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]]>The 2016 Natural Beauty Roundtable brought together a group of 20 prominent brand owners, CEOs, commentators and practitioners for a two-hour themed discussion, working lunch and networking sessions.
The event also included the formal presentation of this year’s Natural Beauty Retail Awards. Among those collecting awards on the day were Holland & Barett’s senior beauty buyer Lucy Pottinger (for Best Retail Chain), Lovelula founder Sonia White (Best Online Retailer), Joanne Hill owner of Amaranth (Best Independent Retailer) and Jo Chidley from Beauty Kitchen (Best Branded Store). Weleda UK MD Jayn Sterland meanwhile was presented with an award for being voted number one in the 2016 Who’s Who in Natural Beauty Awards.
The main roundtable discussion, chaired by Natural Beauty News editor Julia Zaltzman, focused on four themes – The K-Beauty Trend (Korean and wider Asian beauty trends), Waterless Beauty, Future Proofing and Trends of 2017. The discussion also covered the growing need for natural beauty businesses to demonstrate a coherent sustainability strategy, the future role of personalized beauty, and the emergence of ‘micro-influencers’. The group also advocated an approach which balances a desire for innovation with a respect for trusted ‘hero products’ and ingredients. And there was universal support for the sector to work more closely together and speak with a unified voice.
Speaking after the event, Jayn Sterland said: “It was great to have the opportunity to come together and discuss some really meaty issues. One of the things we sometimes forget about is that we all share the same vision and come from the same place, so we need to unite and have one voice. My big take out from todays is that there is more that unites us than divides us.”
Joanne Hill, owner of award-winning retailer Amaranth, said: “I thought today’s discussion was incredibly interesting and thought-provoking. And I thought it encouraged us to think about important issues in a very different way.”
“I thought today’s discussion was incredibly interesting and thought-provoking. And I thought it encouraged us to think about important issues in a very different way”
Luke Sherriff, of Pinks Boutique, said: “It was really interesting to talk with the group about how sustainability feeds back into your whole business, and isn’t something that just affects final products.”
Lorraine Dallmeir, from Formula Botanica, told us: “I loved this morning’s discussion. It’s particularly interesting to hear the experiences of people who are in different parts of the industry. For example, I spend most of my time with people who are learning how to formulate, so it’s very interesting to hear retailers saying what consumers are looking for when they walk into a shop, how they view different beauty products. That was very eye-opening for me.”
The full report on this year’s Natural Beauty Rountdable will form a centerpiece of the Spring 2017 edition Natural Beauty News. Video interviews with some of this year’s Roundtable contributors will be posted shortly on the NPN and Natural Beauty News websites.
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The UK’s best natural beauty retailers have been announced today with the publication of the autumn edition of Natural Beauty News, published by Diversified Communications UK.
Waitrose, Debenhams, Holland & Barrett, LoveLula, Beauty Kitchen, and Amaranth have all been recognised with Natural Beauty Retail Awards, while Jayn Sterland, managing director of Weleda UK, landed the top spot in this year’s Who’s Who in Natural Beauty.
Voted for by the natural and organic beauty industry, the hotlist – also known as the ‘Who’s Who’ in natural beauty Top 25 – provides an essential snapshot of the leading personalities driving the newest trends and best products on the market.
Whilst this is the first time she’s been voted number one, Jayn Sterland has regularly appeared in the ‘Who’s Who’ top 25 since its launch in 2007.
She joined Weleda eight years ago and brought the original products she found in the Weleda archives, such as the iconic Skin Food, to the mass market. Appointed managing director of Weleda UK earlier this year, she has transformed Weleda into a truly customer-focused business and regularly speaks about the value of authentically natural and organic cosmetics.
“I am so thrilled to be voted number one in the natural beauty industry’s Top 25 – what an incredible honour!” says Jayn Sterland, MD of Weleda UK. “I am delighted for all my team; it is gratifying to know our voice for authentically natural products is being heard in a world where organic beauty is so often veiled in green-washing and dubious claims.
“In the year Weleda Skin Food celebrates its 90th birthday, it is encouraging that old is the new new! A true testament to lasting sustainability in a very transient beauty industry,” she says.
Last year’s winner Sonia White, managing director of Lovelula, was voted number two, closely followed by Luke and Kirstie Sherriff, co-founders of Pinks Boutique. Alexander and Kim Barani, founders of Kinetic Enterprises, were voted fourth, and Graeme Hume, owner of Pravera was fifth favourite overall.
The 2016 Who’s Who in natural beauty top 25 personalities (as voted for by the industry) are:
The Natural Beauty Retail Awards 2016
Highlighting the valuable contributions and support of retailers to the vibrant natural and organic beauty market, the Natural Beauty Retail Awards celebrate the industry’s dedication and innovations in offering their customers a great retail experience, at the same time as promoting natural and organic beauty for all.
“The standard of excellence within the natural beauty industry has never been higher,” comments Julia Zaltzman, editor of Natural Beauty News. “With product innovations, customer care and consumer awareness all at the forefront of this pioneering sector, we are proud to be able to highlight those who are truly trailblazing within their categories.”
The Natural Beauty Retail Awards 2016 winners are:
“Our customers love natural beauty products so we’re really happy to win this award for a second year running,” says Jo Skelton, Waitrose beauty buying manager. “We’ve been working hard to make natural beauty more accessible, so it’s brilliant this has been recognised. The award is a fantastic vote of confidence in the quality and choice we offer our customers. We remain dedicated to leading the industry in this area and enhancing our range, and we’ve been given a great boost of encouragement by winning this award.”
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]]>Black Friday, Cyber Monday, even the January sales have started appearing before we’ve sung the New Year in. Loud price slashing has always been most retailers’ preferred way of engaging with consumers, and once our interest is piqued we’re further enticed with BOGOFs, three-for-two deals and any other money-saving offer that can be dreamed up. It’s a war zone where a war of attrition is being played out to the bitter end.
But just wait a minute. Let’s sit down, pour ourselves a herbal infusion and think this through properly. There’s only so far that we (retailers and shoppers alike) can go with eye-wateringly low prices before quality becomes compromised, questions get asked, both integrity and trust is lost, and we’re surrounded by irreparable collateral damage.
There has to be another way. And the empty shop floors during this year’s infamous Black Friday suggest weary shoppers are thinking along the same lines.
Last month The Independent published its ’10 best online beauty retailers’. It’s a giddy list of fashionable e-tailers purveying the best that beauty has to offer, and I was delighted to see that at number three and number eight respectively were our very own natural beauty trailblazers Being Content and LoveLula.
Rubbing shoulders with the likes of SpaceNK Apothecary, Look Fantastic and The Independent’s number one pick Get The Gloss, which was launched a year ago by two former beauty editors – Vogue’s Susannah Taylor and The Times’ Sarah Vine – it is yet again clear to me that organic beauty is very much at the top of its game, and shouldn’t be treated as a niche sub-category.
SpaceNK itself offers up no less than 144 beauty products when you search the term ‘organic’ on its website (I know because I counted them), and yet it is not considered a speciality store. More accurately it is a stylish emporium stocking what are deemed to be the world’s best beauty brands, whether they are organic or not.
And then it dawned on me. When sold online, natural beauty doesn’t have to compete with the minimalist designs of stores such as SpaceNK. The products speak for themselves, and the ratings naturally follow.
Out on the High Street, however, little independents are most definitely battling with the sleek Apple-like appeal that nowadays we shoppers readily associate with premium outlets stocking premium products. And it’s when we’re feeling frumpy in our plain old bricks and mortar and crowded out by the big boys that the knee-jerk price-slashing reaction tends to creep in. But stop. Don’t do it!
Independent natural beauty retailers, you may be small, but you are mighty. Our stake in the beauty retail sector is considerable enough to have all the large multiples wanting a piece of the organic action. The age-old mantra of quality over quantity has never rung more true. Organic beauty is no longer the future, it’s the here and now, and you independents are in effect the godfathers of that gold mine.
So this January stand tall and stand proud. Don’t slash your prices to compete with the national chains left floundering after Christmas. Instead cease-fire, hold the line, and stand by the brands and products on your shelves. There’s no need to compromise when what you’re offering is the nothing but the best.
Julia Zaltzman is a freelance writer and editor of Natural Beauty News.
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]]>It’s been more than six months since the team at the Natural Beauty Yearbook and Natural Products News magazine sat down around a round table with a handful of key industry figures and discussed the state of the natural and organic beauty market.
In what was a lively, topical and engaging debate, one of the main issues raised at the event was the need to communicate more clearly with both existing natural beauty consumers, and the wider general public, to get key messages both heard and understood. And it was felt that in order to do so the industry as a whole had to unite and come together as one, to sing off the same song sheet, so to speak.
We all agreed that high-end, efficacious, natural beauty products are now at the forefront of the industry, competing like for like (if not even better) with mass market brands on quality of ingredients, proven results and price point.
I couldn’t help but feel at the time, though, that once again we were all preaching to the converted, and wondered how the message would reach those who really need to hear it. Which is why I was so delighted when I heard the exciting news about the recent launch of the Real Beauty Manifesto (realbeautymanifesto.org).
Founded by Sonia White, managing director of leading online natural beauty retailer LoveLula, and partaker at last year’s Round Table, it’s aim is for the unification of natural and organic beauty brands “in support of a more holistic vision of honesty, integrity, community and sustainability,” says White.
A complementary manifesto
Far from competing with existing certifiers, the RBM logo complements the current standards and provides an immediate point of reference “informing customers that a product is made with decency and care and can be bought
with confidence”.
Over 20 companies (including the Soil Association) have already signed up to the campaign that White describes as “a tangible way for us to unite and move forward”.
A similar initiative – the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics – was launched in the US back in 2004 by Stacy Malkan. Set up as a consumer safety advocacy group uniting hundreds of non-profits and natural beauty companies for a safer beauty industry, the campaign helped prompt mass manufacturers such as Johnson & Johnson to reformulate, and for the US Government to consider updating cosmetics legislation.
The persistent lack of a proper framework or point of legal reference for the UK’s natural beauty industry is a long-standing bugbear for retailers, brands and consumers alike. It breeds greenwashing, confuses shoppers and diminishes the hard work done by those who do actually produce products that tick all the right boxes. If the Real Beauty Manifesto could at the very least lend some weight to getting natural beauty standards recognized within European law, then that would be a long-awaited victory for us all.
So let’s make a concerted effort to unite on all fronts, and stand up to be counted. It’s about time our rather substantial voice was finally heard, don’t you think?
Julia Zaltzman is a freelance writer and editor of The Natural Beauty Yearbook
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]]>Developed by the specialists behind LoveLula, the site offers handpicked ethical natural and organic brands including established favourites like REN and Dr Hauschka alongside new brands including Elements and Preserve.
ManOrganic and LoveLula MD Sonia White comments: “At LoveLula we’ve seen a strong uplift in the number of men choosing natural and organic grooming products over the last five years, but until now, they’ve never had their own dedicated site. To meet this demand, we’ve brought the world’s best natural and organic grooming brands together on one site and made it super-easy for men to shop the range.”
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]]> Exclusively from Botanical Brands comes Living Nature’s latest shade of lipstick, a ‘vintage pink’ shade called Bloom. Living Nature is donating NZ$1 from the sale of each lipstick to the Breast Cancer Network New Zealand (BCN).Natural make-up brand benecos is increasing its distribution and is now available in Whole Foods Market stores. Graeme Hume from distributor Pravera Ltd said: “The benecos range is going from strength to strength in the UK and sales are up. We are definitely seeing an increase in demand for affordable natural and organic make-up from retailers and consumers.”
Faith Products has appointed Enzo Gallone as head of export sales. “We have such a strong core proposition,” commented Enzo, “and it is very much in demand across the world – we just need to find the right people, who share our passion for all things natural and eco-friendly, to partner and develop relationships with.”
Organic Monitor’s Consumer Insights report has found that parabens is the synthetic chemicals that most consumers look to avoid, stated by 63% of buyers, and awareness of all synthetic chemicals was seen to have increased significantly since 2007. Certification is becoming more important, according to the report, with 43% of consumers looking for symbols and logos when they buy beauty products, up from 33% in 2007, with most shoppers looking out for the Soil Association logo.
Male natural skincare brand Bulldog has been crowned ‘Small to Medium Business of the Year in the 2014 Natural Business Awards. “Scalable and saleable, Bulldog Skincare has successfully disrupted in a highly competitive marketplace,” said the judges.
UK eco-brand Barenaturals has teamed up with CLF as its national distributor for its vegan soaps, organic balms and natural skincare. Founder Darcy Croft commented: “Together we will be able to spread our wings and reach all those asking for our products further afield.”
UrbanVeda has won the Pure Beauty Award for Best New Natural Product for its Purifying Day Cream. The win represents its twelfth award placement in the 12 months since the company launched.
The latest feminine hygiene product from Organyc is its natural Intimate Wash which has a pH of 4.5 and contains a blend of organic ingredients including calendula and aloe vera.
Online beauty retailer LoveLula has scooped the prestigious Retail Innovation Award at the Pure Beauty Awards. It was praised for offering customers an unrivalled choice of natural, organic and ethically produced beauty products and for expanding the horizons of natural beauty in the UK.
New to shelves is Wassen Collagen drink, a supplement which aims to promote beauty from the inside out. The orange drink, which comes in sachet form, is designed to deliver essential nutrients to the dermis layer of the skin through the body’s blood supply.
Shea Mooti organic skincare brand for mums and babies is promoting its multi-award-winning range in the UK, Europe and the Far East with its new marketing partner Geometry Global with the goal of creating original and inspiring marketing campaigns to boost customer relationships.
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]]>Grappling for shelf space, competing on packaging design, POS promotions – these are all familiar, day-to-day experiences for manufacturers and brands alike trying to stay afloat in the competitive world of retail.
It’s a tricky business obtaining customers’ attention, but it’s even harder retaining it and convincing them to make a purchase. Shoppers are savvy. They know that they have the upper hand in this proverbial auction house, and that in the end it all boils down to margins – and he who dares wins.
But for the brands it’s a double whammy. Attracting customers can only be achieved if they are awarded shelf space or online positioning in the first place, so not only are they being squeezed by the shopper, but they’re being tested by the retailer too.
So what happens when this daily grind is turned on its head? What happens when retailers go that extra mile to support brands they stock, and rather than focusing on drumming down prices or offering customers BOGOFs they really get behind a brand’s USPs?
Online retailer LoveLula was one of the first to stick its neck out for upcoming natural beauty brands, and this year went one step further with the launch of its LoveLula Boutique which groups young and growing ‘boutique’ brands into a highlighted section of the website, giving them the chance to grow (despite many being unproven in sales terms) and customers the opportunity to try them.
It’s a successful and credible step for LoveLula, but let’s face it, it’s not all that surprising for an ethical website dedicated to the sale and promotion of ethical beauty products.
So what about the big guns? What about the supermarkets and department stores? They have one of the largest captive audiences and the ability to make or break a brand depending on how well they support and promote it. And historically their reputation for doing just that is pretty dismal.
So it was with genuine pleasure and surprise when I heard this year about organic beauty brand L’Occitane’s experience with one such retail don. Marks & Spencer has long chosen the path less trod by preferring to stock its shelves with mainly own-brand products. But in 2012 the store introduced multi-brand products within its beauty section, taking on 25 to 30 independent brands (many of which were making their UK retail debut) to sit alongside its 14 own-brand product lines.
For L’Occitane it is the genuine enthusiasm and understanding with which M&S has embraced its POS promotions that has taken the brand by surprise. “It has put huge efforts into personalizing the L’Occitane displays and created new furniture to boost brand recognition and bring a little bit of Provence to their new departments,” says Simon Ford, group brands director.
So in the world of competitive retail, all is not lost. Perhaps the ‘big three’ will also begin spreading a little magic and sparkle in 2015 – if their recent annual sales reports are anything to go by they’ll need all the help they can get. And as we all know only too well, ‘every little helps’!
Julia Zaltzman is a freelance writer and editor of The Natural Beauty Yearbook
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]]>Ask the people behind most fledging natural brands where they want to be in five years’ time and they’ll usually mention the name of two well-known retailers.
And who can blame them? On paper, supplying the big names sounds like an amazing move that generates serious sales while exposing mainstream customers to ethical natural and organic products.
Unfortunately, reality can provide a rude awakening. Talk to brand owners who’ve actually gone down the High Street route and you often hear about the kind of hard-nosed negotiation that makes the Mafia sound like provincial Avon reps.
First up the retailers will demand deep discounts to fund promotions.
Then they’ll ask for the kind of stock volume that would keep six warehouses in constant motion not to mention the tiny industrial units most brands work out of.
It’s not news that supplying the High Street can suck for small businesses. But is going it alone online really a better way to build brand awareness and grow sales?
Yes, natural beauty brands can sell direct through platforms like Amazon and eBay. And yet this is a category in which consumers really need to try the product first and experience the benefits.
Plus, all too often these benefits are tough to communicate through a single thumbnail image and 50 words tucked away somewhere on an e-commerce site.
Happily, one respected online retailer is discovering a different way to encourage new blood into the sector.
Launched last month, LoveLula Boutique is a new addition to the LoveLula website which works as a virtual shop window for natural brands.
The idea is to create a more mutually positive pact between producer and retailer. Brands benefit from being showcased on a site that takes curation very seriously, while also getting promoted through the platform’s marketing activity.
Once approved, brands supply up to six products. LoveLula then purchases every product sold at the trade price, and adds a small commission.
It’s an interesting new solution for the natural beauty sector. The hope is that both the online boutique and the brands benefit from the buzz of big sellers, while getting useful feedback on products that don’t work so well without committing to lots of stock.
Will it work? Watch this space. But whatever the results it’s a great way to bring new brands to discerning customers that truly care about what goes on their skin.
Matt Chittock is a freelance copywriter and journalist
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]]>Sonia White, director of the company, launched the new section to actively support young, artisan brands needing a marketplace in which to bring their products to the attention of consumers. Commenting on the launch, she says: “The Boutique is about providing customers with increased choice and brands with increased opportunity.”
The line-up of new brands encompass everything from skincare and make-up to bath products and perfume, and includes brands like Apple & Bears, Suti, Funny Bee and Beyond Organic.
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]]>Pioneering online natural beauty retailer LoveLula is teaming up with luxury e-tailing site Zuneta to form a new online alliance.
Founders Claire Braithwaite and Zu Rafalat will be joining Paul Fisher from Forward Venture Partners, who will be providing equity investment, on the board of directors.
The new group is called Zulu Beauty and will bring together a range of web brands under one name. With the added investment Zulu Beauty plan to extend operations across Europe.
Braithwaite said: “I’m delighted to have joined forces with Zu and am very excited about our vision for the company. With our combined experience of beauty and online retail we are well placed to create an online beauty group that curates sites customers love coming back to.”
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