With Christmas and New Year's over, Target wasted no time putting out Valentine's Day merchandise, including limited edition Stanley cups that flew off shelves instantly in stores across the country.
A video posted on TikTok by @jazzedbyjaz showed customers racing down a Target aisle in El Paso, Texas, on New Year's Eve to get the coveted cups.
The poster captioned the video" Getting trampled for a Target Stanley Valentine's cup."
In a video posted on TikTok, viewers commented from all around the world about not being able to get their hands on Stanley's latest holiday-themed tumbler, available in pink or red, in time for Valentine's Day.
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"I would do anything for a red one. My Target didn’t get them and I can’t find them online anywhere," one person wrote.
"In line rn for mine, this is crazy! It’s my first cup, didn’t know there would be this many people," another person commented.
The Seattle-based brand has been around for over 110 years, selling its iconic hammertone green bottles, which netted $70 million in annual sales before 2020, when a shift happened and made the company into a $750 million a year business.
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The Stanley Quencher bottle has been such a popular product that Stanley’s annual sales are projected to top $750 million in 2023, according to data reviewed by CNBC.
Over the past four years, the Stanley Quencher has become one of the most popular water bottles in the world, going from only the green color to now selling in an ever-growing variety of colors, patterns, and finishes.
With every new color Stanley rolled out, sales continued to increase. Stanley’s revenue jumped from $73 million in 2019 to $94 million in 2020. Then it more than doubled to $194 million in 2021.
To drive even more interest in new releases, the company adopted a system around "drops" that’s often seen in sneaker culture and used by streetwear brands, according to Retail Dive.
The limited drops generate attention from fans and often cause products to sell out quickly, just like the most recent one happening in Target stores.
"I think there certainly is a promotional strategy around FOMO, fear of missing out, culture and really driving really intense demand for products by offering limited, special-edition drops; partnerships with other really cool, hot, trendy brands; collaborations with celebrities and artists and athletes — has really just helped create the brand status I would say we have today," Navarro told Retail Dive.
The Quencher skyrocketed Stanley’s sales by appealing to a demographic that Stanley had not previously spent too much time catering to in its first hundred years: women.
The brand had long been marketed to men and especially outdoorsmen, but with the help of a group of influencers, the company unlocked the power of women selling to women, according to Retaildive.com.
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Matt Navarro, senior vice president of global commerce at Stanley, told Retail Dive that affiliate marketing channel has opened Stanley up to new audiences and has allowed consumers to connect more directly with the brand.
"Frankly, the consumer sort of took over for us in places like TikTok where we have 700 million views of #StanleyTumbler on TikTok," Navarro told Retail Dive. "All of the videos and content on TikTok are user-generated. So it’s really the consumer connecting to our brand through social media, and just putting the consumer first."
Navarro added that the company was fortunate to have a 110-year-old brand rooted in American history.
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"So many people, especially in the U.S. and North America, have an emotional connection to our brand — from their grandfather taking them fishing with Stanley [products] to working on a job site. Just a deep, emotional connection with our brand, which allowed us to then — through innovation and really through our digital marketing expertise — bring the brand to the 21st century and connect with today’s consumer."
In 2023, Stanley saw a 275% year-over-year increase in Quencher sales and has experienced a 215% increase in its best-selling category, hydration, according to Navarro.
