Interview with Thomas Arnaudo (Masters 2013), co-founder of 900.care

With its biteable toothpaste and shower gel sticks, 900.care has been shaking up the personal hygiene market since 2019. Its products, designed on the premises of this young business in Paris and manufactured in Saint-Étienne, contain neither water (which usually makes up 80% to 90% of shower gels) nor endocrine disruptors, and of course are refillable, doing away with the need for single-use plastic. Using a simple and fun approach, it’s up to consumers to use the water in their own home to “complete” the solid base and obtain an item ready for use. Thomas Arnaudo (EDHEC Grande École 2013), who co-founded 900.care alongside Aymeric Grange, explains the secrets behind the brand's rise and take-up on the consumer market.

How would you summarise your current position and responsibilities?

I add fuel to the 900.care rocket and make it travel as far as possible. I ensure that all the cogs are turning properly by bringing great energy to our staff. That's essential when you're a “leader” – a big word – because people often mirror the mood of their superior. Compared to my associate Aymeric, who comes from the world of consultancy and has a more strategic vision, I work more on operations. I've done nothing but start new businesses since graduating, so I have a very grounded vision. We really complement one another and divide up responsibilities for the different departments: me mainly Human Resources, Operations, Research & Development and physical distribution – we’ve been selling to large supermarkets for 6 months – and Aymeric mainly finance, the website and procurement via social media. I’m a highly positive person. I don't usually see problems, but rather solutions and challenges. That's what drives me on every day!

You mentioned “energy”, where elsewhere we often hear about “corporate culture” …

Energy and corporate culture are complementary. Aymeric and I read a lot of biographies of company founders to understand how they developed their corporate culture. First of all, it's important for employees to have personal goals aligned with the professional goals of the company. Then it's up to us to create a framework for its values. For example, we've introduced 10 ways of working (for everyone) and 6 ways of coaching (for managers). And lastly, we keep this flame alight on a daily basis with (real) rituals that ensure a harmonious relationship with the firm. Otherwise, we would have quickly resembled any other company or done things that wouldn't reflect who we are. At 900.care, there are now a little more than 30 of us, some of whom have been around for many years. Everyone knows each other. Our culture has pillars and is propagated by more than just the company founders. And every six months, we look at what needs to be improved to keep up with the firm's advancement and our hyper growth.

How has 900.care managed to exist in the face of giants of the personal hygiene market with an established presence?

It's true that we didn't choose the easiest sector! The personal hygiene and beauty care markets are dominated by leaders like L'Oréal, Unilever and P&G in certain product categories, and they've got really good people. Although we might have a lower budget than them, money can sometimes be a handicap when it comes to creativity, originality and responsiveness. 900.care has always done its best work when our back has been up against the wall. Doing things as well as the market leaders doesn't allow you to break through, so you need to create even smarter teams, choose your topics carefully and be extraordinarily successful with them. Our brand platform closely reflects Aymeric and me. It is pragmatic and light hearted and doesn't take itself too seriously. We were sick of hearing about moralising ecology that makes everyone pessimistic. We recruit curious people who aren't afraid to take risks, the type of people with whom we can create a David to take on the Goliaths.

And once you exist, how do you emerge to compete with the market leaders?

We’ve emerged through the consumer thanks to our truly innovative products. We didn't take an existing product and simply add a marketing claim to it. But you need to be operating in the right channel to speak of innovation, and the best ones we found to make that breakthrough are e-commerce and social media. You don't need to make advertisements to advertise. We reached out to meet with brands and Meta, who recommended very short videos. We made a name for ourselves with longer videos in which we explained the concept behind our approach (up to the 900.care value chain), and our community grew bigger and bigger. Consumers love this kind of transparency. Thanks to our videos, watched millions of times, we were able to tackle large supermarket distribution, where people really shop on a daily basis.

What concrete role has the 900.care community played?

It has been of the utmost importance since the outset, even before we had our logo! 900.care has been around since 2019, but only commercialised since 2021. For a year and a half we did R&D on products, which we tested in the form of free samples – initially sent to around 100 people recruited on Facebook, and then to several thousand. By the time we launched our crowdfunding campaigns on Ulule and KissKissBankBank, our community had already tried several versions of these products. It wasn't the crowdfunding campaign that created our community! They also started to buy our products, which were quite expensive because our production costs were high since we were manufacturing small quantities. As the volume increased, and thanks to them, we lowered our price from €6 to €3.50, before dropping it to today’s price of €2.49 for our shower gel. We're still testing new product variations on our community, with new ingredients, scents and textures.

In your industrial process, is it so different working without water from the beginning?

The list of ingredients is more or less the same in a stick of shower gel as in traditional shower gel made with water. It's the quality of the ingredients that changes. However, our industrial process almost exclusively involves solid materials, and not using water is much more energy efficient. We just compress powder, which creates much less waste. It’s also more complicated to get supplies of solid materials as the network is less developed than for liquids. Our plant in Saint-Étienne doesn’t use any water or plastic and is 15 times smaller than one making “traditional” shower gels. Nor are we affected by the problem of hydric stress, affecting some regions in France and forcing factories to close for several days to avoid consuming water intended for villages. In any case we know we won't make any compromises on health. Our cosmetologist has a very exhaustive black list of harmful ingredients.

Back in 2021 you launched your products in Monoprix, but without success. What's different about large supermarkets now?

In 2022, we were much more expensive and no one knew about us, which is very different from the situation we're in now. Furthermore, our merchandising wasn't at all suited to retailing. With mainstream consumer market positioning, our price must be as competitive as possible, and we will continue to lower it if necessary, so that the environmental penny will drop for families everywhere. Acting environmentally must be something that is accessible to all, not only a segment of the population who can afford it. That's the way we will have a real impact and it's how we imagined 900.care from the beginning. Leclerc, Carrefour, Système U and Intermarché are happy to talk to us because there actually hasn’t been much innovation in personal hygiene aisles over the last 40 years. In the first stores, the rollout was hugely successful and retailers are spreading the word. It would be a good thing if truly eco refill products could take up more room on supermarket shelves and reduce the amount of plastic used by companies. So if there are any hypermarket managers from EDHEC out there, don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you think 900.care’s products have a place to occupy on your shelves! 

Is it possible to resolve the equation between sustainable consumer and developing ecological habits?

I'm convinced that in order to act environmentally, consumers need to get the same pleasure out of their products and not pay a higher price. It's unfortunately a bit utopian to say that ecology is the answer! Sure, soap can replace shower gel, but you need to offer an alternative to the 6/7 of the market who use shower gel without changing their daily habits and without lowering their purchasing power. Just because the product is as good (even better) and as pleasing to the senses as the major brands doesn't mean that people are going to switch. We have to perform better on the use of natural ingredients, manufacturing and environmental impact – and do so at the best possible price. When in the future we reach the same volumes as the major firms, then we can be even more affordable than them. Another path is perhaps to legislate for all players in the sector. One idea, for example, would be to establish a “green VAT” rate, lower for products made in France or which are more environmentally responsible. That might allow consumers to buy products that pollute less for less. 

More info about 900.care