How Space NK Navigated The Beauty Retail Industry, Championing Niche-Branded Cosmetics

Luxury makeup and skincare retailer Space NK has come a long way since its humble inception in the early Nineties. Launched in 1993 by Nicky Kinnard, the retailer is known for supporting niche-branded cosmetics. The company which saw a boost in sales last year had revenue increase to 108.9 million pounds. according to a report filed with Companies House. 

Chief executive officer and chief merchant Andy Lightfoot credits the company as being at the forefront of the beauty retail industry. “We introduced Diptyque, Nars, and Drunk Elephant into the U.K. and we sort of kept true to that,” said Lightfoot. “We’ve also kept pace with the changes in consumer behaviors. Ten years ago you as a customer of anything, whether it was clothing, TV, or beauty, you went into a store and all you had was what that advisor was going to tell you. You might, read a magazine. But there weren’t the online reviews, there weren’t these influences or sources of information. And it’s totally changed. Consumers are coming in and telling us about the latest and newest ingredient. They are talking to us about products that they’ve heard about and they want to understand. And so really that’s why we’re winning because we’re, we are listening and reacting very quickly to those customers. We’ve also got the same mindset.”

Lightfoot’s goal is to seek brands that customers really want to buy but uniquely in that space are in somewhat constrained demand such as Drunk Elephant. “That’s very much our strategy going after, these amazing brands that you can’t get here,” said Lightfoot. “And then always looking out for the next big thing. We not only go after the big US brands. We brought Kora Organics, which is Miranda Kerr’s niche brand. Sol De Janeiro is a Brazilian cream. So these brands that we bring in and introduce are very small and they really connect with our customers.”

He said that selecting brands for the store is quite a rigorous feat. “We will come to a whole host of things and there are just tons of rules,” said Lightfoot. “But there’s a lot of intangibles as well. It’s got to be a great product and a relevant product. The packaging is really important. The level of innovation is important and how differentiated it is, both in terms of the whole market but also our range. And then it’s sort of where it fits in. So you could have a great product that sort of ticks all the boxes and so it might not work. So it’s a bit of a moving target.”

Lightfoot touted the company employees among the contributing factors of their success. “I think the key thing we do is invest in our people,” said Lightfoot. “Beauty is actually quite complicated and opaque. That is made far more complex than it needs to be. Our job is to simplify that, to make it really easy to help and guide customers.”

Lightfoot joined the company in 2016 as global digital director to oversee the website but he saw other things on the horizon.

“It was clear to me really from the outset that the biggest opportunities for Space NK were leveraging this unique omnichannel position that we have,” said Lightfoot. “We are uniquely positioned in a sense of having the stores, the expertise, the staff, the training, and the website. All which gives you the convenience and the reach and the ability for people to order anytime, anywhere. And up until that point, the two chunks would be run entirely independently of one another.”

He decided to change the structure of the business. He disbanded digital teams and store teams and adjusted teams to be functionally responsible. “So there was just a marketing team,” said Lightfoot. “And each team owns the customer journey no matter where that customer was. So whether they were online buying online, researching in stores, trying on foundations, or in stores purchasing, it didn’t matter that it was a joined-up way of looking at the customer and the customer journey. So that’s, that’s been a huge focus of mine, a really a big evolution in terms of where we’re, where we’re taking the company. And I think that joined with the vision that we have for the company, which used to be a truly global beauty company and focused on the world’s most in-demand brands.”

Bestsellers fro the company include Charlotte Tillbury, Hourglass, and Drunk Elephant. “We launched Charlotte Tillbury recently,” said Lightfoot. “And that’s number one in makeup. Hourglass is doing fantastic and we launched with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. It is an absolutely beautiful brand. In skincare. Drunk Elephant is a phenomenon. It really is an amazing product. Diptyque continues to be an incredible brand. One of our best sellers and the fragrance category, Bibliotheque by Byredo is an absolute favorite of mine. I tend to wear that wear every day.”

The UK is the biggest market for the company but Lightfoot notes that they are seeing rapid growth in Europe. “We don’t have any stores in Europe but we serve it through our online channels,” said Lightfoot. “The US is growing very quickly. China is growing very quickly, which is our focus territory. But the UK remains the area with the majority of our sales.”

The company is currently in expansion mode recently opened eight stores. Future plans include opening another store this year and a further eight stores next year. Lightfoot reports that the company’s channels are performing well internationally. “We are continuing to invest in the US and China,” said Lightfoot. “So with expansion in the US we added five stores this year. Some of those in our concession along with Bloomingdale’s. We continue to expand within those terms as well. We have, shop-in-shops within Nordstrom
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and in China as well. It’s a slightly different proposition in China is sort of local brands and far East and brands in our stores that, but also a key focus for us.”