I trust Dennis and the creative department in terms of vision and he trusts me in terms of the business operation.
It took time to build up the skills to transform [Aesop] from a wholesaler to a retailer.
Once the concept became proven, we had confidence to really start the rollout. It has just been a steady growth since then.
The decisions about cutting down on opportunities are often the core decisions. We know that we are not all things to all people.
The great thing about retail is the control. When we were selling through third parties we could never control the relationship with the customer, even the merchandising.
We found that when we trained our whole staff and constructed the environment around the product the Aesop concept really came alive.
It’s a really hard decision for any company to give up equity and to get an outsider in. It was a good time to get external investment in both from a purely financial investment and also in terms of assisting in terms of the governance of the business.
We took a long time to work out the right path for us. We wanted them to add value and I think that’s really important.
[The sale to Natura] It was a really interesting process and a tough decision – we were starting to come out of the cycle with private equity. We were looking for a long-term partner to continue to support the development of the business and brand and as much as possible keep the business independent.
Geographically there is essentially no overlap between the two companies although we are expanding into Brazil now.
We fit into the top of [Natura’s] portfolio so they are interested in learning about premium cosmetics. We get a long-term partner helping us with sustainability and give us that sort of maturity.
Over the last 12 years we’ve had SARS, 9-11, the global financial crisis, the Asian financial crisis, a whole host of things. But from our perspective although we have grown quickly we have never stretched ourselves too far.
I think keeping a bit of powder dry in periods of rapid expansion, just pulling back a little bit, is really important because things do change and we live in a volatile world. I think many Australian retailers just overstretched themselves.
In many countries around the world Aesop is very under penetrated. We are never going to be a huge business in any one country but we know that our voice does resonate globally.
A lot of our growth moving forward is new stores in different cities around the world and also just building our existing business and stores.
From a creative and design perspective Aesop has a huge amount we can do still.
Profitability and sales is not the prime objective for Aesop. If you have a great brand and it is deserving of its place then the profitability will come.
Unfortunately too much of my life is spent on a plane travelling around. I try to bring my wife and my family a couple of times a year.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint so you have to be careful how you pace yourself.
Cara Waters is a former SmartCompany editor. Previously, Cara was a senior reporter for the Financial Times’ website and worked for The Sunday Times in London.
