Natural Cosmetic Brand Lush Charts Its Growth Trajectory in India, Eyes 10 Stores by January

Lush is a premium, handmade cosmetics brand known for its natural, quality and value-added products. Founded in 1995 by six co-founders, Mo Constantine, Mark Constantine, Rowena Bird, Helen Ambrosen, Liz Bennett and Paul Greeves, the brand is known for its ethically sourced products, high-quality ingredients and environmental-friendly practices.

‘‘Lush motto is: Let's leave the world Lusher than we found it,’’ says Vishal Anand, Founder and CEO, Billberry Brands (Lush India). Talking about his motivation to bring Lush to India, he said, ‘‘“India doesn’t have a brand like Lush that not only talks but also walks the path it truly believes in. Discovering a brand that stands for the right values and strive to make the world a better place, truly resonates with me, and motivated me to bring this brand back to India.’’

Sharing his professional journey, Vishal said, ‘‘I decided to build a world-class retail brand, and that’s how Billberry co existence.’’ He added ‘‘Bilberry Brands was founded in 2024. Prior to this I held a leadership role in Myntra, building its brands. Before that, I was associated with Arvind Fashion, leading the Calvin Klein business in India. After gaining immense experience in the retail and e-commerce field, I finally decided to leave my job and explored the market for 6 months before establishing Bilberry Brand.

Talking about his association with Lush, Vishal reveals that when he first visited the Lush store, he was not aware that the brand was already there in India, but he could see the true potential of the brand in India. ‘‘Lush products’ are world-class and receive so much love from the customers across the globe. When I visited the Lush store for the first time, I was not aware that this brand was earlier present in India. Seeing the brand’s potential in India, I met the founders, and decided to bring back Lush to India.’’

Manufacturing and Retail Footprint in India

Vishal discusses that India is not just exporting its products but also creating a Lush India team, wherein the brand has the right ecosystem and expertise required to build this brand in India. He shares that Lush has set up a manufacturing unit in Bangalore.

Talking about its retail footprint, Vishal shares that the brand has opened its first retail store in Select Citywalk, New Delhi, a premium shopping mall in the capital, followed by a second store in Elante mall, Chandigarh. The brand then entered Gurugram with its retail presence in DLF Summit Plaza. The brand recently opened its new store in Inorbit mall, Mumbai, marking its entry in Maharashtra.

He further shares that the brand will shortly open its fifth store in Bangalore. ‘‘ In just two weeks, we will open our fifth store in Banglore,’’ reveals Vishal

Expansion Strategy

Talking about the brand’s expansion strategy, Vishal said, ‘‘Our goal is very simple: To make Lush available in top (Tier I) cities of India.’’ He says, ‘‘We are currently in our pilot phase and plan to open ten stores by January. Following this, we will initiate our first phase of expansion, where we will open 15 new stores.’’ 

He further shares that the brand will explore Tier II cities expansion in due course of time. He further adds that expansion strategy for Lush depends on two factors: market potential and good retail environment. So the brand look for spaces that have both the potential and the environment to tap the right customers.

Product Portfolio

Lush has a vast range of product  from head to toe. The brand has haircare products like shampoos, conditioners and shampoo bars, with shampoo bars being one of the unique products designed by Lush. Then brand also has face care products including moisturizers, face creams, cleansers etc. The brand has vast bath and body care collections that include distinctive products like bath bombs, bath melts, body conditioners, body butters, and shower jellies. etc. Lush also has products in the fragrance and perfume category including essential oil-infused perfumes, body sprays and solid perfumes.The brand’s product basket also includes mouth, hand, and feet care products. 

Vishal emphasizes on its Lush Superfresh category that is the brand’s one of the most distinctive product categories. 

Vishal said, ‘‘There is a section called Lush Superfresh which is an ultra fresh category that is segmented in two categories cleansers and packs. The cleansers have a shelf-life of 3 months and the face packs have a shelf life of 30-days. These products have no added preservatives These products reach from manufacturing units to stores within a few days, carried in an ice container and are displayed on ice beds. They are in small pack sizes of 45-100 grams and are made with fresh fruits, vegetables and essential oils, being 100 percent natural products. Although their shelf life is small, they are superfresh. Overall, the brand has over 300 SKUs and the company plans to add 50 more in a couple of weeks, taking the total SKU to 350 products,’’ says Vishal. 

He shares that the brand is also planning to add collabs and special festive collections like Diwali special collection to its product basket. He further shares that Lush products are 100% vegetarian, almost 95% vegan with strict no-animal testing policy. All the products are tested on humans and are ethically sourced. 

‘‘I'll just give an example. This is a body spray. If you see ingredients mentioned on its packaging, the ingredients written in green are natural ingredients, and those written in black are safe synthetics. Apart from that, our ethical sourcing not only ensures that the product is sourced in the right way but also sees that they are procured from best- known locations for its ingredients. For instance, roses are procured from Turkey, honey is sourced from Zambia and so on and so forth. So all of our products are naturally and ethically sourced, making it one of the best-quality products across the globe.’’

Brand Storytelling and Employee Training

Vishal shares that each product in Lush has an interesting story behind it. He says that there is so much storytelling and focus on ingredients behind every product which makes employee training absolutely critical for Lush.

‘‘For instance, Lush has a product called Gorgeous Face Moisturizer, which was actually designed for Princess Diana by the founder and is one of the most popular products of the brand.’’ 

He emphasizes that Lush has a wide range of products and aims to sell the right products to the consumers based on their skin type, weather condition and preferences, which is another reason for extensive employee training. He points out that the store gets launched 15 days after it is built because the employees undergo extensive training during that period to be customer-ready. He further shares that the brand's website has a ‘How to Use’ section apart from product descriptions to further enable the customers to get the right products.

Omni Channel Strategy for the Brand Promotion

Lush does not follow an offline-versus-online strategy. Instead, the brand has adopted an omnichannel approach from day one, with its offline and online channels designed to complement each other. Vishal shares that the brand’s website has achieved over 40% repeat purchase rate, with the highest reaching 49%. The brand also places strong emphasis on customer feedback and regularly conducts surveys to better understand consumer preferences. 

“I am directly involved with the customer service team, which enables us to create products and brand policies based on customer choices and feedback,” says Vishal.

The brand is also listed in all the e-commerce marketplace like Myntra, Tata Cliq and Tata Cliq luxury, making the discovery of their products convenient for their customers.

Beauty and Cosmetic Market in India

According to IMARC, the India cosmetics market is over USD 16 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach over USD 25 billion by 2034, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.66% during the forecast period 2026-2034.

Vishal said, ‘‘India is actually buzzing with a lot of aspiration in the beauty and cosmetic sector, with young consumers trying to explore the best of the products. The customers and consumers don't just want to buy the best product, but also want to know what is inside their product and how it is made. They are no longer just attracted to the brand identity and positioning in the market. This newly created awareness in the last couple of years is changing the dynamics of the beauty industry, not just in India but globally.’’

He further shares that Lush is a premium beauty brand, with much higher growth rate and potential as compared to mass beauty brands. He further discusses that with a faster growth rate in India, a lot of indigenous and foreign brands are making their way into the Indian market, and are constantly evolving to meet the desired demands of the Indian customers.

Vision and Future Plans for Lush

Talking about the vision for Lush, Vishal says, ''We are not just expanding Lush retail footprint in India, we are building a brand, creating a community of Lush lovers. We aim to be an experiential self-care brand in India. He adds, ''We are currently looking at 'mind share' rather than market share. It means that when it comes to self care, Lush should immediately come to the mind of the consumers. That is our ultimate goal.’’ 

So all in all, Lush is an experiential self-care brand wherein customers can first try and then buy its products, making it an organic choice for the customers. Discussing its future plans, Vishal shares that apart from its retail expansion strategy, the brand has 6 products under Make-in-India banner and aims to extend it to 30 products in the coming time. The brand also aims to add Christmas and Diwali Collections this year, consisting of shower gels and bath collections, which is not just restricted to India but expected to be a part of global collections. The brand’s R&D team is constantly working on introducing new products and expanding its presence across categories.

He shares that his vision is not just to make Lush a prominent brand in India, but to establish it as an impactful player in every category.

 “We want Lush to be a strong and impactful player in each category, while remaining top-of-the-mind brand for our customers,” concludes Vishal.