STORE INSIGHTS: Mr. Wonderful
I was trying to find my way within the unbelievable confusing airport of Madrid when I stumbled upon this cute little store I had never heard of before: Mr. Wonderful. I was drawn by the playful typography, the pastel colors, and the inflatable pool floatie in the shape of a joyful daisy.
I’ve been in the FMCG industry for the last 15 years, and I was I quite impressed with their packaging. It was playful, and smart for the merchandising displays.
The store was under 700 sqft, and had clear and attractive merchandising, which does not come as a surprise considering the retailer was founded in 2011 by Angi and Javi, a married couple with a background in graphic design.
The product they ever first launched was their colorful mugs with positive and uplifting messages written all over them. Initially, the mugs were sold exclusively in their online store, but eventually major retail players started noticing the popularity of the products and the uniqueness of their designs, which prompted Mr. Wonderful to kick-off their distribution business model.
Since then, customers can not only find the brand's products in retailers such as El Corte Ingles, but also in supermarkets, commercial centers, and specialty retailers. A key driver for this expansion is Mr. Wonderful's many different and unique co-branding partnerships. Since their inception, Mr. Wonderful has gone on to collaborate with Oysho, Asics, Lush, Coca-Cola, Nocilla, Carmex, and Lays, just to name a few. It wasn't until 2019 that Mr. Wonderful opened its first physical store in Madrid.
Since then, Mr. Wonderful has gone onto opening 32 physical stores across Spain, and 4 in Portugal. Mr. Wonderful has in fact made of international expansion an essential driver for growth. Not only are the brand's products in over 3,775 different points of sale across 20 different countries, but international markets represent over 40% of its sales. Italy is the next market that Mr. Wonderful is targeting, and is set to open 5 stores in the country under a franchise model.
So far, their hybrid business model seems to be working successfully, as in 2022 they had sales for over 30 million euros, an increase of 19% since 2020. Currently, Mr. Wonderful has 170 employees and is headquartered in Barcelona.
