In the first of its new Final Word columns, Cosmetics Business seeks the expertise of Elemis' Managing Director, Sean Harrington, on the key factors to ensure a brand stands the test of time. Here, Harrington explains how Elemis has stayed relevant to consumers in the run up to its 25th anniversary.
A:
If I had to pinpoint three key factors behind Elemis' longevity, I would say quality, integrity and ambition.
Quality is key to standing the test of time. As a business evolves there's lots of opportunity to compromise for the benefit of profit, speed, market pressure or time – you are always trying to make judgement calls in the early days. There's a lot of temptation to compromise on quality issues, particularly to set your gross margins and cost of goods right, and make your business profitable, but as soon as you start on that road it's a difficult path to get off. We have been part of a group that is public on NASDAQ in the US and with that comes a huge amount of short-term financial pressures and objectives. We could say: 'well, if we reduce costs then we can make more profits and hit our targets', but the answer is that we need to sell more as opposed to take down costs.
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