Lush Cosmetics – Hand-made Excellence

A few weeks ago I was introduced to a company called Lush.  Lush is a global retailer in the business of hand-made cosmetics.  I had a look around their site and watched the video below on their company values.  It was one of the more compelling values statements I have ever seen.  It’s a bit lengthy, but it’s worth watching.  Trust me.  And I don’t say that because of the semi-naked people walking the streets of London hocking soap.

Lush Cosmetics – A Lush Life, We Believe from Jack Constantine on Vimeo.

I immediately wanted to know more, so I sent my secret agent (aka my wife) on a mission to the local store here in Raleigh to see if the values espoused on their site made it all the way to the people working in the store in a small North Carolina city.  To me, this is the acid test of a company’s ability to deliver on it’s mission.  Is the person at the pointy tip of the sword communicating the same message as the CEO?

The highlights from my wife’s recon mission are highlighted in the following bullets.

• The staff were very knowledgeable and experienced.  They were really well-trained on the products and were able to talk in detail about their comparisons with regular cosmetic products.
• The store had bowls of water, real towels, and you could touch and try any product.
• The idea of no chemicals and minimal packaging is great, but the bottom line is will I love the products?  In this case, the answer was an emphatic yes.
• They have products for every age group.
• Most of the scents are clean, fresh and not too heavily perfumed.  I really liked that the scents were unisex, and although the scents do not carry through an entire line, the staff were able to tell me which scents complimented each other.
• Buying products by weight is interesting, but can be fairly pricey (like Whole Foods food bar).
• The guy that helped me really liked Harry Potter.  He had a Deathly Hallows necklace.

Both my wife and daughter have loved using the products from Lush, and I am very impressed with their ability to deliver on the mission and values espoused in the video.  It’s inspiring to see a company, especially in retail, able to control the brand and messaging this effectively.

Why can some companies pull this off, while most can’t?