Lush, recently opened its first packaging-free store in the U.K., offering customers the chance to buy its hair care, bath bombs, shower gels and skin care in a shop completely stripped of plastic.
The Manchester “Naked” shop joins others in Berlin and Milan as Lush experiments with how its consumers can buy products without harming the environment along the way.
The cosmetics chain Lush is eliminating all packaging from three of its stores in Europe (Photo: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg)© 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP
Already 100% vegetarian and against animal testing, these packaging-free stores are another way for the cosmetics chain to add to its ethical credentials.
But as plastic waste becomes an issue that consumers want to tackle, will other retailers take note and follow Lush’s example?
Why Lush’s packaging-free stores matter
Plastic-free shops are few and far between. For a conscious consumer, their options are shopping online or finding an independent packaging-free shop in their area if they’re lucky.
But that doesn’t mean that the demand isn’t there. Nine out of ten people would like to see a plastic-free aisle in supermarkets, according to one survey, and millions of people participate in Plastic Free July every year.
“Lush is recognizing that there is a demand and they are the first mass market retailer to do that,” explained Emily Salter, associate analyst at GlobalData Retail.
Although, Salter admitted, the cosmetics retailer has an easier job getting its customers on board with the idea of plastic-free shops.
“Lush has always been known for its strong ethical stance,” Salter said. “It has a solid base to work from and eliminating plastic is something that quite a lot of its customers will be interested in anyway, because of the type of retailer they are.”
The challenge is for other mass-market retailers whose customers may not be as conscious of the plastic problem to get on board and change their ways.
How other retailers can be persuaded to go plastic-free
The way that retailers will become plastic-free is through pressure. And that pressure will come from both consumers and competitors, Salter said.
Consumers have the power to change a retailer’s approach to packaging if they can demonstrate to the store just how strongly they feel about the issue.
Reusable bags and cups have been embraced by the U.K.’s consumers as a way to cut down on the use of plastic (Photo: Jason Alden/Bloomberg)© 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP
Reusable cups and bags, the huge audience and appetite for documentaries such as Blue Planet, and refusing plastic straws have all been successful ways of demonstrating that shoppers care about making a change.
Once one retailer reacts to consumer demand, it’s a matter of letting the pressure build on its competitors until the balance tips and they would be losing out on business if they didn’t join the rest of the market.
That’s the pattern that campaigners hope will play out for the reduction, and elimination, of plastic from the retail industry.
What other areas of retail should go packaging-free?
Lush’s Naked stores are a great example to other cosmetics businesses that packaging-free can be done in that product category.
But where else can be persuaded to reduce packaging? Food and groceries is another area of retail that desperately needs to cut down its reliance on plastic.
“In supermarkets and convenience shops, a lot of food is packaged with plastic. There’s almost nothing you can buy without it,” said Salter.
In the U.K., supermarkets are vowing to recycle plastic bottles and remove plastic bags, but there’s more work to be done to offer customers an alternative to plastic-wrapped products.
An experiment that should be closely followed by retailers is from Loop.
Loop is working with major brands to test out refillable, reusable, and eco-friendly packaging.(Photo: Loop)
The online store is working with giants of the FMCG world, such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Nestlé to test out how staple products can be put into reusable, eco-friendly packaging which consumers can send back to be refilled as many times as they like.
How soon will retailers go plastic-free?
As more plastic-free packaging options become available, and consumer pressure grows, the fewer excuses that retailers have not to act.
And most retailers have already made conscious efforts to lessen their environmental impact over the past couple of years.
Though don’t expect big changes to be made any time soon. Lush’s packaging-free stores are a leading example of how to cut out plastic from high street stores, but the chain said it was part of a decades-long sustainability journey.