Retailer Review: St. Lucia Bay
St. Lucia Bay was created by Lucia and Arran Campolucci-Bordi, sister and brother duo. They started SLB as a bikini brand that gained celebrity fans and press coverage worldwide. As their business model changed to becoming a multi-brand marketplace for holiday essential shopping, including beauty products, we speak to co-founder Lucia to find out what they’re looking for in beauty and their secret to Instagram success.
Tell us about yourself...
We are a UK based online swimwear retailer that also offers beachwear and beauty essentials for travel and holidays. I started it three years ago as a swimwear brand, but I felt the market became oversaturated so pivoted the business to become a marketplace for lots of different swimwear brands, travel accessories and beauty products. Essentially, it’s a one-stop-shop for all your holiday needs!
What gives St. Lucia Bay their USP?
We want to become a destination for people to shop for their holidays, which is why we stock a range of brands that suit any woman, body shape, age and size, as well as travel accessories, and beauty products that include sunscreen, tanning oils and travel-friendly skincare.
Who is the site aimed at?
The site is aimed at all women aged 18-40 and we're working on continuing to expand our demographic with lots of new brands! Our long-term vision is to become the UK's number one destination for holiday shopping.
What can brands expect when they partner with you?
We have a really engaged social following and over 3000 active customers. We also have a 99% open rate on our mailing list so they will be sure to be seen! We are constantly giving love to all our brands on Instagram, which is where most of our customers come from.
What categories will you be concentrating on over the next few months and why?
We really want to focus on being available for everyone, so we’re expanding our swim categories to suit larger breasts and bigger women, but that also includes beauty products that are diverse for all skin types and skin tones. We also want to expand on our conscious beauty category, having more natural, organic and eco-friendly skincare.
How has business changed for you since the outbreak of Covid-19 and how have your future plans been adjusted?
As travel comes to a halt globally, sales have dipped as expected, but we’re keen to keep pushing on by introducing new brands to St. Lucia Bay and preparing for when things go back to normal, and keeping spirits high by staying active on social media and getting our customers excited to travel again!
What tech and tools have you used to help grow your business?
When it comes to looking for cool new beauty brands, Curate Beauty has been a great tool for us to discover brands that we haven’t necessarily seen before, but trust will give great results to our customers from their handpicked selection.
And then of course, one of the biggest factors of our success and where most of our customers come from, is Instagram. We use UNUM to help plan our social aesthetic and have now got our own signature look which is so important in promoting our business.
We are constantly engaging with our followers and customers, whether that's putting a poll up on Instagram to find out what beauty product they'd like to see more of, or highlighting our press coverage, including The Daily Mail, Hello, Sheerluxe and Stylist magazine.
Follow St. Lucia Bay on Instagram at @st.luciabay