How Lick Built a £15M Paint Brand Through Supply Chain Innovation

In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, Lucas London, Co-Founder of Lick Home, reveals how he identified a fundamental gap in the paint industry: while competitors were focused on manufacturing efficiencies, no one was solving the core customer problem of colour selection confidence. Launching precisely on the day COVID lockdowns were announced, Lick has evolved from an online-only DTC model to a sophisticated omnichannel business with a projected £13-15 million in revenue this year. Their manufacturing-on-demand supply chain delivers industry-leading margins while their community-powered content engine has created a flywheel effect that traditional paint brands have been unable to replicate.

Topics Discussed:

• The counterintuitive data showing 90% of customers research paint online but 90% purchase offline
• Designing a manufacturing-on-demand supply chain that delivers high margins and low inventory costs
• The optimal colour palette size (100 colours) determined through extensive customer testing
• How colour trends are shifting from the "grey decade" to bolder expressions of identity
• Quantifying offline channel growth (470% YoY) through strategic retail partnerships
• European expansion strategy into France and Germany
• Their atypical B Corp certification process as an early-stage startup