offerings out there for committed environmentalists, but if we want to get the entire population on board, we need to appeal to new groups.
Achieving a circular economy for plastics is a global priority in the fight against the environmental impact of single-use plastic. What sustainable actions can we as individuals adopt in our day-to-day lives?
The classic “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” has the benefit of being catchy. We need to question ourselves about the plastic that we use: is it really necessary? Are there no alternatives to plastic here? Then once it has been used, can I reuse or refill it? Finally, once it reaches the end of its life, how can I ensure that it is properly recycled? Today, we find that very many consumers focus on the final stage, recycling, when what they need to do is look at the big picture and act accordingly.
In a tough economic climate with high inflation, you took the bold gamble of reducing the prices of your flagship products by 30% in order to help consumers. Where did you get the idea from?
We announced a 30% reduction in our prices, and we even rebranded ourselves as 600.care to promote this. It should not be more expensive to be an environmentally conscious consumer. Therefore, we tested various price levels, and this was the sweet spot that maximised revenue per customer, while people were able to buy more products from us and stay subscribed to our service for longer.
Finally, because our model allows us to cut out unnecessary costs such as water and disposable plastic, we have a much lower cost base than traditional alternatives, and we wanted our customers to benefit from this too. Our customers put their faith in us, and we wanted to thank them by sharing with them some of the savings we made. Rest assured that this price reduction is permanent, because we want to build a long-term relationship with our customers.
You recently raised EUR 21 million, with LOIM (Lombard Odier Investment Managers) a notable investor. With sales of EUR 10 million in 2023 and more than 90,000 customers your growth in just four years of existence has been impressive. What is next for 900.care?
The next big step, which we have been working on for several months now, is to expand across Europe. When we first brought out this concept in France, we established that there was no other offering like it in Europe, despite strong consumer demand. The plan is to conquer Europe by launching our products in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, in addition to our existing markets of France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Our objective is that three years from now, the international market will be as large for us as France. The other big target is to reach profitability in France this year, and to continue to develop. We are very disciplined in our execution and take care not to proceed too fast.
What were the key factors behind the choice of LOIM as an investor?
We instantly recognised ourselves in the values and aims of LOIM’s Plastic Circularity strategy. It is important for us to have investors that are aligned with our values and with the fact that we don’t always put profitability first; our choices are instead motivated by the desire to make more of an impact.
Read also: Plastic is past it: the irresistible rise of reusable packaging
What message would you like to send to entrepreneurs who are venturing into the green economy?
These days, everyone is worried about the climate situation on Planet Earth, and many people want to act. That is the way that green businesspeople can combine entrepreneurship with making a positive impact on the planet.
If we take 900.care as an example, we see that thanks to our model, we have been able to successfully prevent the generation of four million items of plastic waste. That represents 1.5 million kg of CO2 and 579,000 litres of transported water1. This achievement is the fruit of the efforts of the entire team – just imagine how long it would take for one individual to have the same impact. It is essential that entrepreneurs embark on this task in the knowledge that they can bring about change through the medium of the green economy.
1 Un financement de 21 millions d’euros pour 900.care (infonet.fr)
Important information
This document is issued by Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd or an entity of the Group (hereinafter “Lombard Odier”). It is not intended for distribution, publication, or use in any jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, or use would be unlawful, nor is it aimed at any person or entity to whom it would be unlawful to address such a document. This document was not prepared by the Financial Research Department of Lombard Odier.
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