Grove Collaborative Names New CMO as It Looks to Drive Awareness

Sustainable consumer goods company Grove Collaborative has named Jennie Perry its new chief marketing officer as the $1.32 billion online startup aims to reach more shoppers keen on lowering their ecological footprint. In addition to overseeing marketing strategy, Perry will lead creative, communications, brand strategy and consumer insights. She reports to cofounder and CEO Stuart Landesberg and succeeds former Grove Collaborative CMO Lilian Tomovich, who left the company earlier this year. Perry is focused on differentiating Grove Collaborative from rivals by solving a particular problem consumers have identified in the category. She noted that the majority of shoppers believe there's a plastic problem. At the same time, Perry said not enough CPG companies are offering solutions other than encouraging the public to recycle more frequently. We don't have to convince customers to care. They already do.Jennie Perry, CMO, Grove Collaborative That disconnect between customers and brands is reflected in Grove Collaborative's ambitions and its brand identity. The company sells personal care goods and household essentials made with natural ingredients, including third-party brands such as S.C. Johnson's Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day and Unilever's Seventh Generation. Now that it has that product and partnership portfolio in place, Grove Collaborative is setting its sights higher: It plans to become 100% plastic-free by 2025. "We don't have to convince customers to care," Perry told Adweek. "They already do." A new urgency for sustainable CPG Producing sustainable, low-impact products has grown in urgency for manufacturers from Unilever to Colgate-Palmolive as more shoppers demand them. Recent research from New York University’s Stern Center for Sustainable Business shows sales of consumer goods labeled as sustainable increased throughout 2020, stealing nearly another percentage point of market share away from their conventional counterparts. At present, household staples with sustainable claims now account for 16.8% (over $131 billion) of all in-store purchases. And as Covid-19 cases recede in the U.S., brands expect a new sensibility among consumers. For example, during the pandemic, consumer interest in keeping a clean home spiked; sales of cleaning products increased 36% between March 2020 through February 2021, compared to the previous 12-month period, according to CPG measurement insights firm NCSolutions. Grove Collaborative's revenue surpassed $250 million last year. Raising awareness In April, Grove Collaborative began offering its own line of goods through a partnership with Target. Its branded products come in a concentrated formula that shoppers pour into reusable glass bottles and mix with water. Aside from additional revenue, part of the company's push to enter retail was to help educate shoppers on alternatives to traditional product packaging and extend the brand's presence. "Our awareness is relatively low," said Perry, who noted 90% of CPG products are purchased in brick-and-mortar settings. "We just have not introduced customers to the Grove brand, and things like moving into Target will certainly help." Perry's experience at major brands will guide her efforts to make Grove Collaborative a household name in eco-friendly household goods. Before joining Grove Collaborative, Perry spent almost a decade at Amazon. She served as CMO of Prime and Amazon North America, following a position as CMO of Amazon Fashion. She has also held marketing roles at Stride Rite, Old Navy and Kraft Foods. Apart from expanding the company's marketing channels and debuting new products, Perry plans to be the "voice of the customer." In essence, that means understanding what its shoppers want and advocating for it. "I consider that my job," Perry added.