Feelunique

Business at time of investment

Feelunique was a leading online retailer of premium beauty products, serving predominantly the UK market and employing 125 staff. The company generated around £30 million of revenue.

Investment rationale

The European beauty market was worth approximately €75 billion per annum, however penetration of the online channel was below 5%. The online channel had been slow to develop, particularly in premium beauty, due to the tight control of brand owners over distribution channels. Feelunique was strongly positioned as one of the only third parties authorised to sell products for the leading brands.  With the inexorable shift to online the company was ideally placed to build out a dominant position in the market, not only in the UK, but across Europe as a whole.

Value creation

• Institutionalised management: Worked with founders to enhance senior leadership as the business internationalises, recruiting Sarah Miles, former Head of Amazon Fashion for Europe as CEO.  Robert Bensoussan was recruited as Chairman.
• Improved operations: Increased reporting and measurement, improved supply chain management, procurement, contractual negotiation, customer retention, distribution and logistics.  Relocated the logistics centre to the UK mainland to significantly improve customer experience.
• Expanded product range: Delivered key and exclusive supplier wins in the premium beauty, establishing Feelunique as a trusted online distribution channel.
• Developed a strong brand: Invested in the brand, re-launching website and improving the customer-centric focus of the service.  Launched a Chinese website in mid-October 2015.