Sainsbury's fashion chief Nickolds joins CurrentBody board as Chair

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 6, 2022

Paula Nickolds — current head of Sainsbury’s fashion and general merchandise business and ex-boss of John Lewis — has taken the chair (on a non-executive basis) of beauty tech firm CurrentBody.

The online business sells salon-style beauty devices such as sonic skin cleansing gadgets, epilators, body sculpting devices, ‘professional’ hair stylers, microdermabrasion machines and much more.

The 13-year-old company — under CEO and co-founder Laurence Newman — is focused on international growth and currently has sales of around £80 million based on the concept of salon-style devices to use at home.

That was a strong business model during the pandemic as hair and beauty salons remained closed around the world.

It already has a strong international presence with over 20 country-specific websites, a strategic link with China’s Alibaba and a joint venture in China, but wants to boost this further.

Newman told The Times that Nickolds comes on board at a “pivotal moment ... her wide and high-level experience including e-commerce, stores and at board level will be valuable”.

The company is now majority owned by venture capital firm eComplete that bought a majority stake last year.