This Entrepreneur is Building Scentered To Support Emotional Balance With A Few Sniffs

When Lara Morgan’s hotel amenities business Pacific Direct Ltd. took her thousands of miles away from home day after day, she relied on aromatherapy to surmount the toughest moments. “I believe we can be brave and strong, and fragrance can be very helpful on that journey,” asserts Morgan. “It can make a lonely hotel room a friendlier place.” After selling Pacific Direct, she revisited the power of scent with Scentered, a wellbeing brand that uses essential oils in conveniently compact products to support emotional balance. “The mini balm is sitting in my jean pocket, and it’s accessible whenever and wherever. That has been a turning point for the brand,” says Morgan. “We deliver a meaningful uplift and mindset change and, if you’re at work or on the Underground, you don’t have to wait until you get home to be less stressed.” Beauty Independent chatted with the U.K.-based entrepreneur about Scentered’s stumbles, distribution strategies, star products and her vision of success for the brand.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born to an English army family living in Germany and then in Hong Kong, where my father was posted. I had an Asian upbringing valuing hard work and enterprise. That was influential in my desire to run a company. I was later sent to boarding school in Scotland. You see the world as a very small place from your eyes as a child, and you don’t realize what a gift that is. My dad went bankrupt when I was 18. I was waiting for my A-level results to see if I made the grade to go to the university of my choice, but I was already in a job selling promotional merchandise. I liked the freedom of selling. I had no career plans when I fell in love with a banker and went to work in the Middle East. I had an amazing experience in the Middle East. I was selling advertising for the Yellow Pages. There were advertisements for oil pipelines and Porsche dealerships. That was the first formal sales training I had.

You went from there to leading the company Pacific Direct. What happened?

I turned that company into a business generating in excess of $15 million, and we were the leading licensed brand manufacturer for hotel amenities. In the old days, there was no such thing as a brand for shampoo or conditioner in hotel rooms, but, as properties got smarter, they brought in brands like Aveda and Penhaligon’s for hotel amenities. My business was selling to luxury hotels in 110 countries, and we had factories in China, the Czech Republic and a joint venture in Egypt. We licensed Aveda, Bvlgari, Elemis and Asprey. Of all the brands, I probably learned the most from Aveda because of their eco approach and logistics genius. I sold the business in 2008. At that point, I thought, “What am I going to do next? I’m 40-years-old, and I’m totally uneducated, really.”

Why did you want to get back into business and start Scentered?

I was lucky enough to be a hotel supply expert. I learned a lot about fragrance and sourcing fragrance ingredients. I learned about fragrance claims, and I saw brands frankly making unfounded claims and putting average product into expensive packaging. I wanted everything I did to bring the meaningful benefit of lifestyle balance while still being affordable. The goal of Scentered is portable mood therapy. My feeling was that someone needed to modernize aromatherapy. Our mantra and ritual – Stop. Inhale. Reset. – improves lives. The idea is that, if you get someone to stop and inhale, and you give them a moment of time, that’s the best commodity you could possibly sell. We sell wellbeing. Like with everything I do, I followed my gut, and it served me well. I didn’t see the whole trend of mindfulness coming.

How long and how much money did it take to develop Scentered?

Scentered launched two-and-a-half years ago in Space NK. Before we launched, we spent three-and-a-half to four years blending and trialing. It was probably three years of failure. Because it’s a very complex essential oil mix, which contains up to 24 ingredients plus the bases, the challenge was manufacturing. It took us a long time to crack the right consistency and performance. I had to bring in more expertise than myself. There was quite a lot of pain to get to market, but I think the brand name was an absolute coup. All told, more than six years in, we have put 1 million pounds into the brand.

What were the first products released?

We did Sleep Well, De-Stress and Focus first. Given the fact that, in my last job, I traveled 221 days a year, I knew that sleep was a category of desperate need. I am pretty sure it was Love next and then Escape. Escape will take you wherever you want to go. It’s very evocative. It’s my favorite because it takes me back to my childhood in Asia. The last one was Be Happy. In the hotel industry, you sell a lot of citrus-based fragrance. Not many people don’t like lemon or orange. Yet, it was our last fragrance. It makes you feel good with its uplifting and fizzy blend. You won’t like all of the blends all of the time. Your mood and mindset guides you to what you need most.

What is the bestseller?

Sleep Well. I don’t think it’s about the fragrance. It’s about what the fragrance makes you feel, and what our customer is in need of. The next ones are De-Stress and the five miniatures. The mini balm box has been a revelation. A lesson we’ve learned is that maybe the big balms were just too big. What’s also been a challenge is that, when you have complex blends, you can’t just stick them in a candle. When you burn the blend, it completely changes. We have had to reformulate every single blend so that, when it burns, it links to the fragrance that it complements. We are determined to be 100% natural, and that takes a lot of time and money. I have a 17-year history with candle manufacturers and fragrance houses. Had I started this journey without that, there is no way I could have gotten Scentered to market.

When do you project Scentered will reach profitability?

Year three of commercial trading. I have one more year. We are internationalizing the business already. We are selling in Russia, Spain and Finland, and we are open in America. CorePower Yoga took Scentered before the holiday season. They have been astounded by the sell-through. At triyoga in London, people love it, and apply it before and after class. It’s restoring lifestyle balance, which is utterly complementary to yoga.

What’s the brand’s distribution strategy?

There are four key channels. Yoga is also a channel, but I can’t see it as a key channel since it’s not as mainstream as I expect Scentered to be. We’re in natural food retailers like Planet Organic in the U.K. We are in stores like Anthropologie in the U.K., a retailer with a target customer who is a good fit for Scentered. She’s a 32-year-old, time-pressured woman who likes fashion, wants to express herself and looks after her health. Spa and salon is the next major channel and, of course, because of my background, hospitality. Hotels are fighting back against Airbnb. They have to engage with guests in better ways and treat them with humanity. Small tokens that make the guest feel like an individual is a clever way to do that. We are in 590 premium spas, and we will grow in spas by delivering learnings around using the balms for proper, deep breaths.

What is the brand’s price range, and how did it land on that price range?

Everybody should be able to afford a touch of luxury. I wanted to make this totally affordable. Our price point is $20 for the big balm and the minis are only a few bucks. It’s a really good investment for people to try the product in mini sizes, but it’s obviously a very difficult strategy. The other slightly tongue-in-cheek comment I would make is these balms last a hell of a long time. In some ways, I wish they didn’t last so bloody long because I’m a commercial animal. Also, where possible, we promote packaging that can be repurposed, recycled and repackaged. If you buy the mini size, it’s a tin you can use for a tampon or eyeliner. When you buy the candle and burn it down, if you freeze it, bang it on the counter and wash it out with warm water, you will have a tumbler to drink from. All the candle boxes can be turned into jewelry or trinket boxes. I am really determined to play our part in consideration of the environment.

What is your take on e-commerce?

If e-commerce isn’t at the heart of your strategy, I would be worried for your business because high street is under pressure. You have to be innovative, and build engaging partnerships with likeminded products and services. We would love to have partnerships with meditation apps. We are also working with a bedding company. When you buy your bedding, you get a Sleep Well as a surprise and delight.

Amazon, yes or no?

Our consumers default to Amazon Prime, and they expect you to be there. We are rolling out on Amazon. We are not [on Amazon] in America yet, but it won’t be long. There are approvals and logistics hurdles to overcome. We are also looking at Taobao in China. I have hired an Amazon expert. I’m a great believer that you save an awful lot of pain if you hire an expert. It’s a very important channel, but it can be distracting.

What have you found most challenging in growing Scentered?

The enormity of where Scentered fits. We can fit anything, but it’s about not biting off more than you can chew and protecting brand positioning. Otherwise, it’s a fad or flash in the pan, and you don’t want that. I want a meaningful proposition that lasts forever. I want to meaningfully change lives.

Has there been a rejection that particularly stung?

Yes, we were rejected by one of the very big meditation brands, and I think they are barking mad. I think it’s a mistake. Their experience is in meditation, and my expertise is in therapeutic mindset products. It is complementary.

Do you handle rejection well?

You have to because this is an absolutely new proposition. I shoot high. I think you have to fake it until you make it. There’s nothing wrong with failure. Just keep fighting. Don’t give up with the first hurdle.

Because you experienced entrepreneurial success prior to Scentered, do you work less?

I’m worse now than I was before. I want to work less, but I still work like a lunatic. I love what I do. I’m so proud of what my team is creating, and I want to set an example for them. I have high expectations. We’re extremely modern. We don’t have a head office. We have a central meeting place at my flat. I trust my team as long as they get the job done. Culture is the heartbeat of the business.

How have you kept working so hard?

I started paying the price for being an entrepreneur and made sacrifices much earlier than a lot of women who start brands. I fell into becoming an entrepreneur at the age of 23. What a privilege it is to have had that head start, and I married a flipping gem. He was prepared to put up with me running a business. I think he’s a saint. I played front of the office, and he played back of the office. It worked for us as a unit.

How big is the brand now?

We are at half-million pounds in [2017] sales and are up 400%. It was a good year, but we are not profitable yet, damn it. We have eight full-time people. I’m amazed at what my team has achieved. We are really starting to pick up momentum.

Are there things you’ve done that you wish you had skipped?

A million things. You never get it right the first time. I designed a very ugly point-of-sale system, and I shouldn’t have done that. We didn’t listen to the customer enough and didn’t get it right. It doesn’t matter who you are and your background, you have to keep asking the customer [questions].

What are goals for your brand going forward?

Our goals our pretty sizable. We would really like to have a huge fan base in America. We are looking for passionate representatives of our brand, particularly in spa and salon. We want to find a major partner who understands what we are trying to achieve. I’m quite ambitious. I want to affect health across the world. I think Scentered can add a touch of time back to people’s lives, and that’s extremely valuable.