When Stephanie Morimoto answers the phone, she’s just returned home from a trip to the East Coast to film a live segment at QVC, the popular home shopping channel. During her QVC appearance, she promoted her brand’s bestselling magnesium pain relief cream, a product that has quadrupled sales in the past year.
As the owner and CEO, Stephanie has transformed Asutra into a very different wellness brand from the one she purchased in 2018. Asutra was originally a line of organic yoga mat cleaning sprays, aromatherapy mists and a magnesium oil spray. Because of the growth of the magnesium oil spray and trending searches about topical magnesium, Stephanie saw an opportunity to innovate and expand by adding more magnesium-rich products to the brand’s offerings. Magnesium is the special sauce of Asutra’s core product line now, catering to consumers’ interest in the health benefits of magnesium.
The power of magnesium
“I conducted extensive market research on what shoppers were looking for, and there’s been growing interest in topical magnesium and the impact it has on wellness,” Stephanie says. “So I sought out manufacturing partners that could help us produce high-quality magnesium products.”
She did a test run with the ease your pain relief cream, listing the new product on Amazon.com. It sold out within days.
“That’s when I realized that I really tapped into something that shoppers wanted,” she says.
Stephanie went to work making changes to the product line to better showcase the magnesium component. That meant getting rid of some products, replacing others, and focusing the branding on the benefits of magnesium, including better sleep, improved mood, and pain relief.
She also updated the mission of Asutra to celebrate what Stephanie calls “active self-care.” Asutra aims to provide products with a focus on natural ingredients and PETA-certified, cruelty-free formulations that empower people physically and mentally. And because Stephanie believes cost shouldn’t be a barrier to self-care, she keeps the products priced accessibly, with many of them in the $15-30 price range.
“We love bringing out new products that help you take care of yourself so that you can be your best in the world,” says Stephanie. “These are products that you can incorporate into your daily life that help you feel good—so that you can do good in the world.”
Asutra is Sankrit for thread, and the brand positions itself as the thread connecting the various aspects of wellness together. Some of the other products that Stephanie added to Asutra include a melatonin lotion with magnesium and a lavender and chamomile aromatherapy mist.
Finding a happy spot
Like the brand she owns, Stephanie has also been on a transformative journey. Her life looked very different before taking the helm at Asutra. She had spent much of her previous career as a director in the nonprofit world, where she frequently felt she was chasing an ideal of perfection that didn’t exist. Stephanie would often stumble back home exhausted after long hours at the office and collapse on her sofa in a daze.
She says, “I knew I wasn’t happy so I decided to make a change and go down a different path.”
As the owner of Asutra, she now gets a full eight hours of sleep each night (with the help of the aromatherapy mist, of course), moves every day, and has structured a career that she’s passionate about. In rebranding Asutra, she built a diverse team that matches her customer base of primarily women.
“Everybody at Austra has a voice, and everybody feels like they can be honest,” Stephanie says. “The team is aligned around a set of core values.”
The relaunched Asutra has caught the attention of thousands of customers as the brand grows on Amazon.com and on its ecommerce site, Asutra.com.
The Venus Williams factor
And one of those customers happened to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time: Venus Williams. The five-time Wimbledon winner discovered Asutra’s products when looking for a way to recover faster from intensive workouts. Venus became a fan of Asutra’s pain relief cream and started using it in her training regimen.
Venus’s team reached out to Stephanie to learn more about Asutra and soon Venus went from not only being a customer of Asutra but also being a part owner and chief brand officer.
“When I first met Stephanie, it was a great connection right away,” recalls Venus, who’s been championing the brand for five years. “She’s very collaborative and really, really loves her team. When I visited the headquarters of Asutra, you could tell everyone really loves her, and they would do anything for Asutra. I appreciate that she’s built this business and great products that really help people, and that she’s allowed me to be a part of it.”
Venus was also attracted to how the brand strives to create a sense of belonging for all its customers. “Asutra has always stood for accessibility, equity, and diversity,” she says. “The product price points make caring for yourself a possibility for any budget. The brand imagery is inclusive and responsive to the diverse customer base.”
The benefits of Buy with Prime
With a powerful co-sign from a tennis world champion, Stephanie is continuing to build the Asutra brand and meet potential customers where they shop. That means doubling down on her ecommerce presence. She recently added Buy with Prime to a few of her top-selling SKUs on Asutra.com. For her, the move just made sense.
“We’ve been focused on expanding in retail, launching in Target, CVS, and Walgreens, but part of making our brand accessible is making sure that people can buy Asutra wherever they want to shop,” Stephanie explains. “Buy with Prime makes checking out easier for those who might find us through our own website.”
In fact, just moments after the button was activated on Asutra products, Buy with Prime orders started coming in.
She adds, “We get a steady flow of orders coming through Buy with Prime. The fast, free delivery and easy checkout really make a difference for customers.”
When it comes to the future, Stephanie is excited about expanding her magnesium product line and connecting more with her customers. She recently added Reviews from Amazon to the Buy with Prime product pages, which displays the thousands of five-star reviews that Asutra has on Amazon.com directly on her ecommerce site. Each positive review from a customer keeps her motivated.
“Our customers are who inspire us the most,” she says. “Hearing how our products empower them to live better lives reminds the team why we do this.”
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