Guest Comment

As John Lewis Partnership and Marks and Spencer Christmas sales figures are announced I am reminded of how even large retailers can misinterpret the...

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, even the January sales have started appearing before we’ve sung the New Year in. Loud price slashing has always been most retailers’ preferred way of engaging with consumers, and once our interest is piqued we’re further enticed with BOGOFs, three-for-two deals and any other money-saving offer that can be dreamed up. It’s a war zone where a war of attrition is being played out to the bitter end.

In my July Beauty Buzz column Organic beauty retailing – the future is multi-channel I wrote about how high street fashion retailer H&M had become the latest store to relaunch its beauty collection, which included a subsidiary-conscious range of Ecocert-approved sustainable products.

Solving global warming was never going to be easy, but it would be a heck of a lot easier if we cast off the...

As this latest installment of my Beauty Buzz column goes to press, we are putting away the chairs  and closing the door on yet another hugely successful Round Table discussion hosted by the Natural Beauty Yearbook and Natural Products News magazine.

Keep it clear. Keep it transparent. And no, I’m not just referring to your well-cared-for complexion! That’s the mantra this September when the Soil Association embarks on yet another emboldened Organic Beauty Week, focused this year on the theme, Campaign for Clarity.

How seriously should we take official exhortations to cut sugar consumption while governments continue to subsidise industrial scale sugar farming? asks Craig Sams When my...

The Soil Association’s Organic Market Report 2015, published in March, revealed that online shopping at independent retailers boosted the organic health and beauty sector by 20% in the last year, making it one of the strongest channels for growth.

They are hip, happening and there isn’t a tree hugger in sight – actually if it looks good on Instagram there might be. They’ve been...

Didn’t I have a lovely time the day I went to The Beauty Exchange?! It was great for a number of reasons, but mainly...

Another year, another inspiring and exhilarating show. At the time of going to press with this column the dust has not long settled on the fabulous Natural Beauty & Spa show, part of Natural & Organic Products Europe, held for the first time this year at ExCeL London.

It’s been more than six months since the team at the Natural Beauty Yearbook and Natural Products News magazine sat down around a round table with a handful of key industry figures and discussed the state of the natural and organic beauty market.

People have had enough of corrupt politicians and their ruthlessly self-serving corporate backers. Real world change is breaking out everywhere Did you get what you...

Internet sales, e-commerce and social media have long been the mantras for successful retailing. If you want to be perceived as being a savvy, contemporary and forward- thinking store it’s imperative that you not only have a well-presented and securely built website, but more importantly that you offer shoppers the opportunity to buy your goods online.

It has always been the No 1 rule of retail – know your customer. Learning buying patterns, understanding why they step foot in your store in the first place, and making sure you keep them interested by consistently introducing new product lines will be a big help to ensure customers keep coming back.

The Guardian recently published an unbridled attack on the “detox industry” and supplements and dietary habits for detox. Among the comments were that detox was...

2015 is the year for intelligent retailing. In an age of smartphones, touch-screen devices and clever technology it’s only right that beauty retail should move with the times and provide shoppers with the type of revolutionary customer service that they have come to expect from other industries.

Grappling for shelf space, competing on packaging design, POS promotions – these are all familiar, day-to-day experiences for manufacturers and brands alike trying to stay afloat in the competitive world of retail.

Last week four Soil Association trustees resigned from the charity accusing it of lacking conviction on organic. But to create real change you sometimes just have...

People everywhere are reducing meat consumption. Craig Sams argues that organic farmers are well placed to adjust to the coming low-meat scenario My late great...