Case Study: Lush Handmade Cosmetics

How Lush reimagined work travel with TravelPerk

Scaling an experience-driven retail business, Lush was looking for a flexible and simple travel solution.

Over the past three decades, Lush has cemented its reputation as an industry-leading personal care brand. Specializing in handmade cosmetics, they're well known for their fair trade policies, sustainability practices, and strong stance against animal testing – which has created a beloved brand that continues to grow.

With 22 offices and 850+ retail stores across 52 countries, Lush employees are frequently on the road. From attending team meetings, store check-ins, international training sessions for retail teams, and market visits–there are many reasons the team needs to travel.

Before working with TravelPerk, Lush found managing travel across such a large, diverse workforce challenging. They had no formal travel approval process, and limited ways to ensure traveler autonomy was maintained across a complex mix of frequent and infrequent travelers. They needed a streamlined solution that allowed employees to book their own work travel while ensuring transparency and policy compliance.

Lush’s travel needs continue to evolve – In 2024 alone, Lush's North American division had 643 employees who needed to travel for work.

"Our business stretches across all of North America and the opportunity to travel and bring our staff together for meetings, project and shop visits means we have a lot of travelers"

Sarah Levitin, Travel and Events Manager North America

Lush creates in-person, hands-on experiences in their stores.

As they grow, Lush remains committed to responsible and sustinable business travel.

Staff are always encouraged to consider if business travel is necessary and in an effort to reduce their carbon impact and save costs, virtual meetings are encouraged where possible. Public transit and car pooling are encouraged, and trains over planes are also supported. TravelPerk is able to support Lush staff to make informed travel decisions in line with their business commitments.

Supporting Sustainability
Like many businesses, Lush is committed to greenhouse gas emissions tracking and reporting, and as a business is committed to reducing its impact in the world (‘Leaving the World Lusher Than We Found It!’). With a commitment to ‘radically reduce transport emissions’, it is especially important that Lush is able to support staff in making informed business travel decisions.

“We were really excited to see TravelPerk introduce the ‘Trains over Planes’ function in North America earlier this year. For selected routes, the user is encouraged to explore significantly lower emission train options, helping staff to make informed travel decisions. The TravelPerk reporting function is also key in supporting our annual business travel emissions calculations”.

Nicky Arthur, Global Energy Management & Sustainability Specialist

From inefficient to effortless

Like many businesses, the pandemic gave Lush time to reflect on their future work travel plans. Determined to get back to IRL interactions and provide a seamless travel experience for employees, Lush partnered with TravelPerk.

"We've created efficient processes for our travelers. Our goal is to ensure that our travelers have a seamless experience. Together with TravelPerk, we've made great strides."
Candace Lehr - Travel Coordinator, Travel & Events North America

Lush anticipated there being just a few groups of travelers after the pandemic; however, what started as a slow and steady return to work travel turned into a surge in trips 2-3 times higher than their annual predictions. With the help of TravelPerk, Lush was able to handle this unexpected growth efficiently.

"Candace oversees the majority of the travel on her own. She's one person and she's supporting over 900 travelers. That's not something we could do if we didn't have a stellar platform and great agents to help us along the way."
Sarah Levitin - Travel and Events Manager North America

Easy to navigate without extensive training, TravelPerk's solution gave Lush's employees an optimized booking experience. Rather than scrolling through several websites, the straightforward platform acts as a one-stop shop: offering travelers a comprehensive inventory of flights, accommodation, and ground transportation.

"The [TravelPerk] system was so intuitive, it was so easy to get on the platform."

Sarah Levitin, Travel and Events Manager North America

Increased autonomy with automation

Employee well-being is one of Lush's top priorities. Lush's leadership wanted their travelers to be free to make bookings that fit their personal schedules and align with their preferences.

"We're really keen on having a travel program that allows autonomy for the traveler. Up until starting our relationship with TravelPerk we didn't have the systems in place that allowed for that."
Sarah Levitin - Travel and Events Manager North America

Lush's old travel process had limited manager oversight – meaning low visibility into travel plans until the expense report was submitted and tedious, manual booking on behalf of infrequent travelers.

With TravelPerk, users can leverage company policies to automate approval workflows. Now, a standardized company approval process was created, allowing for employees to select the flights and hotels which work best for their schedule, while maintaining a financially responsible travel program.

With this new approach, Lush waved goodbye to cluttered inboxes and approval bottlenecks. So, whether it's the flight arriving in time to put the kids to bed or a hotel with gym facilities to maintain healthy habits–TravelPerk's automated approvals meant Lush's employees no longer missed out on their first choice of travel options.

"We've heard so much great feedback from our travelers. We definitely feel this has made a giant improvement in our traveler experience."

Sarah Levitin, Travel and Events Manager North America

Diligent duty of care

Ensuring travelers feel safe is fundamental to Lush's operations. With TravelPerk, they can expand their duty of care practices, delivering more practical information to employees while on the road.

"Supporting the safety of our travelers is always one of our most important mandates. We want to make sure that when people leave their homes and go out into the world that they're having great experiences."
Sarah Levitin - Travel and Events Manager North America

From flight cancellations to changing border controls, life can throw many curveballs at your upcoming work trip! Lush employees can stay updated on itinerary changes with TravelPerk’s real-time notifications. Plus, with just a few clicks, managers can track all their traveling employees with TravelPerk's intuitive map.

With TravelPerk, Lush benefits from dedicated account managers. On hand to help the team get the most out of their work travel solution, TravelPerk adapts to ensure Lush's travelers get the best experience.

"[We are] seeing the benefits that TravelPerk can offer more of a tailor-made experience based on our travelers behaviors and needs. "

Candace Lehr, Travel Coordinator, Travel & Events North America