Douglas makes an investment in the beauty start-up Welmoa, a Munich-based beauty-on-demand platform represented in six German cities.
WHO: Welmoa was established in 2016 offering mobile beauty and wellness services that are delivered straight to the customer’s location of choice via an online booking system. The portfolio ranges from make-up, massages, and nail care through to hairstyling and hair removal. With just a few clicks customers can book beauty experts who offer a treatment, seven days a week, that is tailored to their personal needs and individual everyday schedule.
Douglas is the leading premium beauty retailer 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. 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.
WHY: This investment expands Douglas's involvement in the beauty services segment.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Douglas Group CEO Tina Müller said in a statement, “As Europe’s no. 1 beauty destination we always set new standards. This includes offering our customers not only unique shopping experiences in our stores and affiliated salons but also at home. We so firmly believe in the concept of being pampered with high-quality beauty services at the place of one’s choice that we are investing in it.”
Douglas CMO Lucas van Eeghen said, “As an innovative beauty player we are always on the lookout for exciting investment opportunities that are in line with our #FORWARDBEAUTY strategy. In Germany Welmoa is a pioneer and currently the premier company in the beauty at home segment—a market that is already booming in America. We want to enter this exciting field together with Welmoa and give our customers access to premium beauty services.”
“We see Douglas as a strategic investor whose media power and marketing expertise offers us a unique opportunity to publicise our service to an even more targeted audience and receive assistance in our expansion process,” according to Analena Gabloner, founder of Welmoa.
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