Target adds Quip toothbrush to stores

Bloomberg

Target Corp. is the first brick-and-mortar retailer to carry the Quip toothbrush, as the retailer adds yet another startup brand hatched on the web.
The cheap-chic merchant now offers Quip’s electric brushes in all its stores and online, and will include the product in its holiday gift guides. The $40 battery-powered metal toothbrush comes in four colors, and customers can go to Quip’s website to get a new brush head delivered every three months for $5. Target’s kit
includes a brush, travel cover and a code for one free brush-head refill through Quip’s website.
Launched in 2015 via an online subscription-based model like Dollar Shave Club, Quip just sold its one-millionth toothbrush.
Quip, based in Brooklyn, is the latest Internet-only startup to arrive on Target’s shelves, following Casper mattresses, Harry’s razors and Native deodorant. Target’s clientele and its focus on affordable design has helped the chain attract those businesses, which needed a fresh way to lure new customers after spending heavily on online advertising. “Target’s younger and more affluent guests offer these new digital brands the right audience to expand into physical retail,” said Wendy Liebmann, chief executive officer of consultants WSL Strategic Retail. “That, and the fact that Target is back on track, doing a good job building brands again.”
Quip is a small player in the $900 million US electric-toothbrush market, which is dominated by Royal Philips NV, the Dutch maker of Sonicare, and Procter & Gamble Co.’s Oral-B. The market grew 9 percent last year, according to data tracker Euromonitor, fueled by increased recommendations from dentists. A study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association found that 81 percent of patients benefited from switching from manual to power toothbrushes, which encourage users to brush longer. Still, most people who switch to power brushes don’t change their brush heads every three months as the ADA recommends.