sweet squared 10th anniversary
As Sweet Squared celebrate their 10th anniversary, we chart the company’s journey over the past decade and discover why there are more exciting times ahead for the British-based distributors…
As a company, Sweet Squared has now become synonymous with the phrase, ‘Serving the Pro with Love & Respect.’ Having begun life 10 years ago, this ethos has played a pivotal role in the company’s success and as they now look to celebrate their 10th anniversary, it still remains the ultimate driving force for founders, Samantha Sweet and her husband, Samuel.
Having both worked in the beauty industry for a number of years, the Sweets’ extensive experience, insight and knowledge meant that the customer was at the forefront of their company’s vision from the outset. “Sweet Squared was born from the pure desire to do great things for people,” Samantha reveals. “We established S2 in our garage in 2006 with the belief that focusing on making professionals more successful is the basis of a good business.
“We knew that within this industry you have to be close to those that you are selling to and by listening and talking to them, we knew that we could create a company and make it great by listening – because what’s the point if you don’t know what the customer wants?”
Despite their backgrounds lying in the world of nails and the trade sector, the first products welcomed into the Sweet Squared family were hair shampoo and conditioner brand, Euphora, alongside Lip Scrub by Sara Happ. “I was responsible for getting it into every major magazine,” notes Samantha. “We got a lot of editorial on [the product] because there wasn’t really a lip
2006 - Samantha Sweet and her husband, Samuel form Sweet Squared. The first brands distributed by the company include Euphora hair products and Lip Scrub by Sara Happ.
scrub in this country yet and Sara had done a really good job with some flavours etc. We sold into boutiques, but again it was really different for us because we’re used to selling to trade professionals and this was to the consumer.”
The following year saw Sweet Squared return to familiar territory, adding the world- renowned CND™
to its list of brand
offerings, when the company were granted the exclusive distribution for the UK in Autumn 2007. “We brought Jim Nordstrom (retired Co-Founder of CND™
) on as a
partner not only to leverage his experience, but also because we all work with the same ethic: the customer, the customer, the customer,” says Samantha.
time to grow
However, the company’s expansion didn’t halt there. Over the past decade, Sweet Squared have focused on growth by adding a number of brands to their repertoire including Lecenté™ Waxperts®
, MoroccanTan™ and ColorProof™ , , to name but a
few. Today, 70 staff are now employed by the Leeds-based distributors working across both the UK and ROI in order to meet with demand.
“We love and only sell ‘Best in Show’ brands and we are immensely proud of our class offerings and our Ambassador team who share, teach and guide customers with unparalleled passion,” Samantha comments. “Education is our culture – it’s a lifelong journey. We offer training across nails, tanning and waxing, from beginner to masters and conversions.”
When asked to pinpoint their most successful product and training offering, it’s
2007 - Sweet Squared is named as the exclusive distributor for CND™ in the UK.
The company launches their online ‘Sweet Shop’.
2008 - Sweet Squared expands its brand portfolio with the addition of Minx™ nail wraps.
no surprise to hear that Samantha’s response is the ever popular and much in-demand CND™
Shellac™ . “We created this course
because the industry had changed so much and no longer did you have to start at the beginning learning enhancements, which is the hardest of all treatments. So we realised how necessary it was to have a Shellac™ beginner’s course and we created a two-day foundation course for people wanting to come into the industry through the natural nail channel. CND™
Shellac™ is still the
most popular selling course and product range to date.”
With the beauty industry constantly evolving, standing out from your competition is a must to survive. What does Samantha feel sets the company apart from others that are similar? “To answer the question there are many things that set S2 apart – we do things differently, our customer service is second to none [as are] our procedures which we invested heavily in at the beginning such as warehouse, internet based procedures for accounting and sales etc. Nobody has a model like we do and we have an amazing distribution process that means our customers can get what they want and we’re very proud of that.”
2010 - The revolutionary, patented CND™ Shellac™ is launched as the first ever brand for 14+ day wear and eight minute removal, quickly becoming Sweet Squared’s most popular product and course offering to date.
2012 - The company scoops the honours for ‘Best Education & Training’ and ‘Best Innovation’ for CND™ Shellac™ at the Scratch Stars Awards 2012. Gigi Rouse is also recognised with the award for ‘Services to the Nail Industry’.
94 GUILD NEWS
Samuel & Samantha Sweet
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