Mark Constantine and Elizabeth Weir were struggling with mail orders after their separation from The Body Shop. The Body Shop, which initially resold Constantine and Weir products, decided to buy their product formulas. The contract forbade them to open another shop in five years. Yet they kept selling product via mail orders. It was the first days of Lush.
No advertisement, yet lush fortunes. How?
When the five years ended, Constantine and Weir opened their first shop in Poole. And they produced the products in a flat right above the store. Now, after more than 30 years, they grew up to be one of the biggest beauty brands in the world. In 2018, Lush reported a $685.2 million of annual sale.
Interestingly, Lush had never done any public advertisement. The brand does not have brand ambassador nor television advertisements. Only in 2018 that it collaborated with, surprisingly, drag queens in Los Angeles.
Then what is the key of its success? Like any other beauty brands, innovations and natural ingredients seems to be the answer enough. Lush produces 100% vegetarian and 80% vegan products. Its pricing is based on the price of the ingredients only. And it made a lot of breakthroughs in the beauty industry such as shampoo bars, soap jelly and bath bombs.
In 2012, Lush opened its first shop in Asia, in Hongkong. The shop there is one of its biggest stores. Then in 2018 it opened the firs tech-concept store in Asia in Tokyo, Japan. However, it still found difficulties in entering the Southeast Asian market. It was forced to close down its only store in Indonesia not long since it opened.
Recently, Lush launched the Lush Lab app. The app will lead customers to the making story of its products. It also shows how machine learning and artificial intelligence help reducing wasteful packaging.
