It is our purpose to make life more beautiful and encourage our customers to express their individual beauty. That’s why our assortment is characterized by variety and choice – including also a comprehensive range of products and brands developed at and exclusively available at the DOUGLAS Group. We have talked to our CEO Corporate Brands, Susanne Cornelius, about what’s behind our own brands strategy.
As CEO Corporate Brands, Susanne Cornelius is responsible for our Corporate Brands portfolio and strategy, the development of our products, and – of course – the corresponding innovation pipeline. Previously, she was Chief Marketing Officer for the DOUGLAS & NOCIBÉ retail brands. Corporate Brands are an important pillar of our “Let it Bloom” strategy; just recently we have launched the first-ever omnichannel campaign for our largest Corporate Brand, DOUGLAS & NOCIBÉ COLLECTION.
Susanne, looking at our product shelves: Which Corporate Brands do we have in our portfolio and what distinguishes them?
SUSANNE CORNELIUS: We have four unique Corporate Brands – from price-entry products of premium quality to higher-end derma cosmetics to sublime fragrances. The largest among them is the DOUGLAS COLLECTION, respectively NOCIBÉ COLLECTION in France. It is positioned as an entry point to the premium beauty assortment and offers consumers high-quality products at an affordable price in all relevant beauty categories: skin care, make-up, hair care, fragrances, and accessories.
In addition, we carry three so-called ‘own exclusive brands’, with which we operate in selected growth segments. Dr. Susanne von Schmiedeberg is a premium skin care doctor brand. One.two.free! offers clean, vegan, and fermented ingredient-based skin care and skin care-infused make-up, targeting a younger customer group. And Jardin Bohème – our bohemian garden-inspired fragrance brand – offers premium, affordable fine fragrance.
Where are the products developed and produced?
SUSANNE CORNELIUS: All products are developed by our dedicated Brand Management teams in Düsseldorf, Germany, and Lille, France. We monitor consumer trends and translate them into innovative product concepts and ranges in line with the Group's assortment strategy. After successful consumer testing and market feedback, we develop and produce the final formulas and packaging together with our trusted international manufacturers, who are mainly based in Europe.
The DOUGLAS Group has set itself ambitious goals regarding sustainability. How do we integrate sustainability aspects in the development and production of our Corporate Brands’ products?
SUSANNE CORNELIUS: We want to make our Corporate Brands excel in sustainability – and not just because our customers expect that of us, but because it is a topic very dear to our hearts. All our Corporate Brands’ products fully comply with EU regulations relating to animal testing and are therefore cruelty-free. We are closely monitoring the regulatory developments in the EU regarding microplastic-free products. In the financial year 2022/23, we launched a second organic range (DOUGLAS Naturals) and plan to further increase the share of certified natural products that are in line with the COSMOS organic standard. This certification defines criteria that companies must meet to ensure that all relevant drivers of the products are organic, including ingredient origin and labeling. Beyond that, we continue to partner with Plastic Bank, a social enterprise that prevents plastic waste from polluting the oceans by creating recycling ecosystems in coastal communities.
And we want to do even more: As part of the DOUGLAS Group’s ESG strategy, we have set ourselves clear targets to further improve the environmental impact of our Corporate Brands in the coming years. We are currently assessing the impact of each category and, based on the findings of this baseline measurement, we intend to include specific reduction plans in product development that aim for a reduction of 10% for our Corporate Brand portfolio’s carbon footprint by 2027 and 20% by 2030, all compared with the baseline financial year 2022/23. In addition, we have committed ourselves to ensuring that 80% of our Corporate Brands are vegan by 2030 and 100% of our packaging is recyclable, recycled, or reusable. In short: Sustainability is highly important to us.
What’s the reasoning behind offering our own range of beauty products and brands – beyond the wide range of established external beauty brands in our assortment?
SUSANNE CORNELIUS: We are the home of beauty and have built up a wealth of beauty expertise over our 200-year history, which we bring to life in our own range of beauty products and brands. Corporate Brands are an important strategic pillar of our assortment: They range across all core product categories and are aimed at building customer loyalty as well as broadening the customer base by capturing current trends and offering a great value proposition. Not only do they make us unique – our brands are only available with us –, but they also boost our profitability and growth.
Let's take a look ahead. What are the future goals for Corporate Brands and what product innovations do we have in our pipeline?
SUSANNE CORNELIUS: The future is bright for Corporate Brands! As part of our growth strategy “Let it Bloom”, we want to significantly increase Corporate Brands sales until 2027 and beyond. Therefore, we have planned multiple initiatives and actions across all brands and product categories with a well-defined innovation pipeline, embedding the Corporate Brand assortment in our overall assortment strategy. We have so much coming up: new brands for existing categories, new brands for new categories, line extensions, skin care innovations, and many must-have products in make-up. So stay tuned!
DOUGLAS & NOCIBÉ COLLECTION is the largest Corporate Brand and is most closely associated with the DOUGLAS and NOCIBÉ retail brand. We have recently launched its first 360-degree brand campaign under the slogan #IYKYK – IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW. What is the concept and aim of the campaign?
SUSANNE CORNELIUS: The concept for the campaign was derived from the insight that consumers who have bought a DOUGLAS & NOCIBÉ COLLECTION product once are convinced of the quality and come back as loyal customers – because “they know!”. With this in mind, we captured a trend seen on social media, where influencers recommend convincing products using the hashtag #IYKYK (abbreviation for “IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW”). With our campaign we pick up on this trend alluding to insider knowledge – in this case that the DOUGLAS & NOCIBÉ COLLECTION offers high-quality make-up products at an affordable price. Our aim is to raise awareness of the brand concept and products and to expand the target group by creating talk value.
Susanne, you have been with the DOUGLAS Group for over six years and are known internally as a "brand creator". In your previous role as Chief Marketing Officer, you also shaped the DOUGLAS and NOCIBÉ retail brands for a long time. How can retail and product brand benefit from each other and how do you work together?
SUSANNE CORNELIUS: With our largest Corporate Brand, DOUGLAS & NOCIBÉ COLLECTION, carrying the names of the DOUGLAS and NOCIBÉ retail brands, it is not a question of how retail and product brands benefit from each other: they are inseparably linked. Everything that is done right on the retail brand level is reflected at the product level – and vice versa. This is why it is so important to coordinate our activities internally. Our recently launched first-ever DOUGLAS & NOCIBÉ COLLECTION brand campaign is a great example of our successful cross-divisional collaboration. We had a lot of fun developing the campaign together with our colleagues from the Brand Strategy & Campaigns team. They are the experts when it comes to bringing big ideas to life for DOUGLAS and NOCIBÉ, so why not do the same for the DOUGLAS & NOCIBÉ COLLECTION? And they did! I love the campaign and am convinced that the DOUGLAS & NOCIBÉ COLLECTION – and thereby also the DOUGLAS and NOCIBÉ retail brands – will benefit greatly from it.
Last but not least: What is your personal favorite product from the wide Corporate Brands range?
SUSANNE CORNELIUS: That is like asking a mother which of her children she loves the most! But if I had to choose, here’s my top 3: Lash Love Mascara from DOUGLAS & NOCIBÉ COLLECTION, Magic Toner from one.two.free!, and Youth Booster Double Serum from Dr. Susanne von Schmiedeberg.
