Can Murphy’s Naturals become a household name? Raleigh company plans big expansion
Murphy’s Naturals, the Raleigh-based maker of a natural mosquito repellent and other outdoor products, hopes to significantly expand its presence on the shelves of retailers after raising a new round of money from investors.
Murphy’s has grown rapidly over the past two years, taking advantage of the fact that many Americans spent more time outdoors because of the pandemic.
But Philip Freeman, the founder and CEO of Murphy’s, said in an interview that his company still needs to do a lot of work to grow awareness of its brand.
“Our brand’s awareness has been very organic so far,” he said in a video interview with The News & Observer, noting that 70% of the company’s sales are online. “We believe one of the best ways to create awareness is by getting on more store shelves ... and so far we’ve been very careful about how we’ve gone about our retail placement.”
Murphy’s products can be found on Amazon, select Target stores and numerous mom-and-pop retailers. But Freeman forecasts a near future where its products will be more widely available in retail outlets.
Physical retailers have grown perhaps even more important, after Apple made changes earlier this year and allowed users to restrict how they are tracked on mobile devices. Those changes have disrupted the online advertising world, and made it harder for many e-commerce brands to find customers through sites like Facebook, which used users’ data to target ads, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Those changes really came into effect over the summer,” said Laura Patel, Murphy’s director of marketing.
“At Murphy’s, we had a fairly modest investment in spending on social,” she added, “so we’re in a position where we can sort of react and pivot. But a lot of e-commerce brands are spending a lot with these platforms and really struggling to find alternative ways to find people.”
Digital advertising is still important to creating awareness of a company, she noted, but “Murphy’s products really excel when customers are able to see and experience that it is a lot different than a product that contains Deet or other chemicals.”
To handle potential growth, Murphy’s is also expanding its manufacturing capabilities in Raleigh.
“We’ve expanded the footprint of our facility significantly,” Freeman said, adding that handling more of its own manufacturing will protect Murphy’s from many of the supply-chain issues that have popped up in the past two years. It should also help the company control costs, he said, and “drive up a nice amount of margin.”
A bump in sales
Murphy’s latest round was led by NRV, an investment company from Richmond, Virginia.
So far, Murphy’s has raised $4.2 million from investors, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But the final amount raised will probably be closer to $7 million, according to John Replogle, the former CEO of Durham-based Burt’s Bees and founder of One Better Ventures, an early investor in Murphy’s.
Freeman said Murphy’s is on track to do $9.5 million in sales this year, a number that has grown significantly since before the pandemic. In 2019, for instance, the company brought in around $4.7 million in sales, he said.
“Our goal is to reach $100 million (in revenue) by 2030,” Freeman said. “We have a long ways to go, but we think we’ll get there.”
The company’s current list of products includes insect repellent oils, candles, balms and incense. But it’s prepared to add several more in the next year.
“They’ve got some terrific innovation coming in the next couple of years,” Replogle said. “They’re going to continue to expand Murphy’s beyond just insect (repellent) into a broader lifestyle brand.”
Freeman, a former officer in the U.S. Navy, said he wasn’t ready to reveal the products in development, but said the company is experimenting on items such as sunscreen.
“We don’t want to have just any kind of SPF sunscreen on the market, though,” Freeman said. “We want to have a reef-safe, natural sunscreen product, and we have that in development.”
Environmentally conscious culture
Freeman believes the company is benefiting from consumers becoming more critical of the culture surrounding the makers of consumer goods, especially as it relates to their environmental impact.
Murphy’s is a certified B Corporation and gives away 2% of its revenues to social and environmental organizations, like the Triangle Land Conservancy, Bunker Labs and Outward Bound.
More evidence of the company’s success can be found in the growing headcount within its offices at the Loading Dock co-working campus in Raleigh.
Around the start of the pandemic, the company had eight employees, Freeman said. The company now employs 38 people, with more coming in the next few months.
Over the past two years, the company has also added to its leadership team, hiring heads of finance, marketing, customer development and operations. Keith Kochersperger, Murphy’s new vice president of operations, was recruited away last year from Clorox and previously worked at Burt’s Bees.
“If you look at it, you know, we have the equipment (to increase manufacturing) ... and we invested in the team,” he said. “Now it’s time to get out there and sell.”
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate.
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 6:15 AM with the headline "Can Murphy’s Naturals become a household name? Raleigh company plans big expansion."
