Lush - how do they get away with charging so much?

[Marissa5]

I've never shopped at Lush before. Not my kind of thing and they're a bit of an odd brand. However I just asked a friend what her child wanted for his birthday, and apparently he's after lush Mario products. I've just had a look online:

• £21 for a relatively small shower gel (290g).
• £12 for an egg bath bomb.
• £35 for a bottle of body spray.

This just seems absolutely insane to me! I buy mostly Korean bath products as they're a safe zone for my eczema, they have decent ingredients such as hyaluronic acid and have hardly any chemicals (they use ceramides instead) or weird colouring. The ingredients are far superior yet they're half the price.

The lush products have SLES listed as the third product so obviously have a lot of it, three different fragrances and tin oxide (glitter) which aren't great.

Do people actually spend this much money on gimmicky products? Are they actually good? Do they smell incredibly to justify that price.

£21 for shower gel just blew my mind.

Knock out a dog with no nose, I haven’t heard that one before 🤣🤣🤣

Thatcher wasn’t remotely interested in the interests women or young girls. She was bffs with Jimmy Savile and invited him around for Christmas lunch. She will have known full well what he was doing. Her own father had an unhealthy interest in young girls.

Sorry off topic but I get irritated when I see people describe Thatcher as a feminist. She was a pedophile enabling weirdo.

Lucky for them that you weren’t then.

Same! We did a bath bomb workshop at LUSH once and all the attendees (adults, parents, kids) seemed to be ND. They were all so kind and lovely, and my DD immediately clicked with the other girls.

I love the original type of bath bombs, colourful, ultra fizzy and wonderful smell. DH bought me a box of 12 about 4 years ago and I treated myself to a special bath about once a fortnight, every single one was heavenly. He did the same the following year. This time about a third of the bath bombs were something else that didn’t fizz and took ages to dissolve, two were strange herby things with seeds in them and one was white and in scented,He tried again at Christmas but the price had gone up so I only got six, they were even worse with another seedy one and another white one. I have told him not to bother again. I used to buy the odd single bomb as a stocking filler but they are so unimpressive and expensive now I won’t be buying anymore.In short they are rubbish compared to past times and very expensive. I’m quite sad about this.
Not sure who the target market is, I am 69 and frivolous in my choices.

I agree very distasteful and where’s the feminist support? after all Thatcher was our first female prime minister.

I’d have like to have asked Thatcher where the feminist support was.

I don't know but it stinks, isn't good and these days I refuse to even go in there due to their politics

Young and clearly, as this thread has demonstated, highly likely to be neuro divergent. It's not hard to see the obvious link with youngsters on the autism spectrum and adoption of trans identity, is it? Either LUSH are cynically exploiting that audience for financial gain or they themselves are helping to create that particular monster by brainwashing vulnerable and suggestible children.

I agree with lots of what’s on here, but I have family who like the products so I buy as presents quite regularly. All my nieces love the bath bombs. Weirdly my DD has sensitive skin but no problem at all with the few lush products we’ve used, she likes the bath bombs too. Though the prices the OP quotes do seem high, I don’t spend quite that much on individual products in there.

The shop stinks. I've never liked the smell and I find the sales people a bit full on.

I only go in there on Boxing Day now. Half price gift sets? Yes please! Gets our family through the January blues.

I love Lush. Yes, it's expensive, but it's a once in a while treat for me and the kids (yep, both nd).

People are forgetting though that with Lush products like bath foam bars, shampoo and conditioner, a little goes a long way. A Lush bath foam lasts us about 3-4 times longer than a shop bought bottle. Same with their shampoo/ conditioner (which smells amazing).

Oh, God, I'd forgotten about the staff bombarding you. It must be over a decade since I last set foot in a store. I was barely over the threshold when I was jumped on by some smiling assistant with, "Hellooo.....Can I heelp yooouuu?"
""Umm, no thanks." 🚪🏃‍♀️

I'm more bothered about how they get away with pumping that horrific smell everywhere. I couldn't go into the shop with that reel even if I wanted to

Yeah I hate it too. It's not even like they leave you to look around for a bit before they approach, the second your foot edges over the threshold they're all over you asking you what you want, what you're looking for, can they help and it really pisses me off. Just fucking let me be.

I just tell them I’m browsing and that works.

That's better than being ignored though, surely? It's standard, good practice to acknowledge customers when they enter your shop and to offer help if they need it. Far too often these days places are on skeleton staff and you couldn't find a person to help you if you tried. If you aren't standing at the till already with your money out then forget it, and even then lots of places will keep you waiting for ages because they won't staff their shop adequately and have one or two members of staff running around a huge shop doing everything.

When approached, it's easy enough to say 'Just browsing at the minute thanks.' No-one wants to be stalked and hounded around a shop, or be subject to pushy sales techniques but there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with being greeted and offered help upon entering. Be careful what you wish for. It's tough enough for shops to survive on the high street as it is. The last thing we want is a world where shopping has no human interaction or physical premises at all.

@HeadDeskHeadDesk

Perhaps you had to be there. It was so immediate; I felt pounced upon, and the way she spoke, so slowly, through this fixed grin, was so unnerving, it was like she was drugged, or a member of a cult, or both. I just thought, wtf, and got the fuck out of there pronto.

I agree, I used to love Lush when I was younger but it's ridiculously expensive. I also can't stand the way the staff hassle you. Not their fault, I know they're told to do it, but I just want to browse without being stopped every few paces.

While we are here. One thing I've never understood is why they have the tester bowls with the test bath bombs surrounding it out on the shop floor... My child dropped a tester bath bomb in when I assumed it was a tester display and the staff member was NOT impressed that they'd done it. Is that a thing in lush that you don't try the examples without a staff member?!

NOOOO. You should absolutely leave customers alone until they ask you for help. When I go to the supermarket or M&S I dont have people on me the second I walk in the door but if I need something I will ask an assistant.

Thats exactly how it should be. I dont want to have to repeat in every shop I go into "just browsing" it gets tedious and irritating as hell. Leave me alone to look and if I need I will ask.

It is very easy to look back at historical figures and criticise them for being products of, and operating in the context of, their time. Especially if you ignore that context. As someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s having a female PM was hugely influential on young women.

I used to shop there and liked their products but I refuse to pay double digits for a bath bomb. Bit silly really because I used to place several large orders a year with them and I doubt I’m the only one.

Yes I do know what you mean. Cards on the table, I run a business that includes among other things, employing retail staff. Staff should be capable of applying a bit of emotional intelligence and common sense to the situation. I always say allow customers a few moments to orientate themselves, then approach soon after, but not the immediate second they walk in the door. It's about getting the balance right, but that's something that seems to be lost on so many people. I don't know why, it's not bloody rocket science.

M&S and the supermarket are bad examples though. Smaller, more speciality stores are a different animal.

i shop there because I like some of their products, and see it as a bit of a treat. This is probably nostalgia fueled. It is harder to find stuff without glitter, which I cannot abide in any format