VISUAL MERCHANDISING

CASE STUDY: LUSH Handmade Cosmetics

Submitted By:
Gazal Roongta
Shipra Aggrawal

FC-5
NIFT, Mumbai
 CONTENTS

• Lush- the Handmade Cosmetics

• Lush, Mumbai

• Lush Store: Inorbit Mall, Vashi

• Merchandise

• Shop: Location and Layout

• Basic Plan

• Fixtures and PoP

• Graphics and Signages

• Lighting

• Zoning

• Circulation

• Window AnalysisInteriors

• Consumer Survey
 LUSH FRESH hANDMADE COSMETICS

introduction

Lush fresh handmade cosmetics are a premium brand of from UK. Lush makes effective products out of fresh
fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics, without animal ingredients.

LUSH makes effective products out of fresh fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics,
without animal ingredients. We believe in writing the quantitative ingredient list on the outside. Today we
have 580+ shops globally. We also operate mail order businesses from the UK, Canada, India, Australia, Italy,
Japan, Sweden, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Hungary, Germany, Taiwan and the United States. We hand-make our
cosmetics in UK, Italy, Canada, South America and Japan, in our own production facilities, so every product
available in the shops or sent to our customers by mail is as fresh as it can possibly be, because fresh products
work better and use fewer preservatives.

LUSH is firmly committed to a policy which not only precludes testing its products and ingredients on animals,
or engaging with third-party suppliers to do so on their behalf, but they also do not buy any ingredient from any
supplier that tests any of its materials on any animals for any purpose. This policy is unique in its field and is
pioneering a new way to stop animal tests for cosmetics

The LUSH aim is to have the youngest, freshest products in the history of cosmetics.

beliefs

NO ANIMAL TESTING:

Stopping all animal testing is something lush cares passionately about. We have worked towards this for
years and been at the forefront of the campaigns to prevent cruel, unnecessary testing. We believe tht there is
no way to justify testing cosmetics or any of their ingredients an animals. The only way to check that they are
safe for human is to test them on humans.

HANDMADE:

All products made at LUSH, are by hand. Ballistics and bars are individually hand moulded; the sops are
hand poured into moulds and hand cut. The fruit is freshly juiced. Bottles are hand filled and labeled with the
maker’s name. lush uses the finest Belgian chocolate in their massage bars.
 FRESH:
They use preservatives in as few products as possible. Wherever possible, they use clever combinations of
ingredients to stabilize the products so that products have a natural shelf life.
They clearly mark when the products were made and when they should be used by.
RECYCLING AND WASTE PRINCIPLE:
At LUSH, the best way to tackle recycling is not to create the waste in the first place. LUSH tries to remove it
at the design stage, and then if there is any waste we will aim to rescue it. If we cant rescue it anywhere , then
it will be recycled.
We have been able to do this by considering the need for packaging at the design stage. LUSH probably uses
less than half the packaging materials a comparable cosmetic company would used just by selling products
without packaging.
Our bags and catalogue ‘The LUSH Times’ are printed on recycled paper containing no chlorine.
about lush : the company
HISTORY:
THE ORIGINAL incarnation of what is now lush was started in the 1970’s when mark Constantine, an herbal
trichologist, and Elizabeth Weir, who had an interest in beauty therapy formed a company named Constantine &
weir. They began to develop receipes for bath and beauty products with the intention of selling them to other
companies. The body shop, a UK based company founded in 1976 by ANITA RODDICK contracted Constantine
& weir as one of their suppliers.
As the body shop grew, Anita Roddick made a bid for the Constantine & weir company in which she bought the
rights to many of the products that had been produced by C&W for the body shop. In 1988, Constantine started
a new company called cosmetics to go. The company was primarily a mail order business. The company went
under in 1994.
However, new finance was injected from Peter Blacker, of british Ensign Estates, and his finance director,
Andrew Gerrie, who now sits on the board of lush. Later in 1994, they send out a catalog to all previous cosmetics
to go customers that included a contest for a customer to come up with the new name. a woman named Elizabeth
Bennett from Edinburgh was the winner, having chosen the name LUSh.
BUSINESS STRUCTURE:
Lush is privately- owned company with only a small number
of shares available on an invitation basis only. The company’s
growth is based mainly upon partnerships and franchise
holders.
The company also owns the B never Too Busy To BE Beautiful
Brand, which has outlets in poole, leeds, covent garden, and
oxford street, however lush announced in autumn 2009 that
B would cease trading, saying the company has not gone bust
or bankrupt and there are no administrators involved, we are
simply unable to make a profit. Lush will be absorbing the
business in order to retain the assets.
INGREDIENTS:
LUSH LISTS THEIR PRODUCT ingredients in English as well as Japanese, French and many other languages,
and uses fruit, vegetables, other plant products, and safe synthetics. Many products are labeled with a use by date
and who made the product.
All lush products are vegetarian, and less than 30% contain animal products such as beeswax, honey, free range,
unfertilized eggs and lanolin. Lush uses minimal packaging (over 70% of their products contain no packaging at
all) ; the packaging that they do use is 100% recyclable and are made from used plastics and cardboard. Products
which contain no animal ingredients at all are marked as vegan in lush catalogs, on store displays, and on the
container itself.
Some lush products contain Paraben- based preservatives, the safety of which has been subject to recent
speculation. Lush uses methyl- and propyl- parabens, which have been used in food preservations and are made
of plant materials. Only the liquid products contain parabens, solid products have no preservatives contant as it
 LUSH
is water that can breed bacteria in products. 70% of lush products are preservative free.

Inorbit mall, Vashi

Ethos and COMPAIGNING:

Lush does not buyfrom companies that carry out, fund, or commission any animal testing. Lush itself tests its
products on human volunteers before they are sold.

In keeping with its stated ethos, lush

has also begun to phase out its use
of sodium palm kernelate. Sodium
palm kernelate is drieved from trees
in the natural habitat of orangutans.
Greenwash , a pine scented soap, is
the first soap to be made using palm-
free soap noodles, but as of 2008 all
lush soaps are made with palm free
soap base. Lush is currently working
on removing all traces of palm oil
from the products.

Lush is a supporter of controversial

direct action, animal rights operations
including the sea shepherds, a group
that attempts to protect whales, seals,
and other aquatic animals. In 1986 ,
the sea shephards had their whaling
observer status revoked after they
sank two Icelandic whaling ships.

In 2007 , lush started openly

supporting campaigning groups by
sending a dozen cheque for $1000 each,
including road protests groups such as Lush- Fresh handmade Cosmetics
Road Block and NOM1Widening,
Hacan Clear Skies ( anti-aviation Store Specifics:
group), and Dump The Dump ( which
is fighting against an incinerator) they Retail Format: Speciality Store
introduced the “ charity pot” body Product: Handmade Cosmetics
lotion , each pot promotes a different
small charity on the lid, and the full
purchase price (except for VAT) goes Store Employees: 1 Managers and 2 salesperson
to charity. They have also introduced a
range of “go green” products that they
say are inspired by Rebecca lush ( no
relation), a roads campaigner who set
up Road Block in the early 1990s and
who pied Jeremy for his glorification of the car.
 LUSH mumbai merchandise
Lush makes effective products out of fresh fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics,

branches without animal ingredients. The wide range of products include Bathing Bars, Shampoo Bars, Liquid
shampoos, perfume bars, showers jellies, showers gels, bathing salts, bubble baths, moisturizers, shaving
cream, cleansers, fresh face mask, body lotions amongst others.
Inorbit Mall R-City Mall It produces almost every kind of Cosmetic a person ever requires, and has categorsed ts entire product list
No. G1 LUSH # G-29 B, into SIX categories of usage:
Plot No. 39/1, 39/6, 39/15, Ground floor, R-CITY
Sector 30 A, Vashi Navi Mumbai. Opposite Presidential Tower • BATH
Tel: +91 22 40135983 L.B.S Marg, Bath Ballastics
Fax: +91 22 40135982 Ghatkopar (W), Bubble Bath
Email: mail@lushindia.com Mumbai – 400086
Tel: +91 22-67255486 • SHOWER
Phoenix mills E-mail: mail@lushindia.com Butter Cream
No. 11 @ Grand Galleria, Shower Gels
No.462, Phoenix Mills Compound, Shower Jellies
Senapathi Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Smoothies
Mumbai 400013 Soaps
Tel: +91 22-24975519
Fax: +91 22 - 24975518 • HAIR
Email: mail@lushindia.com Liquid Shampoos
Solid Shampoo
Hair Conditioner
Henna
Hair Moisturizer

• SKINCARE
Face:
Shaving Cream
Cleanser
Toner
Lip Balms and Scrubs
Moisturizer
Fresh
Body
Massage Bars
Solid Deodrerants
Body Butter
Hand and Body Lotions

• Fragrance

• Gifts
Shop Location and Layout Basic plan

Gifts and Packaging

Ice Tray Table
Reception Desk
Door/
Entrance Open Table

(a, b and c) Fixed Shelves

Inorbit mall, Vashi Bricks. Open Soaps

Ground Level
 FIXTURES and pop

The WALL FIXTURE are of two types. Both the wall fixtures have only two shelves, making it very clean
displays and going each display plenty of space so that the customer could see and browse through the products
in uncluttered manner.

The STAND ALONE FIXTURES are made for the butcher’s blocks of soaps and the unpacked products.

These fixtures are made by

stand alone fixtures lower shelves using different kinds of stand
alone furniture like side tables.
tester cabinets upper shelves

Lush uses Minimum Fixtures and No POP in its store, as it is a specialty store.

It uses two types of fixtures:

These tables along with the wall fixtures give a
1) Stand alone: using different types of tables. very casual feel, even though it is very organized
and neatly arranged.
2) Wall fixtures: on the three sides of walls.

This gives the shop a very clean and efficient look. Even though an average sized store, one can easily see every
category of merchandise in the initial sweep of view even from the entrance, this helps the customer to locate the
required product at once.
 graphics and Signages

ANALYSIS:

The Furniture throughout the store is made up of polished wood, going in theme with the “natural” theme of
Lush. Various different sized stools, tables, shelves, boxed etc are used to diplay the products.

Thus the organized, clean yet casual display of the merchandise make it very easy for the customer to browse
through. The fixtures are very easy on the customer and thus gives a comfortable and appealing vibe as soon as
the customer enters the store. When viewing the display with the combination of fixtures, the customer instantly
feels organised and a sophisticated aura of the store. Various Lush graphics used in the website, product catalogue and prmotional prints etc

Lush Logo

Graphics:

There are no graphics specifically in the store. Though in the catalogue, website and promotional prints, sketchy
and casual graphics are used, but that’s the entire limit of graphics.

Graphics and signages for Lush are very basic and sketchy in nature. Though graphics are used, it is in rare
occasions. And hences signages play a major role.
 ANALYSIS:

Though initially the lack of graphics may look strange, but the signage and their plentiful use make up for it.

Still, the signage have now gone monotonous. They may be changed in order to give customer something new.

Product Signage Pattern

Signages:

Signage are extensively used throughout the showroom. And all these signages follow one simple design.

It is a simple design of white signage information printed on black base color board, often light weight sun
board. Be it for zoning signage, promotional signage, or product info signage; they all follow the same design.
The white font used is a specially developed ‘LUSH’ font.

While majority signage are stuck on fixtures and wall, in some cases of butcher’s block soaps’ light display
the small signage are fixed amidst the product only. Signages are extensively used to mark the different sectons
of the product merchandsing, to give informations about the ingredients, the suitability of skin types, costs and
often for punch lines, promotions and their “beliefs”.

Use of signages throughout the store

 lighting
Analysis:
Lighting for Lush is very bright but slightly subdued. the store is very evenly lit with the help of a
combination of various Lighting.

In the centre of the store, above the ice tray

table and the other central fixture, there are
two Focus Swivel Light focussing on the
unique range of face maks and other face
products.

SUGGESTIONS:

Though the lighting currently placed in the store gives a very ambient feel to the store, in our opinion the
window fixture needs more focus in terms of its specialty product. So task lights or spot lights can also be used
for these products to give the following effect.
Swivel Light Cabinet Light

General Light Task Light

There are only five lightings in the store:

• General light: for the entire store and specifically for the window fixtures and the upper shelves of
wall fixtures.

• Back light: for the wall fixtures and its lower shelves only.

• Cabinet light: only for the lighting the lower shelf products. Fixed at the base of upper shelf, they give
a unified lighting to the lower shelf products.

• Task light: for lighting the testers properly on the cabinets and giving them focus separately.

• Swivel lights: only two swivel lights, kept at two locations in the centre of the store, to highlight the
central fixtures of the new arrivals.
 zoning
Zoning for the LUSH is very organized. As the zoning is very fixed for the major FIVE categories of cosmetics:

• Soap bricks

• Bath section

• Body care section

• Shower and beauty section

Bath Section
• New arrivals

It gives a very organized appeal and sense of familiarity to the returning customers, while a thematic and
progressive impression to the new coming customers.

Unpacked JUST the specific products in these major categories are inter-changed periodically every month.
soap
bricks
new arrivals body care
section ANALYSIS AND SUGGESTION:

The zoning in the lush, like every other part of the store merchandising, is very logical and thematically organized
and zoned. Thus unifies the theme of the store and gives the customer a comfortable ambience.

As the fixtures for wall are fixed, even if zoning is changed, it wont really affect the overall feel of the zoning,
so there’s no real scope of changing the major zoning.

Shower and Beauty Section

Soap Reception

Shampoos and Conditioners Packaging and Gifts

Bath Gels Body Care Products

Open Slab for Testers Bubble Baths

Creams Bath Ballastics

Scrubs Face Packs

Solid Shampoos
Store Circulation

footfall circulation

circulation division
Lush’s football circulation is very straight and flowing in throughout the store, because of the unified, thematic
scheme of fixtures, signage and zoning.

Circulation Floor

Display Fixtures

Mirrors
 display
In-Shop Product Display:

Apart from the Tables on the window Wall, the three walls of the store are fully covered with Fixed Two-shelves
wooden racks. On Each side of walls, an open slab with mirror is specially provided for testers. In a changing
cycle, there are proper segments for each category and groups of products, which are kept together for easy
browsing.
Due to natural quality and simplicity of its merchandise, Lush focuses on more open and simple display, both
for Window display and for merchandise Display. On Shelves, majorly the packaged and measured products are available.

Window Display:

Lush does not have a proper Window Display i.e. it has a

WINDOW LESS WINDOW. The shop utilises its entire window
space as a window display cum product display, thus cleverly
using the fixtures as both props and Display fixtures.

Throughout the length of the Window Wall, there are several

tables arranged, on which there are interesting VM for the
“Butcher’s” Blocks of Soap, its one speciality of measurable
unpackaged Soaps.

This window space is used for the open display of the soap blocks.
They do not used any specific theme, lighting, props or anything
for the display. And hence the window display is combined with
product display.

Due to the window less window technique, they make use of the
interior display of the entire store, by attracting the customers with
the help of other aspects of the store display and merchandising.

As clear from the diagram, even the product display on the window is placed in way so that it doesn’t disturb
the interior display and in a way complements the overall display scheme of the store.
interiior
Interior- Tangible
Products: The products at the window wall are open and unpachaged, while the ones on the fixed sheleves
are properly packed and are often availabl in fixed amount.
Interior- Intangible
Ambience: Lush is very serious about its ethics and beliefs and true to them, they make the customer very
comfortable through the very casual and calm ambience in the shop. The bright lighting gives enough attention
to each product and hence the ambence is not a spot highlight and thus its is very claming.
Smell: Lush products are most famous for the quirky frangrances of its cosmetics, right from soaps to
massage bars to creams and shampoos. the natural ingrediants and their smell is conciously not removed with
use of chemical, also giving the focus again on natural handmade products
Music: Going with the calm them, there is a very low and soft music playing in the background, often
violins and piano tunes like beethoven and many other classics. Gives overall a very classy touch tot he whole
ambience of the shop
 Best Thing about Lush Cosmetics

consumer experience
Consumer Survey:

Are you Brand Conscious for personal cosmetics?

What product you purchase from Lush?

How would you rate the Merchandise Display of Lush?

How is the brand Lush in terms of service during the shopping?

THANK YOU