What changed
Azuna, plant based odor eliminators (a reusable glass jar plus tea tree oil gel refills), reported by Modern Retail to top nine figures in annual online revenue; channel mix 75% DTC and 25% Amazon; about 80% of monthly revenue from subscriptions; return rate under 1%; inventory of about 90 days at the 3PL, 90 days at Amazon and nearly a year of raw materials; Entrepreneur reported $53M in 2025 sales and more than $100M expected in 2026
When
Modern Retail profile published November 9, 2026; Entrepreneur profile April 24, 2026; Series Buffalo report March 2, 2026; Fresh Thyme grocery launch April 7, 2026; $17.5M senior secured term loan from Chicago Atlantic reported October 22, 2026
Who it affects
Azuna, founded in Buffalo, New York by Scott Dancy (founder and CEO), launched in 2019; about 50 to 60 employees; first grocery partner Fresh Thyme Market (75 Midwest stores), with Whole Foods and Sprouts next on the target list and mass retail and club planned by 2028
What to do
Consumables brands: split your product into a durable starter kit and a consumable refill, push the refill onto subscription on your site and Subscribe & Save on Amazon, and hold 90 days of finished goods at each node before you scale ads

Key takeaways

  • Azuna tops nine figures in annual online revenue, Modern Retail reported November 9, 2026, after $53 million in 2025 sales (Entrepreneur), with 75% direct, 25% Amazon and about 80% of monthly revenue on subscription.
  • The brand holds 90 days of stock at its 3PL, 90 days at Amazon and nearly a year of raw materials, runs a return rate under 1%, and has raised less than $10 million of equity plus a $17.5 million loan in October 2026.
  • The copyable parts are the starter kit plus refill structure, Subscribe & Save and site subscriptions on the refill, and a forecast built from the subscriber base before holding more stock.

The Azuna operating model, as reported

  • Durable jar once, gel refill on repeat
  • About 80% of monthly revenue on subscription
  • 75% direct to consumer, 25% Amazon
  • 90 days of stock at the 3PL and 90 at Amazon
  • Almost a year of raw tea tree oil under contract
  • Owns the factory, flexes output on 10% to 15% jumps
  • Return rate under 1%, in house customer care
  • Seasonal scents stop when the run sells out

What Modern Retail reported on November 9

Modern Retail's supply chain profile, published November 9, 2026, describes Azuna as a seven year old air freshener alternative brand topping nine figures in annual online revenue. The company's hero product is a durable glass jar filled with a tea tree oil gel; customers buy the jar once and then buy gel refills. Scott Dancy, founder and CEO, told the outlet the company makes more money on the gel than on the jars, and that refills also ship denser, which lowers freight cost per dollar of revenue.

The operating numbers are the story. About 80% of monthly revenue comes from recurring subscriptions. The channel split is 75% direct to consumer and 25% Amazon. The return rate is below 1%, served by an in house customer care team in Buffalo. On inventory, Dancy said the company holds about 90 days of stock at its third party logistics warehouse, another 90 days at Amazon and almost a year of raw materials under a long term supply agreement with an Australian tea tree oil producer. Azuna owns its manufacturing facility and can flex output when monthly order growth jumps 10% to 15%.

The holiday plan shows how the inventory discipline works in practice. Limited edition scents (Fraser Fir, Winter Berry, Apple Pie and Peppermint Frost) use packaging ordered six to eight months in advance, and production stops once the seasonal run sells out rather than chasing late demand.

How big Azuna is, and how fast it got there

Modern Retail did not put a dollar figure on the nine figures, so the size comes from two earlier reports. Entrepreneur, in an April 24, 2026 profile, reported $53 million in sales in 2025 and more than $100 million expected in 2026, all through the website and Amazon. Series Buffalo reported on March 2, 2026 that the company was on pace to break $100 million in revenue this year. The two reports differ on headcount: Entrepreneur said about 50 employees, Series Buffalo said 60 full time staff in Buffalo, about 40 of them at headquarters.

The ramp was steep. Entrepreneur reported $12,000 of monthly sales by April 2020, $105,000 in May 2020 when the brand moved to its own 3PL, about $3 million in cumulative sales run largely by Dancy alone, and then a jump from $500,000 a month to $3 million a month inside four months. Early unit economics were a product that cost about $10 to make and sold for $20.

The capital structure is unusual for a brand this size. Entrepreneur reported that Azuna had raised less than $10 million to date, and Dancy said competitors at the same scale would have given up about $50 million in equity. CB Insights lists early backers including Launch NY and, on October 22, 2026, a $17.5 million senior secured term loan from Chicago Atlantic, which is debt rather than equity. Dancy told Entrepreneur he expected to take institutional investment for the first time in 2026 and that he could see a sale in about 18 months, once the business was running at about $20 million a month.

Retail is the next leg. Azuna launched in Fresh Thyme Market in April 2026 and is now in 75 of the chain's Midwest stores, Modern Retail reported, with Whole Foods and Sprouts as the next targets and mass retail and wholesale club distribution planned by 2028.

Azuna milestones

  1. Azuna launches in Buffalo, New York

  2. $12,000 of monthly sales (Entrepreneur)

  3. $105,000 month, moves to its own 3PL

  4. $53 million in sales (Entrepreneur)

  5. First grocery partner, Fresh Thyme Market

  6. $17.5M senior secured term loan (CB Insights)

  7. Modern Retail: nine figures in online revenue

So what: why 80% subscription changes the whole P&L

Subscription revenue turns customer acquisition from a cost per order into a cost per customer, and that is what lets a brand spend aggressively on the first sale. For example (illustrative numbers, not Azuna's), take a starter kit sold at $60 with $18 of product cost and $8 of pick, pack and shipping, and a refill sold at $25 with $6 of product cost and $5 of fulfillment. If the kit is sold at break even after $34 of marketing cost, the brand has paid nothing to acquire a subscriber. A customer who then takes a refill every six weeks delivers $14 of contribution per refill, or about $120 a year.

Now scale it. Ten thousand active subscribers at that illustrative $14 per refill and 8.7 refills a year produce about $1.2 million of annual contribution with zero marketing attached to it. That cash is what funds 90 days of finished goods at two nodes and a year of raw materials, which most brands at $50 million cannot afford to hold. It also explains why a lender was willing to write a $17.5 million senior secured loan against the business in October: recurring revenue with a sub 1% return rate is bankable in a way that one time sales are not.

The risk in the model is concentration. A brand that is 75% direct is exposed to Meta and Google ad costs and to its own site's conversion rate, while the 25% on Amazon is exposed to fee changes and Subscribe & Save discount rules. The holiday limited editions are the hedge: they give subscribers a reason to add a second jar without discounting the core refill.

What this means for Amazon and Shopify brands

The jar plus refill structure is the copyable part. On Amazon it maps directly onto Subscribe & Save: list the starter kit as the ad driven entry SKU and the refill as the subscription SKU, with the refill's price set so the 5% to 15% subscription discount still leaves margin after the referral and FBA fees. On a Shopify site it maps onto a subscription app with a prepaid or skip option, which is where Azuna's 80% recurring share lives.

The inventory rule is the second lesson. Ninety days at the 3PL plus 90 days at Amazon is far more than the 30 to 45 days most brands hold, and it only works because the product is non perishable, the demand is predictable from the subscriber base, and the company owns its factory. A brand without a subscriber base should not copy the 90 days; it should copy the forecasting that makes 90 days safe, which is the subject of our FBA inventory management guide.

The third lesson is the capital path. Less than $10 million of equity to reach $100 million of sales means the founders still own most of the company, and the October debt facility shows that a subscription brand can borrow against recurring revenue instead of selling equity. That is the opposite of the venture funded consumer brands that raised heavily and then sold for one times sales or less in 2025 and 2026.

What consumables brands should do this quarter

Six steps, each with an owner, a place and a metric.

  • Product lead: split your hero product into a durable starter kit and a consumable refill if you have not already, and launch both as separate ASINs in Seller Central. Metric: refill units as a share of total units after 90 days.
  • Growth lead: in Seller Central, enroll the refill in Subscribe & Save and set the brand funded discount at 5%; on your Shopify store, add a subscription option on the refill page with a skip button. Metric: subscription orders as a percentage of refill orders, with Azuna's 80% as the ceiling to aim at.
  • Finance: calculate the contribution per refill after fees and shipping and multiply by your observed refills per year to get a customer value; set the first order marketing budget at that value minus the margin you need. Metric: payback period in months on the starter kit.
  • Operations: run a 13 week demand forecast from the subscriber base alone, then set finished goods targets by node; start at 60 days and move to 90 only once forecast error is under 10%. Metric: weeks of cover at the 3PL and in the FBA inventory dashboard.
  • Merchandising: plan one limited edition variant for the next seasonal peak with packaging ordered six months ahead and a hard stop on production, the way Azuna runs its holiday scents. Metric: sell through of the limited run by the end of the season.
  • Customer care: track your return rate monthly against Azuna's sub 1% benchmark and read every return reason on the refill SKU. Metric: return rate and the share of returns caused by shipping damage.
  1. 1Split the SKU

    Starter kit for ads, refill for subscription

  2. 2Enroll the refill

    Subscribe & Save plus a site subscription

  3. 3Price the first order

    Break even on the kit, margin on refills

  4. 4Forecast from subscribers

    13 weeks, then set stock by node

  5. 5Watch returns

    Monthly, against a 1% benchmark

When this does not apply

The model depends on a consumable that runs out on a schedule and a durable part that customers do not want to rebuy. If your product is a one time purchase, a fashion item or a seasonal gift, the 80% subscription share is not available to you and the 90 day inventory rule will tie up cash you need for ads. If your Amazon share is above 60%, the direct site subscription engine matters less than Subscribe & Save economics and fee changes, and your first job is the Amazon unit math; our free Amazon audit is the quickest way to see it. Brands that want help building the direct side can read about our Shopify DTC agency work, and for more brand stories like this one follow Shopify and ecommerce news.

Sources

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