LONDON – There is nothing sweet or comforting about eczema, and skin care entrepreneur Joanna Jensen knows that better than most.
Jensen, the founder of Childs Farm, a top-selling baby and child personal care brand in Britain, was born with the painful, chronic skin condition and one of her young daughters suffered from it, too.
A former investment banker, Jensen founded Childs Farm to offer a gentle, sustainably-made, and sweeter-smelling alternative to the steroid creams and emollients that she’d grown up with. She also tried to inject some fun into the packaging, with bright colors and pictures of frolicking children and cartoon animals.
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In 2019, nearly a decade after she launched Childs Farm and after five years on the shelves at Boots and Waitrose, Childs Farm became the number one brand in the baby and child personal care category in the U.K.
Although the products are pitched at children from 0 to age 9, Jensen said anyone can use them, and nearly 30 percent of customers are buying for themselves, rather than their children.
It plays in the premium space, with prices ranging from 4.50 pounds for the moisturizer, handwash and bubble bath, to 12 pounds for the 50-plus SPF, fragrance-free sun cream.
Last year, Jensen sold a majority stake to PZ Cussons for 40 million pounds and achieved B Corp certification for the brand. Together with her new partners at PZ Cussons, Jensen is shifting Childs Farm into high gear with plans to launch in the U.S. in May with Amazon.
The longer-term U.S. plan is to expand via regional retailers, and potentially high-end supermarkets. The plan is to start opening doors in the Northeast, where the cold climate means there are more eczema sufferers.
In an interview, Jensen said the brand already has a U.S. customer base, “and we know there’s massive enthusiasm for products that are suitable for eczema-prone skin.”
She said expansion was one of the reasons she sold to PZ Cussons, which owns St. Tropez, Sanctuary Spa and Fudge Professional haircare, and which has international distribution muscle, was to break into the U.S. market.
“The U.S. is really 50 countries, and that’s why we were so nervous about doing it on our own. It has been the graveyard of some of the best British brands, and we didn’t want to be buried six feet under,” said Jensen, who has also brought in a Philadelphia, PA.-based distributor, The Emerson Group, as the U.S. distributor.
Jensen also knows the upside is huge. She said the U.S. baby and child personal care market is worth 1.25 billion pounds, and is growing at a rate of 2-3 percent annually.
“There is room for multiple players, and even if we had 1-2 percent market share, that would be a healthy business for us,” she said. “My gut is telling me we’ve done everything right to make this work, and it’s also telling me there is a need in the U.S. for these products.”
U.S. prices will range from $10.99 for 250ml bottle of product to $16.99 for a 500ml bottle.
There had been tentative plans to break into the market before, but Jensen said that Childs Farm wasn’t in a position to be supplying nation-wide pharmacy chains with the Childs Farm products, all of which are made in the U.K.
Jensen said that if the business takes off in the U.S., it’s likely the brand will start producing there, too. According to the company, the products are vegan and contain ethically and responsibly-sourced ingredients of natural origin.
Ingredients include shea and cocoa butters; glycerine; organic coconut oil sourced from the Philippines and oats grown in Finland. Jensen said the beta gluten in the oats helps reduce redness and irritation.
The brand draws some of its ingredients from food industry waste. The orange fragrance, for instance, is made from the peels discarded from factory-made juice.
“We have gone for ingredients that we know are effective. We’ve also looked at the formulas and asked ourselves ‘Do we really need to put that in there?’ Because if you add an ingredient that adds two pence to the price of a product, you’ve then got to pass that on to the consumer,” she said.
Jensen is extremely protective of her consumers, most of whom are parents – like her – doing their best to soothe children with skin conditions.
Most parents, she said, “would re-mortgage the house” to buy products that help their children, but she doesn’t want any of her customers going broke. Her aim with Childs Farm is to keep quality high and prices low, and to grab market share from the bigger players such as Johnson’s Baby, Aveeno and Baby Dove.
Attaining B Corp certification was another big part of the Childs Farm strategy.
“We really wanted to do the sustainable heavy lifting for parents. Not only can we help them with their children’s skin, but we’re using ingredients that have been really well thought through, and have ethics and values at the core,” she said.
Revenue at Childs Farm was 20 million pounds when the company sold to PZ Cussons last year, and is now around 25 million pounds at retail, and growing in the double digits.
Looking ahead, Childs Farm has just launched SlumberTime, a range of products meant to enhance children’s bedtime routine. It offers a bath soak; a massage cream that transforms into an oil, and a pillow spray.
The products contain DreamScentz, a special fragrance technology developed by PZ Cussons that combines notes of lavender and moon milk, a centuries-old sleep aid made from milk, cinnamon and honey.
“To me, it smells like a warm hug, a baby, and a bit of chocolate,” said Jensen.
Although Jensen is now a minority shareholder in the business, she’s working closely with PZ Cussons, and is clearly eager to embark on the next chapter.
“My view is that if we can make one more child happy in their skin, then I’ve done my job. At Childs Farm we are helpers – that is our role, and that’s what we pride ourselves on,” she said.
Jensen is also spreading the love – and the knowledge – beyond Childs Farm as a supporter of female business founders.
She is on the advisory board of Buy Women Built, a recently-formed association of female founders looking to drive awareness of their brands in the U.K. to consumers, and investors. She is also an angel investor focused specifically on female-founded brands.
“There are so many brilliant ideas out there, and if I can help someone make their brand a success, particularly now when it’s tougher, then I will. I am happy to offer my 10 cents’ worth [of advice] because some of the things I’ve done have taken me six months to work out. And I can share [the solution] in six minutes,” she said.
She also loves what she sees as the practical-minded approach of women in business. Jensen said the vast majority of female-founded brands were created because “there was something missing, and it need needed to be dealt with.”
Women may be problem-solvers, but they are also big spenders.
“Sixty-four percent of the consumer spend in the world is in the hands of women,” she said.
“Women create products because women buy products. Yet the beauty industry is absolutely driven by these people in R&D workforce who are all men,” said Jensen who is also on a mission to encourage girls to study science so they can develop the female- and family-focused products of the future.