Australian luxury cosmetics brand Aesop has opened its first Belgian store in Antwerp. The brand is famous for its sleek store and package design and ‘luxurious’ prices.
Conversation over conversion
Since its foundation in 1987, the brand has become Australia’s largest exporter of beauty products. Today the brand has 220 own stores, but sells its products mainly in department stores and luxury perfumery stores. The best-selling product in its range is hand soap, but Aesop also offers skin and hair care products, toothpaste and natural fragrances.
Like the packaging, Aesop’s own stores guarantee sleek design and no-nonsense luxury. At Aesop, the shopping experience is not about conversion, but about conversation: a subtle difference, meaning customers are invited to try out the brand’s well-known hand soap, drink a cup of tea and have various products massaged in by an ‘Aesopian’ (as the shop clerks are called) in every shop. Meanwhile, they start a conversation with the customers to gauge their needs.
The design of the new Antwerp shop is unique and tailored to the location by Aesop, as it does for each of its own shops. They must portray a serene familiarity, but local individuality as well. The brand has already collaborated with several of the world’s leading architects and design firms.
