The news: Hims & Hers is teaming up with Gen Z- and millennial-focused online fashion retailer Revolve to bring its health and wellness products (e.g. sleep, hair, and skincare supplements) to Revolve’s website.

How we got here: This isn’t the first time Hims & Hers has partnered with a major retailer—the Revolve partnership fits neatly into its broader customer acquisition strategy.

• Last year, Hims & Hers partnered with Target to get its wellness products into the retail giant’s brick-and-mortar stores, shortly before it made its public debut in a $1.6 billion SPAC deal.
• It’s likely the fresh capital from its IPO helped Hims & Hers boost its marketing reach, because it didn’t stop edging into retail locations: In June 2021, Hims & Hers joined forces with fashion retailer Urban Outfitters (UO) to bring its health products to UO’s digital site.
• Now, Hims & Hers has access to a trove of consumers it likely wouldn’t have been able to reach through its own marketing channels alone: For context, Revolve has over 1.5 million active users, most of whom are Gen Zers and millennials.

The big takeaway: Virtual care companies that aren’t reaching Gen Zers and millennials are likely missing out on a massive audience who’d be receptive to their hyper-convenient healthcare services.

• More than 70% of Gen Zers and millennials say they prefer telehealth visits to in-person care due convenience alone, per HIMSS 2021 State of Healthcare Report.

Plus, Gen Z and millennial patients aren’t as loyal as their older counterparts when it comes to sticking with one primary care physician, and virtual care plays a big role in retention for them:

• Many (44%) of younger patients say they’re willing to jump to a different provider if their current one doesn’t offer virtual care visits.
• That’s good news for buzzy direct-to-consumer (D2C) telehealth companies like Ro and Hims & Hers.

What’s next? We expect more D2C virtual care companies to pair up with retail giants to reach young consumers where they’re already spending the most time: online.

D2C virtual care vendors beyond Hims & Hers are already leaning into the retail partnerships strategy:

• For example, in April, Hims & Hers’ rival, Ro, partnered with Walmart to get its health and wellness supplements and digital services available on Walmart’s website and in its-stores.
• Partnerships with the likes of Walmart could raise D2C digital health vendor’s brand awareness and get their products and health services in the hands of more consumers than ever before: Walmart’s subscription service Walmart+ grew to 9 million users in 2020, per a survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.