Redundancies at online giant

Monday 06 March 2023

Guernsey based allbeauty.com is believed to have made up to half of its staff working in the island redundant.

The cosmetics company has been a success story in the dotcom world since being launched in 2004.

In 2017 it employed more than 120 people, 54 of whom were based in in Guernsey. In 2018 it had an annual revenue of £86 million.

A former member of staff has told Express that the firm has made up to half of its locally based staff redundant. This is believed to have followed changes implemented by the owners which bought the company less than two years go.

Repeated requests for a comment from allbeauty.com since last week have not yet been responded to.

Pictured: all beauty.com offers a variety of budget and luxury product lines.

When it launched in 2004, the firm was originally called 'Cheapsmells' and it focused on perfumes and some beauty products, before expanding its range and rebranding to allbeauty.com in 2013.

Within a year of its launch, Cheapsmells had broken the £1m turnover barrier, which had grown to over £4 in 2007.

Growth accelerated between 2008 and 09, when it neared £20m turnover in a year.

A sister company - activebeauty.com - launched in 2008 before merging with allbeauty in 2014.

As well as being an online retailer, allbeauty.com had a physical presence too. It bought the ActivHair salon in Guernsey in 2011 with a second store and salon opening in Southampton in 2015.

Among its developments were a "pay later" scheme launched in 2019.

In 2021, the then-owner of allbeauty.com and the Guernsey Investment Fund launched a joint venture called Maximo Group which bought allbeauty and Fragrance Direct.