Thanks to whom?
Everyone knows Merci Handy! It's the hand hygiene gel that's been following you around since 2014. To recognize it, tell yourself that in the word "hydroalcoholic", there is "cool". Louis and Roland, the co-founders, wanted to offer products with a healthy recipe and stylish packaging. Today, it's not just gel, but a wide range of products for the body, face, teeth... By financing them with 250 k€, discover what Silvr has allowed them to do.
Rediscover Merci Handy hand gels. Louis Marty, CEO and co-founder, has called on Silvr via a 250 k€ financing and talks to us about the history of his brand which is not lacking in glitter, naturalness and originality.
Already, before the Covid crisis you knew about Merci Handy hand gels. The goal for Louis and Roland in 2014? To stop gels that have an unpleasant smell of alcohol, that dry out the hands, and packaging that lacks style. The brand now offers a wide range of natural hygiene and cosmetic products.
It all started when Louis Marty and Roland Jais-Nielsen graduated from school. They wanted to create "clean and respectful products that were out of the ordinary". Today, they have five product categories for hands, face, body, hair and now dental care. The cosmetics brand contains 98% natural ingredients, and a few glittery ones at that. This has earned them PETA certification, which means they are VEGAN and CRUELTY FREE.
Merci Handy is summarised around 3 values for :
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Their social-centric model allows them to offer a lot of content to their subscribers, sorry "kittens", as Louis likes to call them. Here is a countdown to date (May 2022) on :
Tutorials, inspirations, behind the scenes, Louis' contributions, offbeat tone, information... it's all there. All these social contents are at the heart of Merci Handy's distribution strategy. For example, on TikTok, the brand has created a strong link that has logically been reinforced during the various periods of social distancing. So, by inspiring its community so much, the brand can also rely on User Generated Contents and their influence partners.
Entering the saturated hygiene and cosmetics market is complicated. Trying to make a name for yourself when you're 24 and it's your first entrepreneurial experience is even more complicated! So for Merci Handy, the challenge is twofold.
To succeed, the brand relies on a strong marketing strategy, healthy recipes and stylish packaging. Their products quickly became a must-have and attracted many partners. Today, the brand collaborates in manufacturing with other sector experts such as Sephora, Monoprix or Nocibé.
Merci Handy is built in wholesale with a strong focus on Direct-to-Consumer. In two years, DNVB has passed the 100,000 customer mark in online acquisition via their website. Present in some twenty countries, the brand is also distributed via 3000 partner outlets in France, Europe and the United States. Among their major B2B accounts is the American multi-brand retailer Urban Outfitters.
Thanks to their success, Merci Handy now has almost 50 unicorns. The "unicorns"? That's the watered-down name Louis Marty gives to Merci Handy's teams. They are divided between the Paris and New York offices.
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To maintain this strong growth and develop new markets, Merci Handy must invest in several areas:
In 2016, the brand raised €3 million fromOtium, which also acquired a stake in Silvr. However, the fixed costs due to the rapid growth of the brand are cutting into other high ROI items such as :
DNVB therefore decided to diversify its sources of financing to maintain its growth and called on Silvr!
After an analysis of Merci Handy's performance by the Silvr scoring tool, the brand obtained €250k in financing in record time (less than 48 hours), which is "the perfect solution to continue to grow" and finance its stocks. In fact, Silvr's financing offer allows direct payment to the e-tailers' suppliers. So, in addition to freeing themselves from a large expense item and investing in other functions, entrepreneurs can also negotiate their inventory costs more easily.
"Thanks to Silvr, we can adapt our commercial rhythm and manage more stocks"
Louis, co-founder & CEO Merci Handy
Thanks to the financing of its stocks by Silvr, Merci Handy is able to maintain its commercial rhythm and its working capital is relieved. Payment of suppliers is no longer a problem and debts can be repaid more quickly. Merci Handy's cash balance is also favourable to massive investment in other expenditure items.
"Silvr is a perfect solution to grow better and faster, while paying off our medium/long term debt."
Louis, co-founder & CEO Merci Handy
In November 2021, the brand launches a co-marketing operation with the Netflix-produced pop-nostalgia series Stranger Things. Several weeks later, Merci Handy releases Silvr funding, so they can use the funds generated by the immediate payment of their stock to promote the operation intensively, including through influencer campaigns. Louis saw excellent traffic conversion in just two weeks.
The brand that grows around its large community can also delight them with :
The recruitment of "unicorns" can also follow in line with the excellent performance of Merci Handy. The growth of the glittery brand is therefore healthy, sustainable and consolidated.
By being "forever young to keep reinventing itself", Merci Handy will :
And thank you Silvr, because it's very easy by testing your eligibility here.
Published on
March 28, 2023
By
Antoine
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