The impact of Lush's anti-social media strategy three years on

By Amanda May | Published: 22-Jan-2025

Chief Digital Officer Jack Constantine on the effects of the retailer’s social media hiatus, driving growth through other channels and his views on the discord surrounding platform moderator issues

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It feels like only yesterday that Lush quit social media for good over “safety concerns”, but, more than three years on, we ask: was it the right decision for the business?

Despite having more than eight million followers on Instagram (across a combined 555 IG accounts) and three million Facebook followers (across 517 accounts), the beauty retailer suspended all its profiles in November 2021 in a move that shocked the industry.

Lush said it would stick to this hiatus until these sites “do a better job of protecting users from harmful content”, and the company has been true to its word ever since.

Now, with a growing undermining of faith in social media among some consumers due to Facebook moderator issues, and the ongoing banning and unbanning of TikTok – plus the uncertainty of the platform’s future owner – was Lush on to something?

When Lush left social media, it felt like a risky move for the retailer who had built such a strong presence among communities on those platforms. 

But its anti-social media strategy seems to have not harmed its growth, with Lush doubling down on its company-owned digital communication methods instead, securing 1.75 million app users and three million opted-in users to its newsletter globally.

Breaking the mould

“When we first left, everyone's opinion about social media was very positive, so many could not understand how, or why, we thought there was a negative side to it,” Lush Chief Digital Officer Jack Constantine told Cosmetics Business.  

“But we have done a good job of making sure customers can access us by building other strong communication tools that are not social media, like our newsletters, app and in-store activities.

“Leaving [social media] has had a positive impact on the business in the sense that we now take more thought into how we approach our communication with our customers.”

And this is reflected in the business’s strong digital sales despite no company-pushed social media presence. 

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