Douglas Announces Q4 2021 Results

Dec 22nd, 2021

Jacquelyn Mueller, associate editor, Global Cosmetic Industry

In-store business saw like-for-like sales grow 3.7%.

Douglas' fourth quarter 2021 results showed like-for-like sales growth of 7.3% from €727 million in 2020 to €752 million. Despite the strong Q4 results, full-year sales dropped 0.2%, from €3.233 billion in 2019-2020 to €3.120 billion in 2020-2021.

E-commerce sales in Q4 increased 16.7% to €211 million, compared to €181 million in the previous year. The e-commerce business for the full 2020-2021 fiscal year experienced a growth of approximately 47%.

In-store business saw like-for-like sales grow 3.7% to €537 million in Q4.

The full fiscal year saw the brand expand its product line to include more than 160,000 products in its online shop, marketplace and stores, representing a 20% increase compared to the previous year.

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Tina Müller, Douglas Group CEO, said: “Thanks to our consistent digitalization strategy #FORWARDBEAUTY.DigitalFirst, we managed to sustain robust growth in e-commerce in the fourth quarter even after the stores re-opened, gaining further market shares and outperforming the market as a whole. After months of lockdowns in the previous quarters, the stores have now bounced back well. At the same time, we’ve augmented our operating result and, thus, also our profitability by a significant degree.”

Müller continued: "Long before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, we began to turn Douglas into a digitalized premium beauty platform. This early change of strategy meant that we were well-equipped to deal with a crisis like Corona when it arrived. Our business model is extremely resilient. Our platform strategy for beauty which comprises e-commerce, marketplace snd stores appears to be working well. We want to invest in further developing e-commerce while bolstering our in-store business in order to extend our leading position and shape the future of the industry from a position of strength.”

Vanessa Stützle, chief digital officer Douglas Group, said: “It is remarkable how the platform strategy evolves. We have already rolled out our marketplace in five countries, thus increasing the online sales share from 25% to 38%. This underlines our position as the leading one-stop shopping destination for premium beauty in Europe."