German premium beauty retailer Douglas is acquiring a majority stake in Niche Beauty, an online business focused on premium cosmetics brands from around the world.
WHO: Niche Beauty was established in 2011 by sisters Laetitia von Hessen and Sarah von Doetinchem together with their father Andreas Bechtolf to give customers in Germany access to a curated assortment of beauty products from around the world. They travel the world to unearth the latest insider tips and product trends for Niche Beauty’s 250,000 online shop visitors. Their growing community is a testimony to the management team’s talent for identifying and introducing attractive lifestyle brands.
Douglas is one of the leading retailers in the European beauty industry with about 2,400 stores and fast-growing online shops in 24 European countries. In the financial year 2017/18, the company generated sales of 3.3 billion euros. Every day, around 20,000 dedicated beauty experts strive to make their customers more beautiful and thus happier. Douglas has a portfolio of some 50,000 high-quality products of more than 650 brands in the areas of perfumery, decorative cosmetics, and skincare as well as food supplements and accessories. With around 40 million Beauty Card holders, Douglas has one of the largest customer loyalty programs in Europe.
WHY: The acquisition will strengthen Douglas’ position in the attractive luxury segment and allow Douglas to leverage its own high-performance platform to selectively support Niche Beauty’s rapid growth.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS:
“Our mission is to give our customers access to the world’s most exclusive cosmetic products. Teaming up with Douglas means we now have the support of one of the strongest and most renowned European beauty partners—this opens up completely new opportunities for us. Douglas is the ideal platform for Niche Beauty to ensure that the next phase of our growth is even more successful,” says Laetitia von Hessen, founder of Niche Beauty.
Sarah von Doetinchem adds: “We see ourselves as a lifestyle brand. Together with a strong organisation like Douglas, we can focus on raising awareness for our business, thereby making it more accessible to customers throughout Europe in the future.”
“We are always on the lookout for promising investments that improve our portfolio and fit our #ForwardBeauty strategy,” Tina Müller, Group Chief Executive Officer of Douglas, said in a statement, referring to the retailer’s brand strategy. “Niche Beauty enables Douglas to add a luxury assortment that perfectly complements the top end of our multibrand strategy.”
“With the Douglas online shop, parfumdreams and Niche Beauty, we are offering our customers a complementary product world in line with our platform strategy,” said Vanessa Stützle, Executive Vice President of e-commerce and CRM at Douglas.
“We see ourselves as a lifestyle brand,” von Doetinchem said. “Together with a strong organization like Douglas, we can focus on raising awareness for our business, thereby making it more accessible to customers throughout Europe in the future.”
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