In September, 4-year-old New Zealand-based skin-care brand Emma Lewisham launched in the U.K. at multi-brand retailer SpaceNK. SpaceNK has been on a mission to expand its selection of skin-care brands from Australasia over the last couple of months as local customers are demanding more advanced sun protection in their skin-care products. Australasia has become an industry leader in advanced sun care, due to the region’s exacting sun-care regulation and clean beauty interest.
Fifty-five percent of Emma Lewisham’s total retail sales in the U.K. have happened in the last two months, according to the brand. It launched in 55 SpaceNK stores, and is also newly stocked in Harrods and Net-a-Porter. It will launch in Liberty and Harvey Nichols in the coming months as it gains a foothold in the market. In October, Emma Lewisham introduced its latest product, an anti-blemish serum that is said to crowd out acne pathogens.
“We don’t believe you need to be everywhere to grow,” said Emma Lewisham, founder of the namesake brand. “We take more of an in-depth approach, [selling] in fewer markets but with an intense focus. As we grow and scale, we want to do so in a way that is sustainable and manageable by the people on our team. When operating in multiple markets, things can quickly unravel; with super growth and lots of new team members, you just can’t do everything incredibly well.”
To manage distribution, the brand opened its own warehouse in the U.K., and it plans to have its own store in London within the next three years. In the meantime, to increase brand awareness, Emma Lewishan teamed with U.K. fashion designer Molly Goddard on her September runway show at London Fashion Week. The models went makeup-free to highlight the efficacy of the skin-care products.
Regular customers are seeing the results, too. Emma Lewishan’s skin reset serum, its top-selling product, which targets hyperpigmentation, sells 185,000 units a year across its three main markets of Australia, New Zealand and, now, the U.K. The brand has an all-natural formulation, which has outperformed the top 10 luxury brands in efficacy for the hyperpigmentation category, according to the brand. The results are based on independent in vitro science studies conducted by an independent research lab in New Zealand.
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“In the beauty industry, formulations are developed around ingredients — what is buzzing and what is trending, including vitamin C and even things like mushrooms,” said Lewisham. “But we wanted to solve problems, [specifically] hyperpigmentation.’”
Since its launch in 2019, Emma Lewisham has had a targeted product rollout, with 11 products released so far, all focused on hyperpigmentation or sun care. When its skin reset eye cream launched last year, it racked up a global waitlist of 5,000 consumers. And it is seeing success with its product refill offerings, as customers in the U.K. are keen to adopt reusable packaging. Refills made up 10% of all the brand’s units sold in the U.K. in September. Forty-five percent of the brand’s sales in Australasia are refills.
“When you have a refillable product, there is a 70% reduction in the carbon score,” Lewisham said. “So if we’re serious about reducing carbon, we need to be serious about refillable products.”
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Considering the future regulation on plastic packaging, much of the beauty industry is working to shift strategies. “In Europe, you’ll have to have certifications,” said Lewisham. “For any sustainability claims that you’re making, like the percentages of recycled material [used], you’ll need evidence.”
Lobbying is also part of the brand’s push for better skin-care ingredients. Emma Lewisham was a leader in the battle against hydroquinone in Australia, which was banned in 2020. The ingredient is a common skin whitener used for hyperpigmentation and has been linked to respiratory illnesses and toxicity.
“Australia and New Zealand have the strictest sun protection standards for products in the world,” said Lewisham. The brand has focused on a skin physiology approach that focuses on the microbiome and how natural ingredients work together. “This approach to sun protection [shows] that we need multiple ingredients to work in a synergistic way to get a result,” she said.
Emma Lewisham has grown to be one of the most popular beauty brands in Australasia. In Mecca, the multi-brand equivalent of Sephora in Australasia, Emma Lewisham’s skin reset serum is the No. 1 best-selling serum. Over the last 12 months since the brand has been stocked in Mecca, it has also been the retailer’s best-performing luxury skin-care brand. The brand has a conversion rate of over 70% with existing customers often purchasing new products within three days of their launch.
Mecca’s CMO, Kate Blythe, credits the brand’s sales to the engagement of its community. “Consumers aren’t just looking for products that make them look great, but they also want products that speak to their own values,” she said. Mecca currently stocks 195 brands across its 107 stores in Australasia.
Emma Lewisham has become a leader in skin-care brands from the region, based on its sales at Mecca. Ultra Violette, Grown Alchemist and Kora Organics are among other clean beauty brands that have come out of Australasia. After famously never doing marketing, Australian brand Aesop was bought from Natura & Co by L’Oréal in April, for $2.5 billion. The sale marked L’Oréal’s largest-ever acquisition.
According to research company Euromonitor, the Australasian beauty market was worth $9 billion in 2022. Sun care is the fastest-growing category in the region’s skin-care market, estimated to be worth $2.7 billion.
