CBD-infused beverage and snack brand Weller is expanding its platform beyond CBD with the launch of Sparkling Immunity, a new line that builds on the company’s goal to become a functional wellness brand while increasing its footprint with retailers that don’t carry CBD products.
Sparkling Immunity, launching later this month, features elderberry juice as its core ingredient and also contains vitamin C, vitamin D3, zinc and magnesium. The line will retail for $2.99 per 12 oz. can ($2 less than its CBD-infused cans) and comes in three varieties: Elderberry + Peach, Elderberry + Lemon-Lime and Elderberry + Strawberry.
From the beginning, John Simmons said he and Weller co-founder Matt Oscamou wanted to create a brand to help people live a healthier lifestyle, a goal that was “definitely broader than CBD.” The immunity launch was motivated by consumers’ increased interest in immunity boosting products amid the COVID-19 pandemic, for which Weller is aiming to bring elderberry “out of the cold and flu aisle and into a very convenient format that can be assimilated into people’s daily routines,” according to Simmons. As shutdowns began in March and early April, Simmons said he saw an opportunity for the brand to reach consumers with its DSD network and 1,500 multi-channel accounts by quickly bringing to market a product that addressed an in-demand need state for consumers.
“It just really highlighted the opportunity for a brand that was really resonating on the wellness front and how people were approaching the brand,” Oscamou said. “When you can put out a great product that meets that need state with a brand that really resonates, it’s a winning combination.”
The new line will provide a strategic advantage for Weller to reach new consumers in retailers that decline to carry CBD-infused beverage products, according to Simmons. It will first launch with its existing retail partners, including Wegmans, Sprouts, Erewhon and Lucky’s Market, as well as on Amazon. The line will also enter additional national retailers and ecommerce retail sites to be announced in the coming weeks.
Weller has seen steady growth amid the pandemic, Simmons said. The convenience store channel comprises about 50% of Weller’s sales, with grocery at about 20 to 30%, and the brand is working to capitalize on growing online sales, which have been up 200% since the pandemic began. Despite “hiccups” with in-store sales in hard-hit cities like Los Angeles and New York, Simmons attributes its steady sales throughout the pandemic to its “really broad approach” in its channel strategy, even picking up velocities where other CBD brands “fell out of distribution.”
“There is a shakeout that’s happening in the category,” Simmons said. “I think the question for the whole category is how many brands can be supported on a national level? I think we’re seeing some early indications that assumptions that people made about what consumers would resonate, we’re seeing some answers to that throughout this COVID period.”
Weller isn’t the only brand expanding beyond CBD amid the pandemic. New York-based CBD beverage brand Cloud Water announced a similar move beyond CBD earlier this summer, rolling out immunity boosting line Cloud Water +Immunity in order to expand distribution and increase brand awareness at retailers that don’t carry CBD products.
While demand for CBD products remains high, store closures and economic pressures as a result of COVID-19 have slowed growth in the U.S. CBD market, according to a report by intelligence firm Brightfield Group released in July. In addition to challenges related to COVID-19, a continued lack of federal regulation from the Food & Drug Administration has also impeded industry growth. Bethany Gomez, Managing Director at Brightfield Group, told BevNET in July that she expects this “to be an extinction event in the industry,” for smaller brands, anticipating approximately half of the 3,000 CBD brands currently on the market to be out of business by the end of the year.
Despite the new launch, Simmons said Weller is “still focused on CBD” and more specifically on beverages; the brand’s Coconut Bites snacks have been discontinued, though the remaining inventory remains on the market. The brand intended to launch two new products at Expo West this year — a Grapefruit flavor of its CBD sparkling water as well as two-packs of CBD Coconut Bites — but decided to “hold off” on both of those product launches due to the “uncertainty about what the next couple of months held for everybody,” Simmons said.
As the brand continues to navigate the CBD market, Simmons credits Weller’s growth to his and Oscamou’s ability to quickly adapt, as the unpredictable market often requires brand leaders to solve multiple problems at once.
“You have to have a very tactical, systematic approach to the category and be able to juggle a lot of variables that vary by channel and by region,” Simmons said. “If there’s anything we’ve learned over two and a half years, it’s that there is no one size fits all.”