Despite reaching unicorn status last month, Marina del Rey-based Liquid Death, known for its edgy drink branding, now faces the challenge of fighting for more space on retail shelves as it launches new products.
Last month Liquid Death announced a $67 million financing round, pushing the company to a $1.4 billion valuation.
While reaching that milestone in this tight capital markets environment was a feat in itself, founder and chief executive Mike Cessario says the real test is increasing the brand’s presence and availability in retail outlets.
“Retail as a beverage company – it’s a really hard game that you’re playing,” he said.
The Science-incubated branding experiment has proved that its melting skull and gothic logo tallboys can stick out to shoppers. Indeed, its retail sales grew from $110 million in 2022 to $263 million last year alone.
According to SPINS, a retail product software platform, Liquid Death is now the fastest-growing water and iced tea brand in the country.
Liquid Death’s latest funding will go towards further product innovation, including its recent expansion into sparkling water, electrolyte and iced tea offerings.
Liquid Death keeps its brand name at the top of these new products. It’s a large bet on its own brand power, squaring up against legacy players in these areas such as Gatorade, Arizona Iced Tea and Perrier, which already have household-name status.
As of last year, Liquid Death was available in 113,000 retail stores, including Target, Walmart and Whole Foods, in the U.S. and U.K.
Liquid Death has a vendor-central account with Amazon, meaning the ecommerce giant serves as a wholesale supplier for the company. Its consistent sales growth over the past few years show customers are choosing its products for purchase off the shelf, but Liquid Death is still short of profitability.
The first quarters of the year serve as “retail resets,” when chains assess what product inventory will make…
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