July 2020. Designer bottles made of reinforced glass are attracting attention on Instagram. The aesthetic appeal of the products and the transparency of the brand's message are proving popular. Launched with around fifty reimagined everyday essentials, the brand What Matters is attracting a growing number of followers, many of whom are becoming customers. This French DNVB (Digital Native Vertical Brand), meaning a company that launched its business online , gained over 15,000 Instagram followers in just a few months. Three years later, it boasts 75,000.

Instagram, source of income and provider of retail business

Charlotte Catton and Franck Ladouce, co-founders of the company, know from experience that without a large media budget, the brand won't take off. While they started cautiously enough by investing 50 euros a day to sponsor their Instagram posts, they quickly increased this expense, which they deemed profitable. " There are two ways to spend money on Instagram: push beautiful visuals to increase brand awareness, without really knowing if it leads to sales; or opt for a performance-based strategy where the communication must be profitable through orders placed in parallel ," explains Charlotte Catton. " We chose the latter, and in hindsight, we should have invested much more at the beginning. The novelty factor is a major sales driver ."

The brand owes its success in part to the close relationship it cultivates with its followers. A member of the team is dedicated to responding to all comments and questions within two hours, always using a pleasant tone and a respectful, warm, and formal address. "The quality of this relationship also stems from our commitment to addressing the topic of plastic reduction and environmental preservation without ever inciting fear or guilt. We promote change through enjoyment, and our posts are always joyful and positive ."

From digital business development to physical points of sale

This strategy has proven successful for What Matters, which generated €2 million in revenue on Instagram and Facebook in 2021. While the social network was the primary source of income during the initial months, it also proved to be an excellent source of retail and brick-and-mortar business. Pharmacies, concept stores, and department stores contacted the team after discovering What Matters products on shoppers' phones. " That's how we were able to secure a large 30m² stand at Printemps Haussmann in September 2021! "

After two years of hyper growth and a fundraising of 4 million euros, the company also intends to continue to innovate, both in its product ranges and in the question of refillable packaging in the broad sense. The team is now working to perpetuate the brand, in particular by diversifying its distribution channels, still in digital but also in retail with hotel professionals.