Popular local brand Skin Inc under fire for abrupt Ion store closure

Customers of popular home-grown skincare brand Skin Inc were thrown for a loop when its sole physical store at Ion Orchard shuttered without notice on Feb 13.

Located in basement three of the mall since 2008, the 650 sq ft unit housed a facial cabin and retail space.

On Feb 15, the company posted on Instagram announcing the closure in tandem with a "brand refresh and repackaging", adding that customers with existing facial packages have been given the option to continue their treatments at medical and aesthetic spas Skin Inc has partnered with, which were not publicly disclosed.

Skin Inc is currently available online at iloveskininc.com.sg, Lazada and Shopee, as well as beauty retailer Sephora Singapore.

The sudden closure has left many customers with existing credits disgruntled and seeking answers.

A customer, who wanted to be known only as Ms Tay, said she was notified of the store's closure only when she came across the Instagram post. In a panic, the 35-year-old, who works in administration, reached out to Skin Inc via Instagram on Feb 15 to ask what would happen to her credits totalling more than $700.

A Skin Inc customer for about 10 years, she had purchased $1,000 worth of credits during a sale around 2017 from the now-defunct VivoCity outlet.

She told The Straits Times: "When I visited the Ion store, the credits couldn't be used on promotional items like the set bundles. So, I'd always use cold hard cash to buy the products."

Ms Tay received a reply from Skin Inc two days later, but was frustrated by the "template replies" saying her credits were valid only till the end of 2025.

"They gave me the option to use the credits on their online store. But I'm not keen because based on reviews from people who didn't get their orders delivered, I'm not sure if they will deliver the products to me. And I understand from my last visit that the product expiry dates are very short, so I don't want to stock up just to safeguard myself and have to use them in a rush.

"If they can close the shop without advance notice, it's very suspicious," she added.

Other customers expressed similar sentiments online, with several leaving comments on the brand's Instagram account, which has 94,000 followers, demanding answers.

Another customer, who gave her name as Ms Lee, is most dismayed by how Skin Inc has handled the credit situation. A patron since 2018, she has about $800 worth of product credits left, but said she was unable to use them multiple times over the years.

"The credits always have a clause - they can't be used on newly released products or if there are sales."

The 33-year-old, who is self-employed, hoarded her unused credits over the years, spending almost a four-figure sum in cash on new product releases.

Now, many products are out of stock online, said Ms Lee, who is seeking a refund as she feels she is "left in limbo". A check by ST verified this claim.

"If they can't fulfil their orders, shouldn't they refund me?" she said. "The thing that upsets me most is the expiry date because all along there wasn't one."

Founded in 2008 by Singaporean entrepreneur Sabrina Tan, Skin Inc was one of the first home-grown beauty brands to put Singapore on the map, especially in the United States. It rose in popularity for its range of customisable serums and facial tech devices.

Now in more than 78 cities in Asia, Europe and the US, Skin Inc is available in global department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman in New York.

Speaking exclusively to ST, Ms Tan, 50, said she never expected the customer backlash to be so extreme.

There had been plans to downsize or close the Ion store since a few months ago, but "negotiations on both sides did not reach a commercial agreement", she said, referring to landlord Ion Orchard. She declined to disclose more details for lease confidentiality.

In response to queries from ST, a spokesperson for Ion Orchard said: "We regret that we are unable to share details due to commercial confidentiality agreements."

Citing challenges in a post-Covid-19 retail landscape, Ms Tan said it had been part of Skin Inc's plans to phase out a bricks-and-mortar arm. Foot traffic to the Ion store had dropped, and a big chunk of her business comes from the online store and abroad, she said. Facials make up just 10 per cent of her total business.

During the pandemic, she chose not to renew the brand's two other stores in VivoCity and Junction 8 when their leases ended.

Despite this, demand for Skin Inc's facials put a strain on the three facial therapists working at the Ion store, leading to a waitlist of two to three months.

About five months ago, Skin Inc started pilot-testing "transferring" a small group of customers on the waitlist to have their facials done at spa partners. The plan was to eventually have Skin Inc facials conducted at full-fledged spas, while retaining its product business online and in distribution partners such as Sephora Singapore, said Ms Tan.

"Where we failed was in the communications to customers," she admitted.

Chalking it down to a "technical database oversight", she said they had planned to give customers notice of two to four weeks. But due to multiple overlapping databases from online and offline customers, the team had put it off while trying to "clean up" the mailing lists.

When the store shut, the Singapore-based customer service team of 10 took a few days to gather their bearings and begin attending to customer messages. They have been fielding queries daily since.

"We're giving the customers flexibility - either product credits or a 1-to-1 exchange for facials at the med spa. Because it's so customisable, we need time to address every customer," she said.

Asked about the claims regarding validity of product credits, Ms Tan said that there was always a period of validity stated in the fine print.

She has since brought on board four partnering spas and one home spa service to assist the transition for those with facial packages. Her warehouse in Japan will air-freight in new stocks to replenish the e-store this week.

Addressing the feedback about shorter expiry dates, Ms Tan said those are old stocks being cleared for the ongoing buy-one-get-one-free promotion, to make way for the rebrand set to roll out in the second quarter of 2025. Talks for the rebrand and repackaging had begun in mid-2024, she added, sharing WhatsApp conversations seen by ST.

She said: "This is the first time in 16 years something like this has happened, but I recognise the importance of each customer. We apologise for inconveniencing our customers and we could have communicated better. Rest assured, Skin Inc will honour all customers' packages and credits."