Beauty is Made for Omnichannel

We all know it: When buying premium beauty products, you sometimes feel the need to go to the store to get personal advice, e.g. on a fragrance or skincare product, or just to be inspired by the wide selection and the special atmosphere. And other times, you simply want to reorder your favorite product conveniently online. Today, customers switch between sales channels more fluidly, and in-store and online shopping are increasingly merging – especially in the premium beauty sector. In other words, beauty is made for an omnichannel approach.

Since we as the DOUGLAS Group strive to offer the best customer journey, we pursue a comprehensive omnichannel strategy. This includes the strategic expansion and modernization of our around 1,860 physical stores across Europe, where about 15,000 beauty experts advise and inspire our customers every day (as of December 2023). At the same time, we continuously develop our E-Commerce business with the latest tools, such as a test of an AI beauty chatbot in collaboration with Google (further information: Press Releases | DOUGLAS Group).

What ‘omnichannel’ means for us

We can proudly say that in previous years we have developed strongly both our store and E-commerce business, but we have mostly treated the business areas independently of each other. Today, we like to think of our offline and online presence as one. A truly omnichannel business model means creating one consistent ‘world’ for our customers across all channels and touchpoints. This is not limited to seamless “x-channel services” like Click & Collect but includes a consistent brand experience, customer activation, and value proposition across all sales channels. The majority of customers visit online shops and stores anyway – when they switch channels, a successful omnichannel retailer should ensure that customers stay with them, offer them what they need at that moment, and always give them a choice of where they want to access the service.

In the following, I will give you an overview of what we as DOUGLAS Group are already doing to create the most customer-friendly omnichannel experience.

Offline and online merge into a 360° customer experience

The merging of in-store and online shopping is also reflected in our organizational structure. As Europe's number one omnichannel destination for premium beauty, we are optimizing our organization for more growth and customer orientation: the functions Marketing, CRM, E-Commerce, Store Formats, Retail Media, and the IT are bundled – as both channels and all touchpoints of the customer journey must be considered together nowadays. This is also the reason why my former role as Chief Digital Officer was expanded to Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) to include both the online and offline business.

Talking about brand communication, we also want to bring this to the next level. The DOUGLAS brand is very strong and had a great development of rejuvenation and premiumization over the last couple of years. But going forward we are aiming for an even more consistent and efficient 360° omnichannel brand communication that constantly builds the brand as we have defined it in the brand model with a more recognizable communication that consumer relate to DOUGLAS. Therefore we are working on a new brand campaign platform that builds the DOUGLAS brand more consistently along the big moments of the year – starting with Christmas.

Milestones in the evolution to a comprehensive omnichannel offering

The DOUGLAS Group has a proven track record of evolving and adapting to changing market environments, embracing new trends, and pioneering the European premium beauty market. Questioning the status quo and looking boldly to the future is and has always been part of our DNA. In 1910, the first “Parfümerie Douglas” opened in Hamburg, establishing the company as a pioneer. In 2000, we launched our first online shop, followed by the launch of our own native app in 2011 and the beauty partner program in 2019 with over 80 trusted partners and around 135,000 products listed (as of April 2024). Speaking of omnichannel, DOUGLAS was one of the first beauty retailers to offer cross-channel services like Click & Collect.

We are also at the forefront of Social Commerce, the fusion of E-Commerce and Social Media. This includes influencer collaborations as well as live shopping and our very own DOUGLAS Creator Program offering beauty trends, video advice, and product clips for extensive user-generated content. Again, we are linking our digital offering with the in-store business. In selected stores, we show creator videos in shop windows – bringing the social media feed into city centers.

Studies show: Shopping processes are already cross-channel

The importance for retailers to consider the customer journey from product search to purchase across all channels is shown by the Google Omnichannel Future Study 2023 (GOFS) in Germany. Digital offerings are becoming increasingly important – even for in-store purchases. For almost half (48.7 %) of their in-store purchases customers had previously researched online. This figure was even higher (51 %) for people under 35. Conversely, 13,2 % of online customers had previously informed themselves in physical stores.

From a customer’s point of view, omnichannel is “the new normal” – especially in advice-intensive sectors such as premium beauty. We also see that our omnichannel customers spend significantly more (2.6x more than E-Com and 2.1x more than stores only; based on FY22/23 Beauty Card data from GER, FRA, IT, NLD, PL, and SP) and more often than single-channel customers.

Omnichannel CRM approach with a Customer Data Platform and AI-powered campaigns

In previous years, our leading Beauty Card loyalty program used to be our central data source for personalized customer engagement. Going forward, we want to focus even more on cross-channel concepts when addressing our customers. With a Customer Data Platform (CDP) based on Google Cloud, we are preparing ourselves for the post-cookie era and laying the foundation for a holistic, omnichannel CRM. In the CDP, first-party data from interactions in the web shop and mobile app, from CRM systems, and customer interactions in physical stores is collected and consolidated into 360-degree customer profiles. Artificial intelligence plays a key role in generating insights from these data but also allows for new personalized campaign formats.

Today, our data analysts are working with AI-powered campaign formats. To reach customers who are highly likely to visit local stores, we have, for example, started a test run with Google's "Local Inventory Ads" (LIA). This is an AIS-powered campaign type that digitally communicates the availability of specific products in nearby stores to consumers in the local area. The digital ads are displayed through Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Display, and YouTube to all users who are on the go or near the store, or who have indicated interest in certain products via Google Search.

Outlook: Customer first, channel second!

Technological innovations will continue to drive our omnichannel offerings as we use AI to generate valuable insights from customer data and improve marketing efficiency. We will continue to evolve our omnichannel strategy, focusing on the seamless integration of online and offline experiences. Omnichannel enables us to react flexibly to changing customer trends, enrich our offerings, and meet customer preferences in diverse ways. It gives us a competitive edge by offering our customers the best journey, meeting them wherever they are – customer first, channel second!