Making 8 million dollars on chewing gum, who said niche tracks didn't sell well!

Can you imagine? A pack of chewing gum sells for $26.77, not even including shipping, and yet it has sold 290,000 orders on TikTok Shop,with a GMV as high as $8.54 million (about 61.98 million RMB)!

This is not because foreigners are foolish and rich, but because this chewing gum really has something special.

The chewing gum is called UNDERBRUSH, a product from the Nathan and Sons brand, focusing on "innovative formula + maintaining oral cleanliness," completely overturning the market's inherent perception of traditional chewing gum and bringing new tricks to this track.

Image source: Dida Dog

An Entrepreneurship Triggered by "Tracing the Source"

Chewing gum, as a category that has been on the market for many years, is not unfamiliar to us. Moreover, most people rarely look at the ingredient list after buying chewing gum, so they don't really care about the "past and present" of chewing gum.

But by chance, one day, Nathan, the founder of Nathan and Sons, had nothing to do due to a flight delay, so he started to study a big brand of chewing gum in his hand.

Nathan found that many chewing gum ingredient lists include "Gum Base," but there is no relevant information about what this actually is, which immediately piqued his curiosity.

After repeated investigations and even communicating with manufacturers, Nathan finally learned that most of the chewing gum on the market today is made from garbage...

Nathan's email communication with the manufacturer. Image source: Nathan and Sons

Adhering to the principle of "if you can't beat them, join them; if you can't quit, improve," Nathan decided to create a functional chewing gum with healthy ingredients that is beneficial to oral health, and thus the Nathan and Sons brand was born.

Image source: Internet

As an innovative brand in a niche track, Nathan and Sons also chose a brand new path in operations, targeting the booming social media platform—TikTok—as the key to standing out.

TikTok: Driving Sales with Traffic

As a short video platform famous for its "fast pace and high explosiveness," TikTok is obviously a good choice for a brand in urgent need of traffic and exposure, and Nathan and Sons certainly understand this.

Currently, the brand's official TikTok account @nathan.and.sons has already gained442,800 followers, with a total of6.6 million likes, and a total view count of about118 million, which is a very good result for a "niche category" account.

Image source: TikTok

It is worth noting that as of now, this account has only posted 14 videos, 4 of which have exceeded 10 million views, with the highest one reaching over 39.4 million views.

Image source: TikTok

By reviewing these videos, Tuke found that the 4 videos with over 10 million views all have one thing in common: they all popularize science about chewing gum, showing viewers a brand new perspective by making chewing gum by hand.

Take the video with 39.4 million views as an example: from a rigorous scientific perspective, it shows viewers the ingredients and production methods of traditional chewing gum, using visual impact to indirectly highlight the health benefits of Nathan and Sons' ingredients. This clever comparison and intuitive presentation leave viewers with a deep impression of the brand's professionalism and dedication while learning the truth.

Once this video was released, its popularity remained high and sparked a lot of resonance in the comments section.

Image source: TikTok

In addition to their own account, they also cooperate with many TikTok influencers for promotion.

According to third-party platform statistics, as of now, Nathan and Sons has about 4,700 collaborating influencers, who have brought$7.34 million in sales for their products, accounting for85.98% of the brand's sales, making them the main force in sales.

Image source: Echotik

By checking the list of influencers associated with the brand, it is not difficult to find that they prefer to cooperate with small and medium-sized influencers.

This is understandable, after all, the price of this chewing gum product is really not low, so when cooperating, they tend to choose mid-tier influencers with certain seeding abilities. These influencers are experienced in product promotion, can quickly build brand awareness, and drive product sales through professional seeding content and fan interaction.

Image source: Echotik

For example, the top-selling influencer for Nathan and Sons, @andrewchews, has only 105,100 followers but brought in$1.44 million in sales for the product.

The influencer's promotional videos are also similar to the brand's main account content, all using comparisons between traditional and innovative chewing gum to achieve indirect promotion. For example, in the video released on October 11, 2024, it received19.4 million views upon release, bringing an estimated$474,600 in sales for Nathan and Sons.

Image source: TikTok

Seizing the Market, Even Small Categories Have Business Opportunities

Nathan and Sons' TikTok traffic operation is a key step to opening up sales, but behind this is the fact that the demand for chewing gum in the US market is increasing year by year.

According to data from the US Census Bureau, about 60% of American consumers have the habit of regularly chewing gum, and on average, each person consumes nearly two pounds of gum per year.

In addition, the North American chewing gum market reached $5.14 billion in 2024 and is expected to continue expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 3.91%, surpassing $6.26 billion by 2030, showing that this seemingly niche market has considerable potential.

Image source: Internet

Conclusion

Selling chewing gum for nearly $27 and still having so many buyers fully demonstrates that those seemingly stagnant small categories still have the potential to be redefined.

Behind this, whether it is product innovation and improvement or deep market demand exploration, all reveal the huge potential for innovation opportunities in traditional fields. For brands still on the fence, overseas markets may be an opportunity. If you don't know how to innovate, you can consult a professional team to find a new direction for your product.

After all, even chewing gum improvements can trigger a consumption wave. The next disruptive product innovation may be hidden in the operational details you have yet to discover.