Reclining in a clear bath after a cleansing shower is one definition of tranquility in Japan. Traditionally, the water should be sprinkled with nothing more than bath salts. But Lush's bath bombs have helped rewrite the rules of shopping in Japan.
Lush is a British cosmetics manufacturer. Lush began in the late Seventies, when the owners started selling their natural products to The Body Shop. Things were going so well that they decided set up a Cosmetic to go store in Poole, Dorset on the southern coast of England. Unfortunately, that venture didn't go well and they went out of business. .
But in 1994 they regrouped and opened a Lush store on High Street in Poole. That was an instant success with their massage bars, shampoo bars and bath bombs selling out of control. Lush has been growing ever since.
Lush is a geocentric company. It wants to expand sales globally. Today Lush has more than 100 shops around the world, and also operates mail order businesses from the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, and Japan. The aim of Lush is to have the youngest, freshest products in the history of cosmetics.
By engaged in expand sales globally, Lush achieve a big success in Japanese market. Since 1999, when Ms Uehara, the chief executive of Lush Japan, opened her first shop selling bath ballistics (their famous fizzy bicarb concoction that fills your tub with soft water and a beautiful aroma) and an array of other colourful cosmetics to Japan's body care aficionados, she has added 14 more stores and made Japan became the second largest market for Lush. .
No doubt, the good sales always bring good profit. The annual revenues have done what Ms Uehara describes as "double, double, double" and she forecasts sales of about Y1.5bn ($12.8m) for the current financial year, ending in June. Furthermore, the good market situation make she plans to continue expand sales in Japan. Ms Uehara aims to have 50 stores by the end of 2005.
