Here is the link to the Fall Edition of Organic & Wellness News. I’ve contributed a number of articles to this issue, including a company profile about Berlin-based vegan supermarket chain Veganz (read the OWN article here), previews about the upcoming Naturkosmetikbranchenkongress (OWN article) and organic food trade show Biofach America/Expo East (OWN article), an article on the Baobab tree and UK brand Aduna’s innovative social marketing campaign #makebaobabfamous and an article on this summer’s organic equivalency agreement between the US and Switzerland. Enjoy.
Category Archives: Brand Profiles
OWN: The Fall 2015 edition of Organic & Wellness News is now online
Filed under Brand Profiles, Industry News, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Trends
Mintel articles: Kadewe Group, Soho House, Nickerchen and Miriam Jacks
Here are some of my Mintel articles from the first half of the year:
The February cityscape was about German premium department store group Kadewe Group. Kadewe Group (which was sold to Italian department store chain La Rinascente this summer) has launched three signature city fragrances – 030 Berlin, 040 Hamburg and 089 Munich – which were developed by Frau Tonis Parfum, one of my favourite Berlin perfumeries.
In early 2015, Berlin’s Soho House – the Berlin dependance of London’s famous Soho House private members club – opened a store slash café slash creative space slash co-working area. My March article was about this new location: The Store is open to everyone (unlike the rest of Soho House) and features a café (their coffee is supplied by Berlin’s Bonanza Coffee Heroes), large retail area (designer fashion, accessories and other stuff), beauty salon (hairdressing, manicures and pedicures), comfortable sofas and free wifi. A good café choice if you’re in that neighbourhood of Torstrasse.
My April article was about Nickerchen, Berlin’s first power-napping store which opened in December 2014. Nickerchen (the German term for “small nap”) is the brilliant idea of Irina Ivachkovets. You can rent day beds for 10, 20 or 30 minutes; Irina also offers a range of massage treatments, there are early-bird and after-work yoga sessions and once a week she organises a popular salsa dancing night. Nickerchen is a great example of a new type of urban spa – well, you can read all about that in the PDF. Nickerchen is at Zimmerstrasse 27 near Checkpoint Charlie; check it out if you’re in the area.
And the May cityscape was another store profile: Miriam Jacks, one of Berlin’s most high-profile makeup artists, has opened a brand new store right in the middle of Kastanienallee in Prenzlauer Berg. Jacks is L’Oréal Germany’s national makeup artist; her new retail store also features a salon, beauty treatment area, barber’s shop and a great selection of niche beauty brands.
Enjoy, but please respect the copyright (Mintel/BPC)!
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Filed under Berlin, Brand Profiles, Industry News, Mintel, Retail, Store Profiles, Trends
Veganz, DM Bio and Trend it Up: Drugstore retailer DM is gearing up for battle
Yes, this is a rather tabloid-sounding headline! However, for the last six months German drugstore chain DM has dominated the retail headlines in Germany with a slew of interesting and innovative projects: In April, the DM group introduced its new organic food brand DM Bio (de-listing organic brand Alnatura in the process). Then, DM announced that it would launch an online store plus a brand new own label make-up brand (Trend it Up). And this July, the newspapers reported that DM had entered in a distribution agreement with Berlin-based vegan supermarket chain Veganz to retail a 50-sku portfolio of vegan brands, superfoods and raw food products.
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Filed under Berlin, Brand Profiles, Industry News, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Trends
Brand Profile: CremeKampagne
I first came across Berlin-based organic skin and body care brand CremeKampagne last autumn when I visited Original Unverpackt supermarket in Kreuzberg. Original Unverpackt is Berlin’s first supermarket to sell groceries in bulk and without packaging – you bring your own containers or buy reusable packaging in the store.
I was at OU to write an article for Mintel (read the article here or check out this profile) and was walking around the store, checking out products and taking pics. OU sells a lot of regional labels and in their personal care section they carried a selection of skin and body care products from a small Berlin brand: the aforementioned CremeKampagne.
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Filed under Berlin, Brand Profiles, Retail, Trends
Company Profile: Farina
While 4711 Echt Kölnisch Wasser is arguably the best-known fragrance manufactured in the German city of Cologne, there is another – and much older – local Eau de Cologne company. Farina can trace its roots back to 1709 and although the brand’s fragrances are a lot more exclusive than 4711, its customer base is equally international.
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Filed under Brand Profiles, Retail, Store Profiles, Travel
Mintel article: Organic makeup brand Und Gretel launches in Germany
Here is my January Mintel article: the launch of new certified organic colour cosmetics brand Und Gretel. It’s a well-designed brand concept with impressive packaging, a selective distribution and a very premium price-tag. Find out more about it here: Und Gretel Cityscape. As always, please respect the copyright. Thanks!
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Filed under Berlin, Brand Profiles, Mintel, Retail
Brand Profile: 4711 Eau de Cologne
On a recent trip to Cologne I visited the flagship store of legendary fragrance brand 4711 in Glockengasse street. 4711 Echt Kölnisch Wasser is one of the most famous German perfume brands, with an interesting and rather convoluted brand history.
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Filed under Brand Profiles, Retail, Travel
[Brand Profile]: Whamisa – organic beauty from Korea
One of my favourite things about trade shows is the chance to discover new beauty labels. I first came across Whamisa at CosmeTokyo 2014 trade show and was immediately struck by the brand: Beautiful packaging, high-quality ingredients, great organic certification (BDIH and Ecocert) and a very attractive 38-sku product range.
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Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Industry News, Retail, Trade Shows, Travel
Mintel article: Glööckler flagship Berlin
I arrived back in Berlin three days ago. It was a marvellous five weeks away and I’m still trying to sort out all of my impressions. My next trip to that region is already booked, by the way: two weeks in Tokyo in late February/early March plus a few days in Seoul/Korea. I’ve never been to Korea and already have a long list of stores and places I want to visit.
Before taking off for Japan, however, I’ll be visiting Vivaness trade show in Nuremberg. And after my return I’ll be attending Beauty International trade show in Düsseldorf. It looks like 2015 will be full of travelling and trade shows (yay!)
Since I won’t have time to update the blog this week (too much work to do), here is an article I wrote on German designer Harald Glööckler’s new Berlin flagship store this summer. Glööckler is a rather interesting phenomenon, he has a very flamboyant, in-your-face personality and he polarises public opinion. However, when I researched the article, I was surprised by how genuine he appears, despite his obvious and carefully cultivated artificiality. Enjoy the article!
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Filed under Berlin, Brand Profiles, Mintel, Retail
Retail notes from Taipei: [Company Profile] Eslite!
One of my favourite store chains in Taiwan is bookstore retailer Eslite. Not only do they have an interesting and very appealing retail concept, but I’m also impressed by how carefully the company tailors its brand portfolio and store layout to the local neighbourhood.
The Eslite chain started out as a bookstore in 1989 with a small selection of titles from the arts and humanities. Since then it has become a majorly successful multi-channel business. In 2004 Eslite was chosen as “Asia’s Best Book Store” in Time Magazine’s Best of Asia ranking and in 2011 the company received the Top 100 Taiwanese Brand Award from the Taiwanese government.
Books and literature are still a key part of the Eslite portfolio but the company has diversified its focus to embrace the cultural and creative industries in Taiwan, too. In some of the larger Taipei Eslites you’ll find gourmet food courts and super-stylish cafés, hand-made Taiwanese art and design objects, lifestyle cosmetics, international avant-garde fashion and accessories and a very comprehensive selection of books and magazines – mostly in Chinese but the larger Eslites also carry a respectable number of English language books. Some of the outlets feature lecture halls and auditoriums and in these stores there is a varied program of concerts, exhibitions and other cultural events. And the newest Eslite in Songshan even has an arthouse movie theatre.
Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Retail, Travel
TRENDS. TRAVELS. AND BERLIN 