“Live well now without suffering in the future.”
As core operating values go, Catch couldn’t be more closely aligned with its finance- and climate-fixated Gen Z and millennial target audience. And having recently added to its roster with three affordable and solutions-oriented beauty brands, the three-year-old checkout payment processor is seeking to capture an ever-larger slice of the youthful-consumer pie.
Last month DIME Beauty, Good Dye Young, and Peace Out Skincare joined the lineup of brands keen to leverage Catch’s innovative loyalty program, which allows consumers to receive store credit for every purchase. Unlike BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) platforms such as Klarna, Catch works on a debit or direct bank purchase basis, helping consumers avoid racking up impulse-purchase debt and allowing brands to bypass credit card processing fees. By charging brands a small fee when a customer returns to redeem a Catch-earned credit, everyone wins.
It’s no wonder upward-trajectory digital native brands are itching to get in on the Catch action alongside established players like Ouai, Farmacy Beauty, and Kosas.
“We seek out partners who aim to tackle retention with a fresh and holistic approach,” says Catch co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Nico Perdomo. “We also see better performance with brands that cater to Gen Z and millennials, as this audience is values-driven and open to new approaches.”
A direct-to-consumer (DTC) skincare, makeup, and fragrance brand offering clean products at an affordable price, DIME Beauty was founded in 2018 by husband-and-wife team Ryan and Baylee Relf. Informed by Baylee Relf’s work as a licensed Master Esthetician, the brand leans into affordable luxury, with best-sellers like Tinted Glow Wonderscreen SPF 30 clocking-in at well under $50.
Vegan and cruelty-free hair color brand Good Dye Young is the brainchild of Paramore lead vocalist Hayley Williams and Brian O’Connor, her veteran hairstylist and makeup artist. Steeped in the ethos of experimentation and community-building, it homes in on semi-permanent and temporary hair color and is shoppable by both shade and duration, with formulas that wash out in from one to 24+ shampoos.
The third brand of the beauty trio newly joining the Catch team—Peace Out Skincare—pairs targeted active ingredients with innovative delivery systems, including microneedling patches and acne dots, the latter of which the brand says it’s sold more than 50 million.
“The DTC beauty category is very saturated, and brands face stiff competition in acquiring and retaining customers,” says Perdomo. “Catch has become a go-to partner for beauty brands to increase customer retention, sales, and awareness, and beauty has steadily grown to become one of our largest categories.”
Perdomo cites P&G-owned, Jen Atkin-founded Ouai as a standout. “When we began working with Ouai, one of its goals was to stimulate repeat purchases within 90 days,” he notes. “As a result of our partnership, Ouai saw a 38% upsurge in customers returning for subsequent transactions and a 3.3x return on investment from Catch’s network acquisition efforts.”
Evidently, Ouai isn’t the only brand to see a spike in traction on the platform. According to Perdomo, Farmacy Beauty joined Catch to acquire customers and maximize retention and lifetime value and achieved those goals in spades. After partnering with the platform, the five-year-old brand, which continually raises its own bar when it comes to planet-friendly packaging and aiding philanthropic initiatives like Feeding America, doubled its lifetime value and quadrupled the number of repeat customers.
For the Catch team, what a brand stands for is as important as the quality of the products it offers. “Our users are values-conscious, and they’re savvy about to whom they give their dollars,” says Perdomo. “We look at this when considering what brands to partner with, and some of our top-performing brands really walk the walk from a social impact perspective.”
One example of the way Catch is helping boost brands’ give-back efforts is its “Change for Change” feature. Available when checking-out at partner brands Farmacy and sustainable fashion brand CHNGE, the initiative allows customers to round-down the money they receive as store credit and donate the change to the brand’s cause of choice. “We’re proud to be able to support our brands and community with this act of social good,” says Perdomo.
Asked which beauty brands he’s still hoping to land, Perdomo doesn’t hesitate to tick off a tidy roster of biggies, including L’Oréal Paris and Estée Lauder. “We’d also be excited to partner with beauty marketplaces like Sephora,” he notes. “These retailers and brands are established, bringing a built-in audience and a need to continue innovating to grow their community.”
Expanding the clean category is also on Perdomo’s to do list. In particular, he’s set his sights on three-year-old sensitive-skin brand Tower 28, in which he says users have already indicated an interest.
But for the moment, Catch has plenty on its plate. “In the months ahead, we’re excited to announce some big new partnerships and experiential activities,” says Perdomo. Additionally, “We have some exciting brands coming off our wish list and onto the platform. Watch this space.”
