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Lucire 2005

Karen Murrell, founder and CEO of Skinfood, has tapped into a consumer desire for simplicity and value in what is in many respects a premium product, writes Jack Yan

From the May 2005 issue of Lucire

 


Skinfood range

Initial capN MID-APRIL, Karen Murrell, founder and CEO of Skinfood, came to Wellington to visit some of her retailers. I heard of her visit, and offered to collect her from the airport, not too far away from Lucire’s head bureau.
   I called as she was clearing up some invoicing in Auckland before her flight. ‘I’ll stand out: I’m taller than everyone else,’ she said.
   She certainly was one of the tallest women on her flight, even though I had the impression that I might have been meeting a former basketball player. But Murrell seems taller than her 5 ft 10 in, probably due a self-assured sense of style. Her clothes reflect the Skinfood philosophy: high quality though you know she didn’t get ripped off buying them. She could pass for a model: at some angles, there’s a resemblance to a more feminine, more attractive version of Hilary Swank.
   Murrell is very much the Lucire WTG—well travelled girl—looking at Strawberry.net for getting beauty products or checking out the clothing URLs in this magazine. She’d make a mental bookmark to check out Lucire-featured products on her next jaunt abroad—which seems to be happening with increasing frequency.
   Launched in July 2004, her brand has been selling in six-figure quantities at certain single stores alone, testament to Murrell getting her market positioning right. But it goes beyond New Zealand shores: Skinfood is already selling in Europe, and other countries are planned. Murrell has even had people come up to her to tell her they had seen it on Ebay.
   But like all success stories, Murrell has had her share of struggle. Coupled with that is an uncanny skill of seeing through deception: ‘Our industry is full of it,’ she told Lucire.
   The struggle came at a time when her brother passed away. A phone call to her father changed things: ‘He told me that I had a lot going for me, and that was when I put everything into my career.’ The concept is simple enough: unisex skin care products of high quality, but with an accessible price tag. But getting consumers to understand this can be tough. Murrell recalled one incident at an Auckland function where she told someone she was the head of a skin care company. After describing it, he said to her, ‘I would not buy it. It’s not enough of a premium brand for me.’
   ‘It is right for you,’ she insisted. ‘You breathe, don’t you?’
   However, Murrell noticed shifts in consumer tastes, and was perhaps one of the first in her field to do so. And while it is hard to be a pioneer sometimes, when success hits, it comes like a huge wave.
   Modern consumers are less inclined to think of ‘Claytons’, ‘mid-range’ and ‘luxury’ like they once did. Fifteen years ago, a car range might be divided into a very basic model for sales’ reps and taxi drivers, a mid-range for families and a luxury model for the wealthy; today it’s likely that “bottom of the range” means something quite nice. The same is being reflected in fashion: it is not uncommon for a luxury brand to diversify downward (or an everyday one to take on the trappings of a luxury brand, to wit, Karl Lagerfeld designing for Hennes & Mauritz last year). Indeed, in a brand-driven world, there is no longer a rule that says the less wealthy shop at the Warehouse and the more wealthy at a department store.
   Purity and simplicity are also 2000s’ trends. Real Simple and Ikea are popular for those who feel their urban lives are too complex; Skinfood brings things to basics. The logo is simple, an exercise in modernism and one that has found huge favour in the Swedish market. ‘Our distributor loves it there,’ she said.
   Block out the New Zealand-made claim in her advertising, it could pass for an import. Despite this simplicity, fine ingredients have been added, from coconut palm and avocado oil to lavender oil and manuka honey.
   Finally, and more than apparent to most consumers, Skinfood has tapped into the environmentally friendly aspect that is a necessity in modern marketing: it does not test on animals, and the packaging is recyclable.
   There are countless other examples of the trend that Murrell has tapped in to. By discovering that about the skin care business, and following it through, Skinfood has already become one of the most widely distributed ranges in the country.
   ‘Most people might have a few cheaper products, plus a really nice Lancôme,’ as she recalled her research. By pricing her products under NZ$10, she has captured the value-conscious consumer. And as she has found through retailers whose customers’ average incomes are in six figures, richer folks like a good deal, too.
   Given the way the world is, Skinfood’s exactly what consumers, regardless of “demographics”, globally seek. Her advertisement in Lucire last month said it all: ‘paraben-free, no artificial colourings, non-comodogenic, not tested on animals, recyclable packaging, 100 per cent New Zealand made’.
   Murrell started off her business at home, as many entrepreneurs do, a neighbour of World’s Francis Hooper and Denise L’Estrange-Corbet. But eventually Skinfood stock meant that she needed somewhere to house it, and a forklift somehow did not fit into central Auckland. That prompted Skinfood’s shift to Mt Wellington. It was a necessity though now she has the pressure of getting through rush hour in Auckland’s notorious traffic.
   She’s since taught herself how to drive the forklift: ‘I can get all but the pallet at the very top,’ and is very much the boss who can roll up her sleeves.
   Skinfood has also managed to nurture other businesses, such as her graphic designer’s, and Murrell is particularly proud of her 14-year-old helper who comes in after school.
   As her brand grows and she nurtures exporting deals, Murrell has been visiting other countries more. That has led to a wardrobe that is a mix of cultures: always professional, yet distinctive when compared to any other Kiwi. At LAX, the passport controller refused to believe that she was a New Zealander, thinking she looked more American. It’s those Oscar-winning actress looks, I thought to myself. When Skinfood hits the States, the Americans are going to love her. •

Jack Yan is founding publisher of Lucire.

 

Karen Murrell

ABOVE LEFT: Part of the paraben-free Skinfood line-up. ABOVE, FROM TOP: Karen Murrell.

Despite this simplicity, fine ingredients have been added, from coconut palm and avocado oil to lavender oil and manuka honey

Visit Skinfood

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Lucire: fashion magazine homeLucire Fashion FeaturesLucire Living and Beauty Lucire Volante: travel, accommodation guide Lucire fashion news, bulletins and events Fashion shopping guide and directory
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