Lush is set to close its UK Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts by the end of the week, saying it is “tired of fighting with algorithms” and doesn’t want to “pay to appear” in customers’ feeds.

Lush made the announcement through its social media channels on Monday, and said it would close Lush UK, Lush Kitchen, Lush Times, Lush Life, Soapbox and Gorilla across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in order to “open up the conversation between the Lush Community and us instead”.

The beauty and wellbeing retailer said that its social media channels would be monitored “over the next week”, after which time consumers could contact Lush “via live chat on the website” or through a customer care team email address or direct telephone line.

The statement also hinted that the retailer would be looking to leverage the popularity of social media influencers – called “Lush personalities” – instead, although it said this “isn’t a replacement for the brand channels but an opportunity for our customers to connect one-on-one with people within Lush”.

“We don’t want to limit ourselves to holding conversations in one place, we want social to be placed back in the hands of our communities – from our founders to our friends,” the retailer said.

Lush currently has over 202,000 Twitter followers, over 423,000 Facebook likes and more than 569,000 Instagram followers.

The retailer’s US-based social media accounts will continue to operate for the time being.