Lush: building Brand Identity

Everybody heard about Lush and its amazing cosmetic products. I am really fascinated by the concept and strategies of this company and its strong personality that enabled the brand to become a reference in the business of cosmetics.

Just to set the things up: Lush is a British company created in 1995. In 18 years the brand opened 830 stores in 53 countries all over the world. But what is the secret recipe of this brand to expand so quickly and successfully? Eveyrthing lies in the identity of the brand that the founders, Mark and Mo Constantine, perfectly knew how to manage and develop in order to become a reference.

Lush is a brand that stands out the crowd and has great competitive advantages on the market:

First of all, the brand offers all kind of products from scrubs to shampoos, lotions, moisturizers and soaps exclusively made with vegetarian and organic products. These unique products' recipes represent the ingredient at the heart of the company’s strategy. Indeed, in this video I found on the British website of the brand, we could think we are visiting the kitchen of a restaurant offering organic products. All the cosmetic products manufactured in Lush factories are made with fresh fruits and vegetables, from asparagus to pineapple, as if they were eatable.

Another important thing that differentiates Lush from its competitors is the position of the brand towards animal testing: Lush as become a reference is the cosmetic world for this position. On its website the brand claims this position and publishes videos explaining how to fight animal testing. Moreover, Lush is a committed brand fighting for different causes: on its French website the brand even launched a campaign to join the anti bull-fighting claims making the headlines in France at the moment by offering a sangria exfoliant “certifies 100% anti bull-fighting”.

Another point to highlight is that, contrary to some of its competitors, Lush offers a real experience to the customers entering its stores. First of all, the fruity smells of Lush products attract people from outside the shops, and once inside it is possible to discover great ranges of soaps, fizz bath balls and other candy shaped products. All the cosmetics are displayed in the same way as in a grocery shop, without any unnecessary packaging. In this way the customers can choose the products by weight as if buying food. This presentation matches with the commitment of Lush to protect the environment and be a “green” brand.

Last but not least, Lush attaches a great importance to the customer relationship. Indeed, this is part of the “Lush experience”, inside and outside the stores, on the social networks for example. Moreover, entering a Lush store, the customer is always welcome by sales assistants who are very into the concept of the brand and take great pleasure to make the customer discover the amazing products. The customer can try out every product in the store and discover their incredible properties such as the soap that glows in the dark.

The brand invests a lot to maintain an innovation cycle in order to offer the customers more and more outstanding products. This quality creates a great competitive advantage for the brand.

Setting up all these strategies, Lush could build its name all over the world on the value it defends and the high quality products it offers as well as the great customers experience everyone can discover by visiting its stores.

References:
- lush.com
- Interview of the founders: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/apr/13/retail2
- Wikipedia