The Rose Tree has branched out abroad in an unexpected twist for a small British brand trying to make it in the crowded beauty industry.
The organic skincare purveyor has landed at Malaysian department store chain Metrojaya with its full range of 18 stockkeeping units, including bestsellers Radiance Facial Essence with Rose & Marula and Intensive Balm with Marshmallow & Frangipani. Its international expansion has been particularly welcome in light of the uncertainties surrounding Brexit, the United Kingdom’s impending departure from the European Union.
“The U.K. market is very, very competitive and saturated and, unless I was going to come up with a whole lot of funding, I needed to think outside the box,” says The Rose Tree founder Olga Rumble. “There are businesses worldwide looking for unique products with a story behind them and good quality. British brands have cachet. There’s a perception of quality, and I’m riding on the back of that.”
Evidence of businesses searching for unique products came through The Rose Tree’s website in 2016. The British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce sent a message to the brand relaying that Metrojaya believed its products might resonate with customers. From there, contract negotiations extended over more than a year before The Rose Tree entered stores.
During the negotiations, Rumble depended on assistance from the Department for International Trade in the U.K. She details the department guides brands through the basics of exporting such as pricing and marketing strategies. The Rose Tree’s products are priced from 13.50 to 36 pounds or around $17 to $45 at the current exchange rate. In its first 12 months at Metrojaya, the brand’s sales at the retailer are expected to hit roughly $80,000.
“There are businesses worldwide looking for unique products with a story behind them and good quality. British brands have cachet. There’s a perception of quality, and I’m riding on the back of that.”
“The significance of being able to showcase our products in a chain of department stores with an opportunity to reach Asian customers is hugely exciting. Because my tiny brand has been picked up by a Malaysian giant, it makes people recognize that I really have something here,” says Rumble. “It’s opening doors and generating sales back in the U.K.”
It took Rumble a while to realize her brand could really be something. A former project manager for media and telecommunications companies like BBC and O2, the stress of Rumble’s job and her long commute from Berkshire, where she lives, to work in London was causing eczema and psoriasis flare-ups. She pressed the pause button on work for a bit and returned to an activity she enjoyed in her youth, studying botanicals and mixing them to create simple remedies, to resolve her skin irritation and as a stress-relieving diversion.
“I had no intention of starting a business at all,” says Rumble. “After a few months, I had a mini production process going to keep my best friends stocked with my products. That is where the seed of the idea was born. They said, ‘We’ll pay you for this.’ I had a conversation in my head about it: ‘Do I really want to go back to doing what I was doing?’ I liked the work, but I was less keen on the commuting, and twelve-hour days, five days a week isn’t sustainable.”
She decided to get schooled in organic skincare formulation at Formula Botanica, and put a few hundred pounds toward building a website selling a facial oil, cleanser and soap that went live in 2014. The packaging was disparate, and Rumble describes the site as “the world’s worst,” but The Rose Tree began to garner attention. The Free From Skincare Awards and Beauty Shortlist Awards have feted its products.
“The rhetoric in the press and confusion about what is going to happen with Brexit is everywhere and is a huge unknown for all small businesses in the U.K.”
Rumble quickly scrapped the original site and packaging, and moved toward a cohesive, polished look for both. She also secured a third-party manufacturer to produce merchandise and zeroed in on The Rose Tree’s core customer base.
“I had this idea, like many entrepreneurs, that I needed to appeal to the largest possible audience. Unless you have a huge budget, that’s just not an option,” says Rumble, revealing The Rose Tree’s customers are primarily women in their 40s and 50s. “They’re not seduced by nice packaging and a picture of an 18-year-old dressed up in makeup. They are savvier than that. They know what they want, and it’s very much about ease of use and convenience. They’re not interested in a skincare routine that involves 20 different products.”
This year, Rumble forecasts as much as 50% to 60% of The Rose Tree’s revenues could come from international sources. It’s launching in South Korea and evaluating other Asian countries for rollouts. Last year, exports within Europe accounted for a quarter of The Rose Tree’s sales. Now, Rumble is concerned about the potential impacts of Brexit on those exports.
“The rhetoric in the press and confusion about what is going to happen with Brexit is everywhere and is a huge unknown for all small businesses in the U.K.,” she says, adding, “In these circumstances, I am looking at contingency plans, which include shoring up more worldwide export markets for my products.”
