As the world tries to navigate the ongoing pandemic, many areas have experienced a difficult time recovering from the economic downturn. Small businesses and online brands have suffered the most from the slow economic recovery. Even some celebrity brands have felt the pinch. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop felt the downturn like many businesses in 2020 and 2021 despite the brand's notoriety and cultural relevance. After a “hard” year, Paltrow reflected on the difficulties of running a business after expansion plans fall short.
The Iron Man star has been growing the Goop brand for a decade. The lifestyle brand, best known for its niche items, has expanded into areas like reality television, conventions, and a magazine. Unfortunately, the expansion didn’t work out the way Paltrow wanted. According to People, the Oscar winner was honest about the growth setback her company experienced in 2021.
It was a hard year to run a business, but it was also a clarifying year, and a lot of lessons came from it. What's crystallized for me is how tumultuousness is just a part of life. We have this tendency to be like, 'Why are things so hard?' But there are also amazing and happy and wonderful things happening. There is so much space for growth. To be human is to live in this messy gray area — and it's beautiful.
As such, Gwyneth Paltrow decided not to dwell on the negativity. She chose to turn the unexpected slowdown into motivation for Goop to do better in 2022. The news was quite surprising as the brand grabbed multiple headlines, including her notorious vagina candle. But those headlines didn’t translate into a considerable profit for the company.
The Goop brand got caught up in the economic slowdown. According to The Daily Mail, the UK branch of the brand lost $1.9 million in revenue after it ceased trading on the stock exchange. That was a significant increase from a reported loss of over $546,000 in 2020. Taking the brand off the UK stock market came on the heels of the flagship UK store closing in November 2020. The pandemic played a significant role as an alleged financial report claimed the brand’s operations were reduced dramatically. As consumers tightened their purse strings in 2021, it ate into Goop’s profits.
Of course, all the news didn’t deter Gwyneth Paltrow from wanting to grow the lifestyle brand in 2022. Despite the financial hardships, Paltrow and Goop seem primed and ready to set the internet on fire with more quirky lifestyle items. As the brand tries to expand, viewers can look forward to more moments like the actress airing out her parental struggles on Red Table Talk. You can watch the inner workings of Goop by streaming Season 1 and 2 of Goop Lab on Netflix.
