If there’s one thing Lush is known for, it’s experiential retail.
Whether it’s bath bomb demonstrations in stores or one of its birthday parties – where organisers can choose from a “fun and games” or “treat yourself” theme – the cosmetics brand is a master of centring its stores around experiences and fun product discovery.
The company’s Liverpool store alone, which is its biggest shop in the world, offers customers spa treatments, work events, a coffee shop, florist, hairdresser, and more.
And as experiential retail grows in popularity, it presents Lush with increasing opportunities for exciting new innovations – as well as rising competition from rival brands.
“Things have never just been products on a shelf”
Things have changed a lot since Lush launched its first store more than 30 years ago in Poole.
However, Lush head of retail UK&I Kasey Swithenbank points out that even back then, its founders were “probably ahead of their time” when it came to “all of those initiatives that we see adopted a fair bit today” when they “experimented with refill stations” in store.
“Things have never just been products on a shelf at Lush,” she says.
“We actually try and strip as much of that packaging away as possible and that in itself is an experience because you don’t get that when you go into other shops.”
“But the actual overall atmosphere of the shop is an experience, even down to the music since every shop dictates their own music playlist, those staff on the shop floor have personally selected those songs for their customers.
“I talk a lot about this recipe and it’s definitely not one thing that makes up the experience in a Lush shop, it really does encompass everything, and really importantly the staff are a huge part of that experience.”
Experiential offerings in 2026
Looking ahead for the rest of the year, Swithenbank reveals that Lush has plenty more experiential retail plans in the works.
“We’ve recently done a lot of training on different services we can offer our customers in store,” she says.
“At the moment there’s a big emphasis on fragrance readings and consultations so customers can find their perfect scent.
“We offer our customers the ability to try our skincare products on their actual face in store with our freshen up skincare services.”
She also notes that the retailer will be launching a Lush Events feature on its app at the end of April.
“Customers will be able to book events that are happening in their local store, whether that’s different workshops and consultation style events or perhaps they want to try their hand at making their own bath bomb,” she says.
She adds: “We’ve done a lot on parties, birthday parties, we’ve even had a divorce party, we do spa parties in our spa locations, and the shops have actually developed in-store events themselves where they offer something a bit more unique to the customers visiting.”
Ultimately, she points out: “A trip into a Lush shop isn’t necessarily just transactional, but you can come and make a memory with your loved ones.”
Despite being experts in the field, experiential retail is growing in popularity, meaning Lush may need to work harder to stand out from the crowd.
In March, Rightmove Commercial reported that experiential retail was “the key reason” for “strong recovery” of the retail sector, despite the industry being “far from the preferred commercial asset class for investors” at the start of the decade.
It also highlighted that the UK’s physical retail sector was “evolving rather than disappearing” and that experiential retail was “at the centre of this evolution”.
Despite increasing competition, Lush continues to have a cult following of loyal fans, largely due to its position as an ethical brand and its political activism.
The company recently partnered with the Migrants’ Rights Network to launch a nationwide public awareness and fundraising campaign aimed at highlighting the “growing use of racist narratives”. The brand also closed all of its UK shops, factories and website for a day in September in protest over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Additionally, Lush signed out of all of its Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat social media accounts in 2021.
“We don’t believe those platforms do enough to safeguard the general public and the evidence is out there that they do have a damning effect on people’s mental health” Swithenbank explains.
“We just didn’t think that those values sat alongside our values and we weren’t prepared to be on them ourselves.”
The exec says there is “no denying” that its “decision to stay true to our values” will have potentially had a “knock on effect” on its footfall sales.
“There is a cost of being an ethical business and staying true to your values and as a result we will lose money,” she says.
“But ultimately that is what I believe is going to help us stand the test of time and help our customers know that we really are who we say we are.”
In terms of its competitors in experiential retail, Swithenbank insists: “Ultimately, in Lush we know what we’re good at, and that is fresh handmade cosmetics, and we know that we’re also a lot of fun and that’s why our customers shop with us.
“So we just concentrate on making sure that we can bring our fresh, handmade cosmetics – the freshest cosmetics on the high street – to our customers in a really fun and engaging way.”
“We still get the odd teeth marks in our soap”
UK shoppers know that Lush’s store staff have a reputation for being very friendly and helpful.
Explaining why, the exec says: “Some of our customers actually don’t know whether to wash with our products or eat them.
“Even today we still get the odd teeth marks in our soap. That’s why we take our approach to customer service so seriously.
“We want to make sure that when a customer spends their hard earned money on our products, they take it home knowing exactly how to use it and how to get the full benefit of that product.”
She adds: “It would be very easy for us to just put one or two staff members on our shop floors and let customers come in and pick up products.
“But we live today in such a digital world, and as human beings it is in our nature to communicate and to experience the world through the eyes of each other, not just ourselves. So that experience that we offer in store goes much deeper than just a retail transaction.”
Investment in an omnichannel approach
Although the majority of Lush’s sales come from its physical portfolio, Swithenbank says that its digital platforms are “growing” and that it’s “investing a lot in a slightly more omnichannel approach to retailing”.
“Over the last few years we’ve invested heavily in the technology that allows us to offer click and collect, to allow customers to order in store and it gets delivered if that store doesn’t have that product in stock.”
She also says that the company has launched a number of technologies from the “Lush Lens” feature on its app.
Since many of its items are packaging-free, she explains: “If a customer orders something at home they can actually use their app to scan that product and the product will pop up and tell them exactly how to use it and the benefits of the product.
“They can use that in store as well if they prefer to shop alone and want to discover the products on their own.”
Despite investing in omnichannel, the sensory nature of Lush’s products means shoppers will always want to come and see, smell and test them in person.
And as masters of experiential retail, it’ll be exciting to see what the cosmetics giant thinks of next.
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