Black Chicken Remedies aiming to expand into Asian market as ‘clean’ trend grows

Black Chicken Remedies was born over a decade ago when founder and CEO Chey Birch blended a body oil to treat her own skin condition.

Since then, the brand has expanded to an entire range of beauty, health and wellness products spanning over 50 SKUs. The brand’s best-selling product is its all-natural deodorant, which has won several accolades in Australia.

“When we first brought out the deodorant, everyone said: are you kidding? You want me to touch my armpit? Today, we are under one million armpits and growing,” ​said Birch.

Today, the brand’s oil cleansers, tongue scrapers, and deodorants are available across Australia, the US, Dubai and parts of the pacific.

The company is currently looking to expand into Asia to further drive the growth of the business.

“We’ve had a lot of interest from Korea, Japan and even a bit from China. We are ready to expand and get our products into the Asian market,”​ said Birch.

Right place, right time

Birch told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that she believes this is the right time for the company to enter the Asian market because of the rising awareness of clean beauty.

“Asian consumers are becoming more educated about products and there’s a lot of interest in clean. Clean beauty is a big trend because consumers now are more aware and can see though the marketing hype. ​

“That’s great for us because they can see that we are a totally clean brand. We are a 100% brand with no fillers, bulkers… no preservatives or anti-fungal because we don’t use water, our products are just oils, powders and pastes.”​

Additionally, Birch hopes to tap into the interest into Australian-made products among Asian consumers, which she believes reinforces the clean image of the brand.

Birch acknowledged that there were many clean beauty brands sprouting up in the market. However, she believes her brand stands out from the crowd.

“Black Chicken Remedies is a clever and interesting brand. It’s very different. It’s not just your average products. It stands out because its fresh and has interesting products.”​

The appeal of the products is not lost on consumers, even though they may not know why, said Birch.

“Sometimes, I think people love our products, but they don’t even realise why. Our products were designed to calm you down, slow you down. To smell, massage and be in the moment. It helps your mind focus on the now rather than work.”​

This holistic approach to skin care will resonate well with stressed out urbanites, she added.

While the company has many products ideas and concepts, it does not currently have solid plans to launch any new products at the moment.

Instead, Birch said the company will look into improving its packaging.

“Our customers in Australia is very aware and they don’t want anything that harms the environment, so packaging is what we’re looking into, but I haven’t been impressed with anything I’ve seen so far.”​