Championing Retail Career Development at Aesop

Skin and body care brand Aesop was founded in 1987 by Dennis Paphitis, who began blending essential oils into hair products at his hair salon in Melbourne, Australia. The brand has since cultivated a global retail business and a luxury grooming product line, spanning skin, hair and body care, as well as fragrance and accessories for the self and the home, with widespread appeal and steady growth. Over a 10-year period, Aesop’s sales increased from $28 million in sales in 2012 to a reported $537 million in 2022. Last year, the brand was acquired by L’Oréal Luxe for $2.5 billion.

A cornerstone of Aesop’s business is its physical retail presence, with over 400 stores and counters globally. Due to in-store consultants’ firm understanding of brand values and customer profiles, store teams regularly collaborate with office-based team members to cultivate the retail and brand offering. This collaborative nature between teams across stores and headquarters enables a culture of learning and development, and unlocks opportunities for internal movement within and across teams.

Employees are afforded the opportunity to explore roles outside of the function into which they were hired, with retail store staff also considered a key talent pool for headquarter roles. Thorough training programmes equip employees for these transitions. Aesop’s retail development and catalyst programmes help retail consultants and store managers cultivate their skills to pursue roles at a more senior level, alongside a mentorship programme to support that process over 12 months.

Additionally, Aesop’s facial academy — a newer concept at the business, currently piloted in the UK — allows for retail consultants to apply to undergo training to become a facial therapist, paid for by Aesop. Upon achieving the qualification, facial therapists can secure a job in this specialist role at an Aesop store where facial treatment spaces are available.

To learn more about how the company is unlocking career development opportunities across its retail workforce, BoF sits down with three Aesop employees: Ryad Djellas, general manager of Europe; Victoria Stamos, the UK’s commercial director; and Edio Mortoza; store manager at Aesop Marylebone, London.

Ryad Djellas, General Manager of Europe

How would you describe the culture at Aesop?

Aesop supports an entrepreneurial spirit and seeks to cultivate a professional environment where employees are challenged to give their best while being their true selves. Every Aesop store is designed in response to distinctive characteristics relevant to its location, so no two stores are the same. This is a relevant analogy to describe our company culture: at Aesop, we really believe in authenticity. Being ourselves is integral to who we are as a company.

Employee networks play a great part in this, like Prism, an LGBTQ+ group — these groups provide opportunities to build connections with one another globally, not just in the same city. As a result, employees across the business can develop a stronger connection to each other.

How does Aesop cultivate internal movement and development of employees?

When it comes to vacancies, we have an internal first principle, which means that in practice, whenever possible, existing employees are given first notice of, and the first opportunity to apply to, open vacancies.

Since the acquisition by L’Oréal last year, we are now also informed of opportunities across various areas of L’Oréal in addition to Aesop. This is another way of expanding the potential remit of possibilities for our employees. Obviously, we don’t want to lose them, but if some of our employees want to explore other areas at L’Oréal, it’s a great opportunity for them and it feels that they remain a part of our extended family.

How does Aesop facilitate an environment of learning and career development?

It is essential that every new person is onboarded and immersed into the brand very early on. So learning about products, brand codes, but also learning how we all work together — it can be quite a complex exercise. For retail consultants, this includes a comprehensive induction and onboarding programme. We also offer product and customer experience training programmes to support the launch of new products and campaigns.

We have monthly head office lunches in which we’re encouraged to break bread together, leave everything at our desk and come in and sit next to people that you don’t usually meet with.

For managers, physical training is conducted in the head office to ensure full immersion into the culture and the products. We have a pretty strong retention rate by nurturing corporate development, which is a high priority for me in the region. We love to build careers and we want to support the development of employees’ capabilities and skills now and for the future.

Victoria Stamos, Commercial Director, UK

How has Aesop facilitated your professional development?

When I started at Aesop, I was a retail consultant with experience in customer service, but I had limited capabilities in management. My journey at Aesop has supported and facilitated me moving into different roles in order to flesh out my capabilities for where I wanted to go.

As Aesop has grown, more formal training has been introduced on how to be a leader at a business, which is really helpful, whether that’s looking at operations, commercial management or the people management aspect. But it’s very much about: how do you work with your own style so you become authentic as a leader? There are particular capabilities that I have had to build out, but I have always felt like I could do it in a way that has felt like me, whether that’s having a positive or a difficult conversation.

Starting in retail has benefitted every role that I have had since, because it has given me first-hand experience with how our customers react to us, what our current customer experience looks like, how people react to our product, how we talk to our product and things like that.

What role have leaders played in cultivating your development at Aesop?

I feel really lucky, at Aesop, to be exposed to exceptional leaders within the business. People have been very supportive of me, but I have also had people willing to challenge me, who have been respectful of my development and taken the time to give me constructive feedback. Aesop facilitates a culture of feedback and coaching — it’s not just about the formal training that they offer, but also about how to support our people in their current roles on the retail floor.

When this particular position of commercial director came up, I was actually still living and working in Melbourne, Australia. A manager I had, who was always incredibly supportive, said, “This could be a really good opportunity.” So I ended up going through the application process [...] and I was offered the role. Aesop supported me with everything that comes along with relocation, whether that’s simply packing down your house or flying to another country or the visa application process. It would have been so much harder without that.

How does Aesop foster a sense of community among employees?

Aesop cultivates a culture of people in retail working together with head office. So when I was working in retail, I was already building out relationships with people who, in moving into head office, I would be working with on a much closer level. Aesop encourages that relationship, so you don’t feel like you’re stepping into a mystery when you start a new role.

Cultivating genuine connections is a critical aspect of the Aesop culture. We also have monthly head office lunches in which we’re encouraged to break bread together, leave everything at our desk and come in and sit next to people that you don’t usually meet with. There are opportunities to connect outside work too, like volunteering opportunities, which also allows you to do things with teams with whom you don’t usually interact. That informal contact and slipping away from your desk in order to take time for that, is something that we are empowered to do.

Suzanne Santos, Aesop’s founding associate and chief customer officer, is always visiting our store and it’s been great to interact with her.

One of the employee networks in place is called Aesop Women and Allies. It’s a real opportunity for employees to build connections globally, not just within their own regions, and to share their perspectives and help cultivate Aesop as a place of belonging. There was actually a new parental leave policy that came out of the work that a group of employees did within the Women and Allies employee network, so the outcomes are actually tangible and have a positive effect on employees — you really feel like your voice is being heard.

Edio Mortoza, Store Manager of Aesop Marylebone, London

How does Aesop enable shared learnings across global locations?

At Aesop, we get to connect with our colleagues from different countries, whether that’s visitors from other head offices around the world, or colleagues from other Aesop store locations too. Recently, we had employees from the New York office visit, and when I was in Brazil in July, I went to the store in Rio de Janeiro, to understand the Aesop experience there. We are encouraged to see the wider store offering and network when possible.

Just before the pandemic, I also worked for a week at an Aesop store in Copenhagen — the store needed some extra help, so I asked if I could go — and I was able to work with the team there. It was great to see how another store operates in a different country. I also often work at the Aesop counter in Liberty, which is great for me to see how the customer differs from our Marylebone clientele.

What role have leaders played in cultivating your development at Aesop?

Suzanne Santos, Aesop’s founding associate and chief customer officer, is always visiting our store and it’s been great to interact with her. We learn from the training team at the head office during our induction, but we also have the opportunity to learn from Suzanne, who co-founded Aesop.

So, for instance, I was in Paris in May with her for the L’Oréal Paris Science Lab. We were there to show how we host our customers, how our products work, how we do our packaging, and I was able to work with her very closely. Suzanne asked me about my experience of working in the Marylebone store and we had lunch together. I also met with Kit Cheong, Aesop’s strategic advisor whose role includes guidance on global retail operations, and visited other Aesop stores in Paris with her while I was there.

How has Aesop facilitated your professional development?

At Aesop, there’s a commitment to retaining talent and encouraging an ongoing development in retail functions. They provide continuous learning opportunities to enhance skills and deliver our unique customer experience, including branded product and customer experience training.

For me personally, my career at Aesop began as a seasonal retail consultant for the festive period. I was then made a permanent retail consultant before progressing to become an assistant manager within a few different London locations. I became a store manager in 2019 and have worked at a number of other stores across London.

This approach is useful for retail teams’ development because each store and its offering is unique — at the Soho store, for instance, every year during Pride Month, we would celebrate by opening The Aesop Queer Library across the UK Pride weekend. We remove all the products from the shop floor and replace them with queer literature. It’s a great, educational experience.

This is a sponsored feature paid for by Aesop as part of a BoF partnership.