TOPLINE
As the highly anticipated Netflix series Bridgerton unveiled the second-half of its latest season on Thursday, lifestyle brands have ridden the Bridgerton wave with collaborations across fragrance, home decor, sleepwear and beauty products, exceeding sales expectations amid social media buzz and high demand for Regency era-themed experiences.
Bath & Body Works launched a Bridgerton-themed collection in March, featuring custom fragrance items like candles and soaps—which received a “terrific” response from customers and represented 4% of total company sales during the launch period, exceeding expectations, according to President Julie Rosen during the company earnings call last week.
Williams Sonoma, a luxury home decor retailer, released its Bridgerton collection in December—including tableware, teacups and desserts—which “continued to drive sales, buzz, and new customer acquisition,” and was “extremely impactful,” said CEO Laura Alber during the two most recent earnings calls.
Primark, a Dublin-based fashion retailer, debuted a Bridgerton collection in May—featuring sleepwear, dining sets, and stationery—which was “a big hit” among US shoppers, selling out within the first few weeks, according to Sarah Jackson, the company’s global director of licensing.
The company’s post on its top-selling collections—Bridgerton robe and matching pajamas—gained 21.3 million views on TikTok, achieving “the highest-ever engagement.”
Lush, a UK-based skincare and cosmetics retailer, saw a 25% uplift in monthly subscribers for a product line since its launch of a Bridgerton-themed edition in May, with 20% of sales coming from new customers.
Biscuiteers, a British cookie company, said its Bridgerton collaboration product was the third most visited page on its website in May and June—which peaked on Thursday when part two of the Netflix series was released—resulting in a total reach of 7.3 million on Instagram.
Since its debut in 2020, Bridgerton has driven a cultural phenomenon, especially through the Regencycore trend—an opulent aesthetic of the 19th-century Regency era of England, characterized by elegant attire like lace and pearls and ornate home decor such as lavish tea sets and vintage-inspired furniture. While the Netflix series did not create the concept of Regencycore, spikes in its popularity align with Bridgerton’s season releases, according to Launchmetrics, a data analytics firm. Online mentions of “Regencycore” saw a 443% month-over-month increase in March 2022, coinciding with Season 2’s release, leading to its increasing appearance on shopping and trend pages and making it one of the hottest trends in the summer of 2022. After sharply declining since then, the conversation on Regencycore spiked again two years later with Season 3’s premiere in May, up 800% from the previous month. The Regencycore theme is “attuned to current tastes which are becoming more maximalist and flamboyant after an era of minimalism,” Neil Saunders, a retail analyst at GlobalData, told Forbes. The demand for such trends is evident: on Pinterest, searches for “Bridgerton tea party” surged by 622%, “Bridgerton aesthetic” by 359% and “Bridgerton outfit” by 239% in February and March, compared to the same period in 2023. In many ways, the partnerships between Bridgerton and retailers build on trends that are already present in the market, Saunders noted.
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Meeting the soaring demand for the Regencycore craze, more than 10 lifestyle brands capitalized on the trend by rolling out Bridgerton-themed collections as of April. The impact was amplified by social media buzz, which boosted brand awareness and sales conversions. Bath & Body Works’ collection gained the most interest from younger customers, resulting in more than one billion media impressions from the Bridgerton collaboration—its most engaging campaign on social media this year, the company told Forbes. The fragrance retailer garnered nearly half a million dollars in media impact value—a metric that measures the monetary value earned by media exposure—during just one week since the release of the Bridgerton collection, according to Launchmetrics’ data. Primark earned $1.6 million in media impact value during the first week of its collaboration launch, and Kiko Milano, an Italian cosmetics brand, garnered $574,000 in media impact value within a week after debuting its Bridgerton-inspired makeup products.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“What makes Bridgerton ideal for retail collaborations is the visual appeal of the series,” Saunders told Forbes. “It transports viewers to a different world, one that they would quite like to have their own little slice of. The various brand partnerships and products allow people to buy into Bridgerton in a tangible way.”
TANGENT
While most brands have launched Bridgerton-themed products, some have created experiences where people can immerse themselves in the Regency era. Nearly 50 couples have become engaged at “The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience,” an event that debuted in Los Angeles in March 2022 and has since toured globally, including stops in New York, San Francisco, Montreal and Melbourne. International Delight, a coffee creamer brand, held a Bridgerton-inspired “Coffee & Courting” soirée in New York City in February, where participants could meet and mingle. The event was hosted by actress Adjoa Andoh, who plays Lady Agatha Danbury in the series. The company didn’t respond to questions about the performance of the event. In May, Lush opened a Regency-themed pop-up tea room in its store in London for two weeks, featuring complimentary tea and photo spots. During the launch week, store sales jumped 24% from the previous year, with its spa treatment products seeing over 160% increase in revenues, the company told Forbes.
