It’s not easy to be a mid-market retailer in Australia right now. There is increased competition from e-commerce players, the local market and major international brands. There is also subdued consumer sentiment and the rising cost of doing business. Growth opportunities are hard to come by. Even so, retailers offering a strong value proposition and attractive shopping experience are gaining steadfast shoppers. That is the thinking behind the dawn of a new era at Dusk. The ASX-listed fra
It’s not easy to be a mid-market retailer in Australia right now. There is increased competition from e-commerce players, the local market and major international brands. There is also subdued consumer sentiment and the rising cost of doing business. Growth opportunities are hard to come by.Even so, retailers offering a strong value proposition and attractive shopping experience are gaining steadfast shoppers.That is the thinking behind the dawn of a new era at Dusk. The ASX-listed fragrance retailer is poised to start a new chapter. It aims to entrench itself as a lifestyle brand renowned for delivering affordable discretionary luxury to its consumers year-round. Dusk is overhauling its brand positioning to achieve its strategic goal of rejuvenating the brand and building on being a gifting destination.With a new leadership team in place, Dusk’s offering, marketing and value proposition have been on a transformation journey that will include a slate of stylish collections launching in the lead-up to the peak period.Boom timesThe Dusk flame burned bright during the Covid-19 pandemic, as people sought to enhance the environments to which they were confined.Since then, revenue has been on a steady decline; however, if the strong start to financial year 25 is anything to go by, the retailer’s new direction is already working.“We were the hottest thing around during Covid-19; afterwards, people have just forgotten about us. What we’ve done over the last 12 months is rejuvenate to [become] a top-of-mind lifestyle brand [again],” Dusk CEO and MD Vlad Yakubson told Inside Retail.“Our numbers continue to get better and better when technically the market remains challenging. In our start to FY25, we’ve shown double-digit growth in the first eight weeks, with like-for-like healthy sales.”Both the numbers and customers are telling Yakubson that the business’s transformation is “on track”. “It gives us confidence that we’re on the right path, but it’s early on and we have lots of work to do,” he said.Part of the brand’s growth strategy involves tapping into the ‘little treat’ culture at a time when cost-of-living pressures remain high. Fragrances are a highly emotional purchase, as consumers often connect a particular scent with a memory, but they are also relatively affordable, offering a sense of instant gratification.“Our success over the last six months has been about getting the customer something new and exciting, either for themselves or as a gift, on a monthly basis,” Yakubson said.Dusk’s dream teamDusk’s refreshed, world-class executive team is now on a mission to take its redefined brand identity and sturdy value proposition to the people – awakening the customer’s senses 365 days a year.Yakubson joined Dusk just over a year ago, in October last year. He was previously GM of Retail Apparel Group’s menswear brand Yd, where he led a brand transformation alongside Jeremy Taylor. Yakubson tapped Taylor to be Dusk’s chief marketing officer in May.“The brand is going through a great rejuvenation at the moment,” Taylor told Inside Retail. “Vlad and the business have invested in talent, and we’ve got a lot of new talent in the business – especially within the product team – that expertise will bring new trends to life in the Dusk way to the customer.” Having worked closely with Yakubson to transform Yd, Taylor said he was eager to do the same at Dusk. “I was drawn to the role, knowing that Dusk was an Australian success story as it was,” he said. “Vlad had been in the business for six months, and we wanted to transform the brand into an even bigger success.Customer base and membership program“He’s got such a way with people and leadership, connecting people and bringing them together, and challenging the status quo in the right commercial way. We’re seeing that already with the transformation at Dusk. I love working with him.”Dusk has a way with its people and a key driver of the business is its paid loyalty program, which costs $10 for a two-year membership and has over 700,000 members.Growing this number is a top priority for the brand over the next 12 to 18 months. “That doesn’t just come with people saying ‘I’d like to sign up today’,” Yakubson said. He emphasised the importance of providing value through bespoke customer experiences, tailored communications and exclusive discounts.“During Covid-19 days, there was a boom, and that was the height of our membership base,” Yakubson said. “We’ve almost got to awaken their senses again and get people excited about the brand.”He said customers need to “feel value” when their membership is about to expire, and asserted that the business has started to get this right in the last six months. “It’s the perception of the customer that they’re getting a $40 candle that in other stores is $70 or $80 bucks,” he said.This is vital, given Dusk’s core customers are among those whom the cost-of-living crisis has hit hardest.“We’re a mid-market Aussie retailer. We’re in the suburbs and regional Australia, where they’re feeling the pinch, and we’re there for them,” Yakubson said. “That comes down to our strategy, it’s multifaceted, not a one-dimensional approach.”While it’s no secret that mid-market retailers tend to struggle in tough economic conditions, Yakubson is optimistic about Dusk’s future.“What attracted me to Dusk is the potential, and what I’m most excited about is that I see just as much potential now, if not more, than before I started,” he said.Omnichannel marketingFrom a digital perspective, Dusk is investing in social media marketing and upgrading its online store. “We’re attracting new customers to the business and exciting members again,” Yakubson said.In addition to personalising its communication and making it more relevant to customers, the retailer is rejuvenating its product offering monthly with drops, to entice customers to shop in-store and online regularly.“I’d like to say we’re turning it on its head, but we’re not really. What we’re doing is getting back to the DNA, the grassroots, of what Dusk was known for, and that is brilliant quality, real value and affordable prices,” Yakubson said. “Product turnaround is at the heart of our strategy, and that’s what we’re really focused on, getting customers excited to come back.”Over 20 per cent of Dusk’s weekly transactions are click-and-collect purchases, Yakubson said. During the Christmas trading period last year, that number reached 50 per cent.Last year, e-commerce accounted for 5.7 per cent of Dusk’s total sales. During Covid-19, this figure reached 8.5 per cent.“Do I ever see us going to 20 per cent of sales? Probably not,” Yakubson said. “We’re a true omnichannel retailer.”While it’s challenging to translate the sensory experience of shopping for fragrances online, he said, there’s still a role for e-commerce to play in attracting customers and informing them about what’s available in stores. “Our online site is an enabler and a catalogue preview to our customers. Then they’re choosing to come into stores, talk to our team and get the expertise – and they clearly love the experience,” Yakubson said.“We’re channel agnostic and give our customers the opportunity to shop across multiple levels with the same experience, no matter what they choose.”That being said, Yakubson noted that Dusk would be investing a lot more in print media, “because it’s trending, and that’s what people are returning to”.Monthly dropsMonthly product drops that complement the gifting and seasonal campaigns Dusk is known for will be an important part of the business’s growth strategy moving forward.“Some of the product categories we’ll play in come 2025 are going to be linked to the DNA of the business, but certainly not something that we do now,” Yakubson said.The team will analyse which products and categories resonate with customers every week to determine where to place the focus.“The newness is the little sizzle – the exciting part that really gets the customer experimenting,” Yakubson said. The opportunity to introduce existing customers shopping the retailer’s signature scents to something new is “what’s really exciting”.Dusk’s core range consists of three key fragrance profiles, with vanilla caramel being a hero product that keeps members coming back on a monthly basis.Next year and continuing into 2026, Dusk will rejuvenate this core range to ensure it’s giving existing customers what they want, while also widening its appeal and reaching new customers.For the youth market, and men“Absolutely, we’ll have our core customer covered – the female who loves Dusk for Christmas decorations, and the core fragrances she’s used to – but we’re also targeting the teenager now, the 15- to 22-year-old,” Yakubson said.eThis can be seen in the retailer’s collaboration with Australian confectionery brand Allen’s earlier this year.The collaboration was such a success that Dusk released a third drop with two new fragrance profiles in October.The retailer plans to bolster its appeal to the youth market with body mists and fragrances that Yakubson describes as “fun, young and light”. Dusk has also decided that, this Christmas, it will also deliver an androgynous offering with gifts for every member of the family, after the team identified an opportunity to reach more male customers. “Our stores are flooded with male customers in the last two or three days before Christmas, we have blokes coming in going, ‘Hey, I’ve left it late, here’s my whole list, I need some help.’ We get that all the time,” Yakubson said.“A male shopper is not new to us, they already trust us, it’s now communicating that we’ve also got something for them and to check it out.”Dining with DuskDusk has been busy in the lead-up to Christmas. In August, it launched its ‘Dinner Club’ collection, featuring European-inspired savoury scents encased in reusable vessels, such as cocktail glasses and oven dishes. This was a strategic move to bring Dusk into a new room of the home, the kitchen.“The element of surprise is important; Dinner Club is something Dusk hadn’t done before,” Yakubson said.Following ‘Dinner Club’, the retailer launched the ‘Nouveau’ collection – “When the customer looks at that, they could be convinced it’s triple the price in every other retailer,” Yakubson said – and the Rejuvenate collection, which is intended to bolster its bath and body category.“Then we get to Christmas. We’ve rejuvenated some best-selling products from the past, bringing customers our absolute best-sellers that they haven’t seen for a couple of years,” Yakubson said.“Not only that, we’re starting to have some fun in personal care – lip glosses, body mists, body scrubs and body wash – that’s new to us.”The retailer is dropping different collections in the countdown to Christmas Day to “keep the customer excited for the six- or seven-week launch period”, Yakubson said.“With the campaign, we feel so optimistic that Dusk will be the absolute go-to place for not just gifting, but also personal indulgences in November and December.”Future-proofing/The next stageDusk’s brand transformation has only just begun.The next stage will involve consolidating the retailer’s bricks-and-mortar footprint and then reimagining the look and feel of its stores to immerse customers in the “feeling of fragrance”. This is slated to begin in financial year 26. “We really want to get back to a base of solid like-for-like sales growth before we do anything else,” Yakubson said.“Customers tell us daily that they’re enjoying what we bring to the market. In FY26, if that continues and we meet all internal expectations, we’ll start thinking about growth from a store channel, both locally and internationally.”In the meantime, the retailer is focused on growing into adjacent categories, tapping into wholesale opportunities, launching an app and other areas where it has “great IP”. Yakubson also said bringing other brands to market may be on the cards.“There are so many opportunities for us, but we’re measured. I’m a cautious retailer, and we need to take customers on a journey. But one thing’s for certain, our key focus for the rest of this financial year is consolidating our stores and getting back to high historical sales numbers,” he said.“We know we’re capable of growing our market share, and our strategy so far has proven to be very successful. We’re encouraged by what’s about to come this Christmas.” This story first appeared in the November 2024 issue of Inside Retail Australia magazine.
