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~ Active Ants ~

Mineral sunscreen powder Sunday Brush went from a Dutch startup to operating Europe-
wide in only a few years. The chemical-free formula is shipped worldwide and is available
in over 350 beauty salons in the Benelux. Now, Sunday Brush is expanding to Spain and
the United Kingdom. Founder Nicole Vermeer: “We had international ambitions from the
beginning. Now we are working with Active Ants on this ambition.”

Pivoting towards B2B within 2 months’ Entering Spain and the United Kingdom
After Nicole Vermeer’s husband Remko was diagnosed Today, Sunday Brush is sold in over 350 salons in the
‘with skin cancer around ten years ago, both of them Netherlands and Belgium. While the Netherlands is still
became adamant about sun protection: “But a lot of their biggest market, the company also ships online orders to
sunscreens are greasy and use chemicals that irritate sensitive Switzerland and France. Next month, Spain will be added to
skin.” Sunday Brush, that list. Sunday Brush’s
founded by Vermeer and “ACTIVE ANTS INTEGRATED international ambitions
her husband in 2017, even reach as far as Japan,
instead offers a 100% OUR CUSTOM NEEDS IN THEIR where it started selling last
natural mineral sunscreen year and received a beauty
LOGISTICS PROCESS.”
powder with SPF 50. award.
Just two months after “We had international
starting as an e-commerce company, skincare salons started ambitions from the beginning,” says Vermeer. There are
asking for the product. “It lends itself well for use after beauty plans to expand to the United Kingdom in the near future
treatments, when the skin is sensitive. So we had to pivot as well. “Entering the market is relatively easy. We can
from only a B2C to also B2B in a very short time,” Vermeer already ship parcels worldwide through Active Ants’ different
says. The company had to be flexible, also because sunscreen national carriers, and they have a warehouse there. Plus, our
is a seasonal product: “Once the sun comes out in March, our online store is already available in English.” Therefore, the
sales peak and logistics have to scale up quickly.” main focus is on creating brand awareness: “We intend on
cooperating with local marketeers for targeted consumer
Custom sustainable packaging advertising.”
Since Vermeer and her husband are only a two-person team,
they decided to outsource their fulfilment within a year of ‘Scale up without huge budget’
launching. “We travel a lot to our manufacturer in Malaysia “Our philosophy is to educate on the importance of daily sun
and other markets to expand our business,” the founder protection,” the owner says. In the Netherlands alone, the
explains. “Shipping parcels ourselves takes a lot of time, time number of skin cancer cases is set to rise by 35% by 2027,
we can use in a more productive way by putting it towards the Integral Cancer Center Netherlands reports. Aside from
our marketing and expanding our business.” sun protection, SPF is also used for anti-ageing in skincare.
Add to this a trend of organic beauty products for those
When selecting a fulfilment partner, Active Ants offered with sensitive skin or environmental concerns. Worldwide,
several advantages. “First of all, they can handle our seasonal the market for mineral sunscreens is estimated to reach 1.8
peaks by scaling up and down quickly. And they can do a billion dollars in worth by 2030.
much better job than us: faster, more reliable and with better
pricing.” Vermeer aims to expand
“WITH ACTIVE ANTS’ NATIONAL Sunday Brush throughout
Sunday Brush developed Europe, from the Nordics
CARRIERS, ENTERING A NEW
custom sustainable to the south of Europe.
packaging, Vermeer “We are not a big
MARKET IS EASY.”
explains. “We wanted to corporation with a huge
reduce our environmental budget,” Vermeer says.
footprint; therefore, we “But with e-commerce
developed a 2-in-1 packaging: our product packaging is the and a global shipping partner like Active Ants, we have the
same as our shipping packaging. This was new for Active opportunity to scale up quickly.” ••
Ants, but they integrated our custom needs into their logistics
process very seamlessly.”

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