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Fragrance brand Jo Malone London is planning to open at least a dozen new stores as it bets on customers’ return to physical shops after the Covid-19 pandemic, and the resilience of high streets outside the capital.
Jo Dancey, senior vice-president and global general manager, said the brand would increase the number of stores in the UK, one of its top three markets, from 37 to 45 by the middle of 2025, and planned to take it up to 51 a year later.
The brand, which was sold to Estée Lauder in 1999 by its eponymous founder for “undisclosed millions”, is known for its perfume and scented candles, and beige and black branding.
Jo Malone’s push into physical retail is in contrast to other brands that have deserted high streets or gone bust after high operating costs and relentless competition from online retailers.
About 12 outlets were shuttered every day in the first six months of the year, leading to a loss of 2,284 fewer retail stores, leisure venues and service outlets across the UK, according to data from PwC.
Dancey said: “We are committed to physical investment. There was a level of pause though Covid . . . [but] we always believed [physical retail] was coming back, and now we’re full force into the investment.”
Jo Malone, the sixth-largest fragrance company globally in terms of market share, is targeting market towns such as Wilmslow, Farnham, Market Harborough, Leamington Spa and Chichester.
The towns, which tend to be relatively affluent and within easy reach of big cities, offer a large number of potential customers who left the capital during the pandemic and are now increasingly working from home.
That change meant that “we know where we should be going”, said Dancey, adding that the trend towards smaller store formats, lower rents and less expensive fit-outs also contributed to its push beyond London.
“You don’t have to do the same productivity per store but they can actually be more profitable,” she said. “So there’s a whole business model piece to that but it starts with the fact that the consumer is there.”
“People are more local than they’ve ever been before, and that is something that we’re tapping into. We’re also going to spaces where there isn’t necessarily another retailer.”
Dancey added that trading had picked up in recent weeks after “we had to hold our breath in November” as people shop later for Christmas. Some consumers have also been trading down to smaller perfumes and candles and “little luxuries”.
Jo Malone’s bestsellers include lime, basil and mandarin or pomegranate cologne that cost £118 for 100ml. Prices have largely gone up in line with inflation over the past two years, but “it’s not something that has been an aggressive push”, Dancey added.
Turnover at Jo Malone Limited, which records sales in the UK and Ireland, rose slightly to £109.3mn in the year to June 2023, according to the company’s accounts at Companies House. Pre-tax profits fell to £24.4mn, from £29mn.
